RYA WINTER 2020


20


Destination focus: Greece F


CRUISING ABROAD


or many sailors, one of the first casualties of 2020’s pandemic year was a Greek islands cruise.


In a typical year between April and October, thousands of British sailors head to the balmy cruising grounds of the Mediterranean. With some 6,000 islands to explore (a mere 227 inhabited), and easy access from the UK to sailing hubs such as Athens, Crete, Corfu and Rhodes, Greece has been a huge draw for mariners for decades. It’s also an ideal place to improve your skills: there are 30 RYA-recognised training centres in Greece, with a particular concentration on the Ionian islands of Corfu and Lefkas. In 2020 though, the first three months


of the season were lost to lockdown, with a travel ban forcing operators to postpone or cancel bookings. Greece reopened its borders to UK travellers on 15 July. Since then, charter companies have spent months adapting to Covid-19 restrictions and uncertainties around quarantine. Now they sound cautiously optimistic about the 2021 season. ‘We’ve seen an increase in reservations already since July,’ says Marin Susac, UK country manager for Globesailor, which organises charter holidays for some 60,000 clients worldwide in an average year. ‘When you’re on a boat with a group of selected people, isolated


The Ionian has long been a popular holiday spot – in particular, islands such as Corfu, Zakynthos and Cephalonia.


from the rest of the world, the risk is much lower. Sailing is going to be less affected than other types of holiday.’ Becky Addison, marketing manager at Sailing Holidays, agrees. Her company runs flotilla holidays and RYA training courses in Greece, with a focus on Corfu and the Ionian islands. After a delayed start to the 2020 season, the company was ‘up and running’ by mid- July and embarked on around a third of its normal departures. ‘Some people have deferred their trips from 2020, and we plan to operate at full capacity next year,’ says Becky. ‘The end of the summer was a good test run for our safety procedures.’


Those safety procedures include deep-cleaning boats before and after


“when you’re on a boat with a group of selected people, isolated from the


rest of the world, the risk [of infection] is much lower”


As the pandemic continues to affect travel plans, we look at how popular sailing regions are adjusting to life under Covid-19, focusing on Greece…


chartering, the obligatory use of face masks by staff and clients in port, and a three-hour ‘airing period’ – mandated by Greek law – for vessels between rentals. Portable ‘high-touch’ items such as crockery, cutlery and charts are also sanitised and quarantined on shore between departures. Once on board their yacht, holidaymakers are required to maintain a daily health record sheet, including their body temperature and blood oxygen levels, which can be self-tested using a finger-clip oximeter.


charter changes


At holiday company Sunsail, who have been operating flotilla trips in Greece since 1974, the traditional pre-charter briefing in the harbour has been replaced by an online chat. ‘Customer charter briefings are now conducted online prior to departure to minimise contact at a base level,’ says UK head of sales Laura Bowtell. Steps have also been taken to reduce the amount of interpersonal contact holidaymakers have outside their own family groups during their trip. Observing the ‘rule of six’, larger groups of friends wanting to charter a boat can be split between two smaller vessels, for example. At Corfu Sea School – the longest-established RYA training provider on the island – ratios of instructors to clients have been reduced, and everyone is encouraged to maintain a 1.5m distance on board. None of the operators we spoke to knew of any positive Covid-19 cases among their customers. But if safety procedures are now established, there remain concerns over fluctuating quarantine rules and their effect on future bookings. At the time of going to press, travellers


returning to the UK from Greece were not required to quarantine by the UK government, with the exception of visitors to Mykonos. However, the volatile nature of coronavirus travel advice means operators have taken steps


Photo: GLCheng / Getty Images


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