Flotilla sailing vacations in Greece

Want to sail your own boat, but with a little support there in case you need it? Then sail as part of a small fleet. In flotilla sailing, a lead boat looks after you and up to 11 other boats. You can socialise in the evenings with the other boats, but the days are yours to spend as you please – you dont’ have to meet up with the lead boat again until the evening. Flotilla sailing is great for families, but you’ll all need to like each other enough to spend plenty of time in close proximity. All you need for flotilla sailing in Greece is one person with a RYA Day Skipper licence. Alternatively, you can hire a skipper to accompany you.

With between four and six hours of navigation every day there’s plenty of time to explore the islands in between long, lazy reaches across the blue. Spend your lunch break climbing the hills, crossing salt marshes and treading across beaches of stones as smooth and white as dinner plates.

Greek flotillas operate in the Ionian Islands, which means you’ll pick up your boat at Lefkas Marina. You’ll meet the rest of the group and spend the night in the marina before your first ‘skipper’s briefing’ on the next morning. Provisioning for your boat is an easy task. In Lefkas there’s a local Saturday market opposite the marina, several bakeries and fruit and vegetable stands, plus four supermarkets. Whilst you can prepare your own meals on board (cold breakfasts and lunches are best), you can eat as a group in the evenings at local tavernas – and maybe even have a beach barbecue.

How you spend your time on board is up to you. Moor up at lunch and you’ll have trouble stopping people jumping off the boat into the irresistibly clear water – plus, it’s the best way to wash up if you’ve just eaten a particularly juicy peach. Swim to the shore and hike up the nearest hill, and discover islands like uninhabited Atokos, where limestone cliffs slope seawards, as crumbly as feta cheese. If you happen to be near Vassiliki on Lefkas, wait for ‘Eric’, a famous local anabatic wind that rises in the afternoons, to the delight of windsurfers and keen sailors. Eric aside, look out for dolphins and seals as you cruise – you may be asked to help local conservationists by reporting sightings.

Lucy Wade, from specialist sailing vacation company Sunsail, has this advice on learning to sail on flotilla in Lefkas: “The ‘learn to sail on a flotilla’ (also known as the flotilla starter/hero) is booked by the whole yacht rather than just the cabin, so it’s more suitable for families. They are part of a flotilla on a set route with up to 11 other yachts doing the same itinerary however they will have an instructor on their yacht teaching them how to sail.”