What to Pack for a Sailing Charter, and the One Rule About Suitcases

Packing for a charter is not packing for a beach holiday that happens to involve a boat, and the difference is not clothing. It is stowage. A charter cabin gives you a locker, a shelf and whatever fits under the bunk, which is a fraction of what a hotel wardrobe offers, and it is shared with somebody else's things. Everything you bring has to live in that space for a week, and anything that cannot be flattened once emptied becomes a problem for the whole boat rather than only for you.

The one rule: no hard cases

Almost every charter company asks for soft bags, and it is the single instruction most worth following. A wheeled suitcase cannot be folded, cannot be squashed under a bunk and cannot be stood anywhere on a boat without being in somebody's way. On a small yacht there is genuinely nowhere for four of them to go, so they end up in the saloon, in the shower compartment, or lashed on deck where they get soaked. Bring a soft holdall or duffel, unpack it into the locker on the first afternoon, roll it flat and forget about it.

If you are flying with a hard case because it protects things in transit, the usual solution is to leave it at the hotel you use the night before boarding — most will store luggage for a week, and that night ashore is worth having anyway, because an evening flight that lands late costs you the first night aboard. The same logic applies at the other end.

“Everything you bring must disappear once the bag is empty. That single sentence decides ninety per cent of what to pack.”

Shoes matter more than clothes

This is the part people get wrong most often. A deck is a surface that marks, and it is expensive to refinish, which is why charter companies care about footwear more than about anything else you bring. You want something with a soft, pale, non-marking sole that grips when it is wet, and you want to wear it only aboard so that it never carries grit up from a quay. Grit ground into a deck by a shoe is both bad manners and a plausible route to a conversation about your security deposit.

Beyond the deck shoes, two more pairs earn their space. Something that can be completely soaked, for wading ashore from a tender onto a beach, which is a much more common way to arrive at dinner than anyone expects. And one pair for a restaurant, because most cruising grounds have at least a couple of evenings where you would rather not be barefoot. Three pairs total is plenty and most people bring five.

What actually earns its space

Two additions to that table that are not objects. Take whatever seasickness remedy you have agreed with a pharmacist or a doctor before travelling, for the whole crew rather than for the one person you expect to need it — the reasoning and the deliberate absence of any product advice is in seasickness on a charter. And take connectivity seriously rather than assuming roaming will behave along a coast: what an eSIM is covers the mechanics, and having a working data connection is what turns a weather forecast from a hope into a plan.

Clothing: less than you think

On a warm-water charter you will live in swimwear and a light layer over it, change in the evening, and dress properly perhaps twice in a week. Two or three sets of light clothing, three or four sets of swimwear so something is always dry, and one evening outfit covers almost everyone. Things wash easily in a bucket of fresh water and dry in an hour on a guardrail, which is a genuine advantage of the environment and one people forget to exploit.

Two specifics. Salt is the enemy of anything that must stay soft, and clothing that has dried with salt in it never feels clean until it is properly rinsed, so rinse rather than only dry. And white and pale colours are much more comfortable in strong sun than dark ones, which matters more on a boat where there is often nowhere to get out of it — the shade question is one of the reasons to ask about the bimini before booking, covered in chartering a catamaran with children.

Ask the base before you buy anything

A great deal of what people buy for a charter is already aboard, and a great deal of what they assume is aboard is not. Send one email and ask: what towels are provided, are beach towels separate, is bedding included and changed, are snorkelling sets aboard and in what sizes, is there a paddleboard or kayak, does the boat have a bimini and does it cover the helm, what is in the first aid kit, and is there a cool box in addition to the fridge. The answers change your packing list more than any generic article can, this one included. The same email should cover the galley, which is the subject of provisioning a bareboat.

The honest counter-argument

You could ignore all of this, arrive with a suitcase and a pair of trainers, and still have an excellent week. Charter bases sell or lend a surprising amount, most cruising grounds have shops, and nobody has ever had a holiday ruined by the wrong towel. Packing lists have a way of turning an anticipated pleasure into a chore, and there is a real argument for bringing what you would bring anywhere and letting the week sort itself out.

The reason to bother is that three of these items are not replaceable once you are aboard, and they are the ones that shape the days: deck shoes, because a base may not have your size and a marked deck is a real problem; a dry bag, because the tender trip is genuinely how phones die; and the soft bag itself, because a hard case in a small saloon annoys seven people for seven days. Get those three right and everything else on this page is optional. For where the whole trip starts, sailing yacht, catamaran or classic boat is the hub, and the rest of the section is at yachts, sailing and classic boats.

Frequently asked questions

Why can you not take a suitcase on a yacht charter?

Because there is nowhere to put it. Cabin stowage on a charter boat is a locker and a shelf, not a wardrobe, and a rigid case cannot be flattened or folded away. Almost every charter company asks for soft bags for exactly this reason. Pack in a soft holdall or duffel, empty it into the locker on the first afternoon, and squash the bag flat under a bunk.

What shoes should you wear on a boat?

Something with a soft, pale, non-marking sole and grip when wet, worn only aboard so it never picks up grit from a quay. Dark soles mark a deck and grit scratches it, which is both bad manners and a way to have a conversation about your deposit. Add something that can get soaked for wading ashore from a tender, and one pair for dinner.

Do you need waterproofs on a summer charter?

A light waterproof layer, yes, even in a hot cruising ground. Spray is cold at any air temperature, wind on wet skin at dusk is genuinely chilly, and a squall lasting twenty minutes is normal. You do not need offshore foul-weather gear for a coastal charter; you need a light jacket that keeps water and wind out, and a fleece for the evening.

What is the most useful thing people forget?

A dry bag, and a torch that is not a phone. The dry bag protects a phone, a wallet and a camera on the tender trip ashore, which is the single most common way electronics die on a charter. After that: a hat that stays on in wind, sun cream in the quantity a week at sea actually uses, and a refillable water bottle each.

How much should you pack for a week aboard?

Less than for any other holiday, and most people bring roughly twice what they use. You will live in swimwear and two or three changes of light clothing, wash things in a bucket or at a marina, and dress properly perhaps twice. The constraint is not weight but volume, because your bag has to disappear once it is empty.