Pittwater- a perfect place for time poor cruisers
by Helen Hopcroft on 27 Sep 2007
Enjoying the sun onboard a Smart Boating Group charter vessel smart boating group
http://www.smartboating.com.au
A short distance from Sydney’s CBD is a place where you can feel like you’re a million miles from anywhere. Pittwater is often tagged Sydney’s ‘best kept secret’ and has been described by many experienced sailors as one of the world’s great cruising grounds. It’s easy to see why: the western side of the bay is bordered by the magnificent Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. Yet Pittwater also boasts a large array of marine services including clubs, waterfront restaurants and marinas so you’re never far from civilization. We spoke to David Biddle of the Smart Boating Group about the fantastic deals he has available on Pittwater yacht charters.
‘It is a great destination and experience…it’s only 40 minutes from the CBD yet it’s a real escapist place to get away from the rat race. Get out, unwind, relax and enjoy a little piece of paradise for a few days.’
The Smart Boating Group offers both skippered and bareboat charters on a variety of luxury yachts and catamarans with brands including Seawind, Beneteau, Hanse and Bavaria. The boats range from 32-44 ft and the fleet is currently being upgraded: a new 11.6m Seawind and a Jeanneau 42 are expected to join the ranks in the new year.
One of the great things about chartering a boat is that Biddle and his team prepare the boat for you, and can even organise catering if you desire, so all you have to do is turn up at the jetty and collect your vessel. There is no running around making sure the boat is ready: it’s arrive and sail away. If you’re chartering for a weekend you can pick your boat up anytime from midday on Friday onwards and don’t have to have it back until 5pm on Sunday.
‘So a weekend is actually two nights and two and a half days, which makes you feel as though you’ve had a decent break.’
Englishman David Biddle has cruised some of the world’s loveliest waters and along with many other well travelled sailors ranks Pittwater as one of the best. He noted that as a sailing destination Pittwater is sometimes overlooked, with people thinking that they need to travel long distances to find good cruising grounds rather than simply recognising the beauty of this easily accessible waterway.
Although Pittwater is a great place to charter a yacht for a weekend, it’s also an area which you could happily spend weeks exploring. Biddle said that the mix of comfortable boating amenities and ‘get away from it all’ landscapes made it the ideal family holiday destination or a great place to bring overseas visitors.
‘This is an area where you can quite happily sail for four or five days, go away for a longer break, have a mini holiday. There’s 220 km of navigable coastline…you’ve got a mix of beautiful deserted beaches and little bays and coves where you can go and anchor up.’
‘You’ve got restaurants; you can go to at Cottage Point or Palm Beach or Newport. You’ve got a couple of marinas, great bushwalking and lots of wildlife. You can walk and see kangaroos and wallabies.’
One of the most popular destinations on the eastern side of Pittwater is a lagoon known as the Basin, which is surrounded by bush and which has been netted off for swimmers. There are toilets and picnic facilities available. Biddle observed that it was places like this that made longer trips to Pittwater worthwhile.
The Smart Boating Group encourages longer charters by offering substantial discounts once the charter period extends beyond the daily or weekend rates.
‘If you’re chartering for longer, you’re then getting discounted rates. We have offers in the summer months like five days for the price of four, seven days for the price of five.’
If you already charter a yacht regularly, and want to sail more often but are not quite ready to own a boat, the Smart Boating Group offers a unique alternative. Billed as the Yacht Club, initially only 25 people are able to join the club with membership running for 12 months from the 1st of October each year.
Membership of the Club gives you access to three of the Smart Boating Group’s luxury charter vessels at heavily discounted rates. A point system is used with each member being allocated 700 ‘Smart Credits’. If you charter mid week or during off peak times the number of credits you use is lower than weekends or busy periods. This means that depending on when you charter, you can spend about 15 days on the water for less than $450 per day.
For example: if you charter a Bavaria 34 for three off peak weekdays this will cost 85 Smart Credits and if you charter the same boat for one day during a peak weekend period this will also cost 85 credits. A Beneteau 373 chartered for during three off peak week days is equal to 115 Smart Credits.
‘Club members get all the same services a charterer or a syndicate owner would get: the boat’s sitting on the marina; it’s refuelled, cleaned and all ready to go. They just sail it and someone else worries about the turnaround and the maintenance and everything else.’
The annual Club membership fee is $6999 (including GST) and this gives you access to a Beneteau 373, Bavaria 34 and Bavaria 42. In addition to the 700 Smart Credits, on the first Wednesday of the month a charter boat is available free of charge to Club members on a first come first served basis.
Biddle gives Club members a week’s notice of the free charter boat and the first eight people (depending on the size of the boat) that ring up will secure a place. Each Club member will be given four free guest passes each year so they can bring along friends or family members.
Members may choose to use their four free passes all at once for a group of friends or a family outing, or they may wish to sail more often with individual friends or family members during the year. Biddle said that the social side of the Club was very important and the monthly free days were a great opportunity for Club members to socialise, share a day on the water and explore the beautiful Pittwater cruising grounds.
‘It’s a good way of getting another day on the water that’s a free day, bringing along friends, meeting other like minded people and going off sailing.’
Contact details
Address: Smart Boating Group, Bayview Anchorage, 1714 Pittwater Road
City: Bayview
State: NSW
Postcode: 2104
Country: Australia
Phone: 02 9997 5344
http://www.smartboating.com.au
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