1 star – Oceanis 51.1 “OLGA”, Kalamaki – unacceptable treatment of our female skipper
1 star – Oceanis 51.1 “OLGA”, Kalamaki – unacceptable treatment of our female skipper
We chartered the Oceanis 51.1 “OLGA” from Oceanis Yachting in Kalamaki (Athens) in September 2026. Unfortunately, this turned into a deeply disappointing and unnecessarily stressful experience.
Our female skipper has more than 20 years of sailing experience and holds the German Sportseeschifferschein (SSS). Despite her extensive experience and qualifications, Oceanis Yachting refused to hand the yacht over to her.
During the handover/check-in, it became apparent that the mainsail could not be properly hoisted/set. Instead of treating this as a technical issue with the yacht, our skipper was repeatedly questioned and accused of not being competent enough to operate the boat. We found the way she was treated deeply disrespectful and, given the circumstances, discriminatory towards a female skipper.
We were repeatedly told to wait and were stuck in the marina for an entire day. No satisfactory solution was provided.
Eventually, we had to find a male replacement skipper ourselves in order to get the yacht out of the marina. The replacement skipper held an SKS, whereas our original skipper held the higher-level SSS and had more than 20 years of sailing experience. Nevertheless, the replacement skipper was accepted while our original skipper was not.
This discrepancy was particularly difficult to understand and left us with the strong impression that our female skipper was treated differently despite her substantially greater experience and qualification.
The yacht itself was also inadequately equipped. Among other things:
* the boat cushions were completely missing,
* there were too few and too-short mooring lines to properly set landlines,
* a bucket was missing,
* the galley equipment was incomplete and insufficient,
* the dinghy outboard engine was not fully functional, making the dinghy unusable.
We fully understand that technical problems can happen on a charter yacht. The problem was how Oceanis Yachting handled the situation. A problem with the mainsail was initially turned into an accusation against our skipper; we were left waiting for hours; we lost an entire day of our holiday; and ultimately we had to solve the skipper issue ourselves.
The inadequate equipment on top of this made the experience even worse.
This was not simply a case of a yacht having a few technical issues. The combination of the treatment of our highly experienced female skipper, the failure to resolve the technical issue promptly, the loss of a full day, and the poor equipment situation made this the most frustrating charter experiences we have had.
We would not charter with Oceanis Yachting again and would strongly recommend that prospective customers clarify the skipper requirements and inspect the yacht and its equipment very carefully before accepting the boat.








