Sailing the Society Islands/ South Pacific 8/18-9/1/ 2026
Hello ! I hope you are feeling great. We are looking for two or three crew to join us on a two week sailing trip sailing the Society Islands close to Tahiti in August 2026. For me, this trip is the fulfillment of my life long dream and I am excited to find kindred spirits for this journey.
Before we get into all the information, I want to let you know, that this is an absolutely shared experience, we all will decide on possible itineraries, everyone can pick their favorite island to see, and we all will have the same hands-on sailing time. But more to that further below.
First just some information, so you can get a general idea about the trip :
Dates : 818- /9/1/ 2025 ( 14 days )
Start/ end location : Raiatea ( 135 miles West of Tahiti ) Raiatea is the hub for the three major charter companies.
Boat : Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 439 ( Prices : with six people : boat charter/ fuel/ food/ fees = approx. $2900 ( could be $ $3500 for four people, food is relatively expensive )
So far, we are a group of three, Dave ( my friend and sailing buddy) and Kezia, his partner.
Flights : From NYC the price is $ 2400.
Stays at hotels for the night before or after the trip might also be a bit on the expensive side, but there are a few cheaper situations available on AirBnB, etc..
I will arrive three days before the trip, to rest and to prepare buying our food.
One word about Dream Yacht Charter, the company we chartered from : This one was a tough one for us to decide on. Online you will find numerous horror stories about chartering from DYC, which are to be taken seriously. I chartered from DYC once in Newport, RI and everything worked out fine. The service and the boat were excellent. But DYC has a weak business model, not giving enough time for repairs between charters and it is the third largest charterer worldwide, with thousands of charters per year. In the end we went with it, because this boat is the ONLY monohull for charter in a radius of thousands of miles….lol.
Here are some photos of some of the islands we can visit . Watch with caution, you might want to pack your bags right away…
https://www.tahititourisme.com/islands/maupiti/ The Island of Maupiti |www.tahititourisme.com https://www.tahititourisme.com/islands/bora-bora/
Here a map of Society Islands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_Islands
And a map of the larger area : Tahiti- Marquesas Islands https://www.britannica.com/place/French-Polynesia Here a chart of Bora Bora
https://www.nauticalchartsonline.com/chart/detail/SHOM7466-Bora-Bora?srsltid=AfmBOopOfBOt6lbtdM5UjyCQOAZoBRAqWj8BM6SsPezF4DBL3wRTVYWL
I called the people at DMY's base in Raiatea directly, because the itineraries given in the contract seemed a bit basic. The contract states so far ( !) , that we can only sail from sun rise to sun set in an area from Maupiti to Tahiti and about 60 % of the distance between Raiatea and the Tuamotu Archipelago in the north, for ex. Rangiroa. To give you an idea : the distance from Boro Bora to Maupiti is about twenty-five NM, most likely a five-hour sail. From Raiatea to Tahiti it could be a twelve-hour trip. If you like, you can go to google earth and create some itineraries for yourself.
In my phone conversation with Francois at the base, I was told to send an email with all my questions, which I did. All questions were answered in great detail, which seems promising. It turned out, in the end the base manager will decide, according to our resumes, if we can do night sails and venture out further north.
According to windy.com, in August we will have mainly easterly and south easterly winds, 15-25 kts There is the wind mara'amu which can gust up to 35 kts, but will blow normally only on three or four days in August and may be only a few hours per day. We will not be able to leave port or our anchorage when the local " small craft advisory " is in effect
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May be a quick word about myself. I am 59, originally from Germany, came to New York alone at age 23 to study Jazz, which I did. I am a music teacher and performer.
I started sailing on Bavarian lakes when I was eight years old and was taught by my father.
We sailed there and in Croatia in my teens. In 1999 we did a 1200 NM trip, sailing all Windward Islands in the Caribbean on a Beneteau 42 Moorings bare boat charter.
After that I did not sail for seventeen years, but got my skipper license in 2017.
Since then, I did three trips as skipper ( Grenadines, Canary Islands, Newport RI) and one as a navigator also in the Grenadines. Through the years I did many day sails on the Long Island Sound, here in NY, chartering a 38 Beneteau. And this year, I did the sail training course with John Neal in Scotland.
I handled several difficult situations , sailing 36 hours in 37-45kts of wind in storm surges and studied heavy weather sailing with sailing legend John Neal in Scotland.
I greatly enjoy putting crews together, it being similar to creating a jazz band...:).
Dave and I met at the training with John Neal. He is an owner of 42 ft sailboats for twenty five years, is sailing every free minute/ weekend on the Great Lakes and just bought a boat in the Bay Area to get into Blue Water sailing. Dave has tremendous experience, also racing on national level as a teenager in Canada. He can repair absolutely everything (!!!), which is a huge asset...:). We are a good team and sail well together.
Again, this is an absolutely shared trip. Each of us will make a list of highlights and what we are looking for in this journey. I know, the costs can be steep but, I believe very strongly that this trip will be very special for all of us and worth all the effort. And if sailing Tahiti is your dream as well...... . Dave and I are planing to sail worldwide once a year and are looking for a group of people, who would enjoy joining us. So feel free to write, even if you can not make this trip. I am very much looking forward to hearing from you and to meeting you !! Best, Bernhard
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