Sail with us on a flotilla in the Magical Aegean Sea, visit ancient ruins and old castles, and taste the real Greek Mediterranean diet, all from your own yacht.
Choosing a yacht for your flotilla adventure is relatively easy. You can do it by cabin or by the number of people in your party.
A couple may require a smaller yacht perhaps one of our 33 or 34ft yachts. They come with 2 sleeping cabins, a full galley+ saloon and a private head.
Alternatively, you may be a large group of 6 friends and require a 3-cabin yacht or maybe a 4-cabin yacht. All the yachts for the Flotilla are Jeanneau’s built after 2018.
Athens Sailing Academy and American Sailing invite you to join us as we sail the beautiful Blue Aegean Sea. Depart from our base on Poros Island, just off Athens and discover ancient Castles and quaint anchorages and villages. You can choose from our large selection of Jeanneau Yachts, ranging from 34ft to 55ft.
On this Flotilla you will have your own yacht and sail from Greek island/Port in your own time meeting up at the destination in the evening where the flotilla will moor together. You can join other members in a meal or go off on your own and discover the area for yourself. In the morning there is always a flotilla briefing explaining the day’s route and getting wind and weather updates.
The Flotilla will leave from Poros Island, which is a beautiful cosmopolitan island just off Athens. It’s accessed by fast Ferry in about 50 minutes, Check out the ferry schedule at www.hellenicseaways.gr Ports/islands that we will visit include:
The lead yacht will have a crew of Mechanic and Hostess, that can deal with any potential issues on the Flotilla.
The Flotilla leader will be Jonathan Chandler. He was born in Greece and has been sailing since he was 9 yrs old. He was brought up around sailing yachts as his father was in the British Royal Navy. He served like his father in the Royal Navy, later leaving and pursuing sailing as his passion. He worked in the US and has run some very large racing yachts including the Maxi Boomerang. He worked as a sailmaker under Tom Whidden at North Sails. He competed in the 89/90 Whitbread Around the World race on “Fisher and Paykel”. He has competed in most of the Offshore racing events around the world, including the Admiral’s Cup, Sardinia Cup, Aegean Rally, and Southern Cross series to name a few.
Crews arrive and settle onto their yachts, each yacht will be briefed as to yacht operation, safety equipment location and final paperwork for Greek Authorities. Yacht provisioning at the local supermarket. A meet and greet with drinks and small eats, an outline of the planned route, and an upcoming weather forecast.
Today’s sail is from Poros to the port of Ermioni, an ancient town that has been here since before 1500 BC, in 1300bc the village slid off the Island peninsula into the harbour during a huge earthquake.
Today the flotilla will sail to Plaka (Leonidian), the birthplace of King Leonidas. Leonidas was the Spartan king who famously led a small band of Greek allies at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE where the Greeks valiantly defended the pass through which the Persian king Xerxes sought to invade Greece with his massive army.
The next stop on the cruise is the town of Astros. There is still a complete castle that overlooks the Harbor built in 400 BC by the Spartans.
We depart Astros for Greece’s original capital Nafplion. The city is overlooked by a huge Fortress, the Fortress of Palamidi. You can climb up the 1000 steps to visit or take a taxi there. The ancient town and walled city have excellent shopping, art galleries and some of the best restaurants in the area.
The flotilla begins its homeward return back to Poros today, we will sail to Spetsai island anchor stern to a beach and tie off to trees. A beautiful taverna is located on the beach, where you can eat fresh fish and enjoy the beauty of this spot.
An early start today to head back to Poros, departing Spetsai Cove and heading down the Spetsai channel and up the Hydra channel will bring us back to Poros.
Crews disembark from their yachts
*Itineraries are subject to change due to weather or other circumstances beyond our control.
