YouSailPowered by YouSail.com.au Independent editorial. No bookings, no commission.
Home · Guides · Corporate, Racing and Team-Building Charters

Corporate, Racing and Team-Building Charters

Regatta charters, corporate sailing days and team building on the water: what a race charter involves, how Australian regatta weeks affect availability, and what to settle in the contract.

Illustration standing in for Australian charter sailing: a low sandy island in calm pale-blue water

Three quite different things get sold under one heading. Confusing them is the most common reason a corporate sailing day disappoints, so work out which you are buying first.

The three products

A corporate hospitality day is a function that happens to be on a boat. Guests board, take a drink, sit down and watch while someone else sails. Catering, shade, seating, toilets and a stable deck matter far more than boat speed. It suits clients and any group whose fitness, footwear and enthusiasm you cannot control. The directory includes vessels rigged for exactly this, such as a 17.5 metre performance yacht set up for 12 cocktail-style guests, and day vessels carrying up to 49 people.

A team-building sail is the opposite. Everyone works. Guests go on winches, the helm and the mainsheet, usually across two or more boats, each with a professional skipper to coach. The boat only moves well if people communicate, which is the point. It is effective and it is physical: people get wet, the boat heels, and someone will be uncomfortable. Do not book it for a group you have not asked first.

A race charter means entering a boat in an actual series, as a competitor subject to the organising authority's notice of race and sailing instructions. See charter types for how these map onto vessel classes and choosing a vessel for which boat suits which product.

What a race charter asks of a crew

A racing boat needs positions filled and the people in them need to know what those positions do. On a typical 40-something footer that means a helm, a trimmer each side, a mainsheet hand, a bow, a pit and a tactician. A crew of eight who have never sailed together will be slow, will tangle the kite, and may not finish. That is fine if everyone knows it is the plan. Expect a practice day, an early start, a long wet day, the operator's skipper staying in charge whoever is nominally crew boss, and liability for sail and rig damage.

By comparison, many regattas run a social or non-spinnaker division: same course, same fleet, white sails only, a shorter day and no kite work. For a mixed-ability corporate group that is usually the honest choice. Ask which division the operator normally enters charter crews in.

Match racing and short-course formats

For a team day, match racing beats a long passage race. Two identical boats, a short course, and races of fifteen to twenty minutes, so everyone gets a turn on every position, there is a scoreboard, and spectators ashore can see it. Short-course fleet racing does the same with more boats, which suits groups split across three or four vessels. Either format gives repeated short cycles of plan, execute and review. See Sydney Harbour and the operator directory.

The regatta calendar and availability

Charter boats are finite and regatta weeks consume them. A handful of events absorb the fleet in their region, push prices up, and sell crew berths a year or more ahead.

  • Airlie Beach Race Week, which takes charter boats out of the Whitsunday cruising fleet for the duration.
  • Hamilton Island Race Week, the biggest squeeze on Whitsunday availability in its window.
  • The Sydney to Hobart, which ties up offshore-capable boats and experienced crew along the east coast at the end of the year, well beyond the race itself.
  • Festival of Sails at Geelong, which does the same to Victorian availability.
  • Brisbane to Gladstone, which absorbs Queensland offshore boats and crew.

Two things follow. For a race charter at one of these events, enquire roughly a year out, because the good boats sell first. And for an ordinary cruising charter in the same region, avoid those weeks: prices are higher, marinas are full and the towns are busy. The weather and seasons guide covers the seasonal picture, including that the official Australian tropical cyclone season runs 1 November to 30 April, when the northern regatta calendar is busiest. Costs are in costs.

Catering, branding and guest comfort

A racing yacht is not a function venue: no bar, limited seating, a wet cockpit and a head the size of a phone box. If a group needs catering and comfort, put them on a vessel built for day passengers, or run two boats and swap after lunch. Catering on a working boat means finger food in sealed containers, at anchor or after racing.

Branding is possible and always conditional. Operators will often fly a client burgee, allow branded shirts, or fit a boom banner. They will rarely allow anything on the sails, because adhesive damages them and racing sails may already carry sailmaker and sponsor marks. Notices of race also restrict advertising, so ask early.

Safety briefings and the risk assessment

Every commercial charter starts with a safety briefing. On a corporate day treat it as part of the programme: lifejackets, man overboard procedure, the boom, lines under load, and who is in charge.

A corporate risk assessment usually wants the operator's AMSA certificate of operation or evidence the vessel is a registered domestic commercial vessel under the Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law; the survey category and passenger limits for the operating area; the master's certificate of competency; the safety management system; and certificates of currency for liability cover. Ask for these by name in your first email. See also qualifications.

Read the passenger numbers carefully. A vessel commonly has three: a day passenger limit, an offshore limit which is often lower, and an overnight berth count much lower again. A boat advertised for 30 people that sleeps 6 is quoting the day limit. If your day goes outside the heads, the offshore limit binds and may be smaller than your guest list. Cross-check the vessel directory.

Guests who should not be on a heeling boat

Ask your guest list in writing before you book, and give people an easy way to opt out without explaining themselves. A heeling monohull is unsuitable for anyone with significant mobility limitation, recent surgery, a back or joint problem, severe motion sensitivity, advanced pregnancy, or a fear of the water they would rather not test in front of colleagues. The fix is usually the boat. A large stable catamaran or purpose-built day vessel sails flat, with level deck access, real toilets and shade. Reef catamarans capped near 12, and vessels carrying up to 49, are far more accommodating than a race yacht. Ask for a photo of the boarding arrangement at the berth. The master may decline to carry a guest they judge unsafe.

Insurance and liability

Get written answers. Does the operator hold public liability cover, for what amount, and does it extend to guests actively sailing rather than sitting as passengers? Is there hull insurance, what is the excess, and who wears it if the boat is damaged during your charter? Are sails, rig and spinnakers covered or excluded, because racing damage often is? Then check your own side: whether your corporate insurance covers employees at a work-sponsored activity on the water. Chartering bareboat rather than with a professional master changes the responsibility picture substantially. Compare the bareboat guide with skippered and crewed.

What to put in writing

Use the booking and contract checklist and add two clauses.

The weather decision. State who decides, on what basis, by what time, and what happens to the money. The master or operator decides whether a trip proceeds, so what you negotiate is the notice period, the alternative and the refund. Contracts treat operator cancellation, rerouting, customer cancellation and force majeure differently, and a booking with 40 guests and a caterer needs all four written out separately.

The substitution clause. If the nominated vessel becomes unavailable, a good clause names a comparable substitute of equal or greater capacity and specification, says who decides comparability, and gives you a refund right if none exists. A bad clause lets the operator substitute anything. For a regatta charter, cover what happens if the boat is damaged early and cannot start the rest of the series.

Also settle final guest numbers and the deadline, the catering headcount, branding approval, start and finish times with overtime rates, wet-weather gear, crew included, and who pays entry fees. If you are chartering in the Whitsundays during a regatta week, remember a cancelled charter does not cancel your flights.

Sources

Regatta entry conditions, insurance terms, branding rules and cancellation policies change, and event dates move year to year. Confirm them with the operator and the organising authority before you commit.