Our flotilla season is kicked into gear again for another year, and we’re excited for another summer sailing around the Greek Islands! This weekend marks the start of our delivery flotillas. Our boats will be heading from Corfu, through the Ionian and two flotillas will sail through the Corinth Canal! Our Sporades fleets will also take their first trip out of Orei. We’re looking forward to hearing all of your sailing stories and flotilla highlights over the coming months!

We’ve got some helpful hints and tips to keep your boat “ship-shape” during your holiday. So without further ado, take a look at our guide below…

A tidy boat is a happy boat

It’s very easy to get caught up in the morning rush on flotilla. Once your briefing is over, many people head to the supermarket to stock up with provisions or head back to the boat to get fed and watered before it’s time to slip the lines for the day. Make sure you leave a bit of time to give your yacht a little tidy before setting sail.

It’s always a good idea to stow away all of your clothes, valuables, breakables and food before slipping your lines. Make sure all of the washing and drying up is done and all put away in cupboards. Stowing everything away means that you won’t be faced with a messy cabin at the end of the day.

Needless to say, you shouldn’t forget about keeping the cockpit and deck tidy as well! It is always a good idea to keep your lines tidy in the cockpit, no glass or breakables outside and making sure your dinghy is tied on correctly. Having a clutter free cockpit means that you can get on and enjoy sailing without bits and bobs getting in the way!

We also recommend stowing away your fenders whilst under sail, that way you can ensure you don’t lose any during your flotilla. Plus, if any fellow flotilla sailors or your lead crew want to take photos of you sailing it looks much better without the fenders, trust us!

We’re here to help you “Do your bit!”

Once you set foot on your floating home you’ll be greeted with a cleaning pack with eco-friendly cleaning products. These include biodegradable washing up liquid, toilet cleaner and surface spray. There are a number of eco-friendly shampoos, conditioners and shower gels that you can purchase before heading out to Greece to be kind to the sea whilst showering on board.

You’ll also find one of our handy tote bags on board, hopefully it should help cut down on your plastic bag use! The bags aren’t just aesthetically pleasing to the eye, they’re much more durable than plastic bags and you can take them home with you as a souvenir.

Some of you may have seen some of our previous articles about helping the environment whilst sailing on flotilla, this includes our 11 ways to give Mother Earth a helping hand blog and more recently our news about our new partnership with Water-to-Go! If you haven’t had a read of these before, you can click on the links to find out more.

We hope you have found these tips useful and you feel prepared for your flotilla. More importantly we hope that you enjoy meandering around the Greek Islands this summer with us!

To read our previous ‘Countdown to Summer guides’ click on the titles below to explore.