Island Sailing 2015 end of summer season update

Island Sailing 2015 end of summer season update

As the end to another summer sailing is drawing closer we would like to thank everyone for sailing with us this year. It’s been an extremely busy year for Island Sailing with more customers sailing with us in Greece than ever before! We’ve had an amazingly long, hot summer with wonderful weather from early May onwards, some great sailing, tasty food, cold beer and Greek wine and, as always the warmth and friendliness of the Greek people has made for many special memories for everyone visiting the wonderful Greek islands this year. We have been pleased to welcome back more and more returning customers who we are also happy to call our friends as well as meeting lots of new people from many destinations around the world from as young as 18 months old to those enjoying sailing well into retirement.

The success of our flotillas has gone from strength to strength this year and we’ve enjoyed the company of some fantastic people sailing our best range of yachts ever. As well as visiting all our favourite destinations in the South Ionian we’ve also enjoyed sailing in the north Ionian around the stunning islands of Paxos and anti-Paxos as well as mooring in the historical yacht port of Mandraki in Corfu town. The traditional Greek dancing and fantastic food and wine in the small bay in Mongonissi was also a real treat for our guests this summer. With so many beautiful destinations to explore magical Ithaca remains both ours’ and many of our customer’s favourite Ionian islands. With, arguably the best Greek taverna in the Ionian at Rementzo’s in Frikes, George’s mouth watering meat on the spit in Big Vathi and super pretty Kioni, not to mention all those amazing bays...!

We have had many successful students pass their RYA sailing courses with us throughout the season who have all enjoyed learning and developing their skills whilst sailing in our beautiful Ionian sailing area. Our growing team of talented young RYA Cruising Instructors has allowed us to introduce and develop more and more people to the joys of sailing. We have some exciting and innovative plans for next season for those who would like to learn or develop their sailing skills which will be updated on the website in the not too distant future.

After such a busy year in Greece we are now looking at some extremely exciting plans for 2016. We have more new yachts confirmed for 2016. Following the success of our Bavaria 40’s and 41’s we are pleased to confirm 2 additional brand new Bavaria 41’s with 3 cabins and 2 heads for our Lefkas marina base in the Ionian. In addition, we will be adding a brand new 4 cabin luxury Lagoon catamaran and a brand new Beneteau Oceanis (either 41 or 45 to be confirmed soon!).

We are also pleased to be developing our offering in the Saronic and Cyclades from Alimos marina in Athens for 2016 with some fantastic yachts including the brand new model Bavaria 46 and the stunning new model Sun Odyssey 439 and Sun Odyssey 469. We are busy updating the website with more information and ideas for these fantastic new sailing areas.

After many requests and significant interest we are excited to be developing a brand new charter destination in the British Virgin Islands, Caribbean. We are hoping to offer our first charters in this fantastic new sailing area initially for a limited period in early 2016 and going, forwards, we plan to offer flotilla, skippered and bareboat yacht charters in the BVI between December and April fitting perfectly with our summer season in Greece from May to November. We will be updating the website over the coming months with lots more information about sailing in the British Virgin Islands from 2016.

Finally, we would like to say thank you to our team of Skippers and Instructors who have worked so hard this summer to make sure all our guests enjoy the best sailing holiday imaginable. We are extremely fortunate to have had such an amazing team of professional and enthusiastic yachts people this year. When the weather came to test us one evening in August and each and every member of our team displayed their abilities as professional yachts men and women they also became our heroes.

On behalf of all the team at Island Sailing we wish you a wonderful winter and hope to see you again in Greece or the Caribbean in 2016. Happy Sailing!

Ruth & Jonny