Our home water

It depends where. Sydney Harbour and the coast north of it are best from October to April, with New Year's Eve the peak, and you can charter there every month of the year. The Whitsundays and the Great Barrier Reef are best from May to October, with June to September the pick. The Kimberley is best from May to October, in the dry season, when the weather is settled. The boats move between them, so there is a season somewhere all year.

Yes. October to April is the busy season, but winter on the Harbour is quieter and better value, and the boats are here and ready to book. The same goes for Port Stephens, the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

Yes, and it is the trip we recommend most to Sydneysiders. Board at Rose Bay on Friday, a night inside the Heads off Store Beach, up to Pittwater for Saturday and Palm Beach on Sunday, and home on Monday. A week stretches it to Port Stephens for the dolphins and the dunes, with a day's run each way.

Most yachts board at 6pm, but we recommend extending the charter and getting on at lunch, so your captain can find a good position before the Harbour fills up at sunset. Then add New Year's Day: we love a day session on the water, and it is one of our favourite days on the Harbour. Book as early as you can, and if you are leaving it late, ask anyway.

Yes, when a yacht is making the run: north in May and south in October, as the fleet moves between the summer and winter grounds. Two weeks covers around 800 nautical miles: the Gold Coast and Moreton Island, the Sunshine Coast, K'gari, Lady Musgrave on the southern Reef, Great Keppel and the Percy Isles, then the Whitsundays from the quiet south end at Thomas Island, with Nara Inlet, Whitehaven and Hamilton Island to finish. Tell us early and we match you to a boat.

In the July school holidays, when families fill the islands and the boats, so book the winter by autumn. June and September are just as good and quieter. Hamilton Island Race Week in August also fills the marina.

It is an expedition, not a beach week: ten nights or more, with the tenders and a helicopter doing as much work as the yacht (not every yacht has a helipad available for private hire, so we book the flights in addition or take them out), saltwater crocodiles, big tides and no towns. The reward is Horizontal Falls, Montgomery Reef, waterfalls you can swim under and rock art older than the pyramids. It is best from May to October.

Across the Australian fleet, featured yachts run from about A$95,000 per week for BLUESTONE, which takes eight guests, up to A$235,000 per week for MISCHIEF, a 54m Baglietto for 12. Smaller yachts are available in Sydney from about A$62,000 per week. All are base charter rates covering the yacht and crew; the Advance Provisioning Allowance and applicable taxes are additional.

Ahoy Club charters across nine Australian cruising grounds: Sydney, the Whitsundays, the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Pittwater, Port Stephens, Rottnest Island, Lizard Island and the Kimberley. Sydney Harbour and the Whitsundays are the two most requested, the first for the harbour and the second for the Great Barrier Reef and Whitehaven Beach.

Ahoy Club was founded in Sydney in 2018 by Ian Malouf and its head office is at Shop 4/38 Bay Street, Double Bay, Sydney. It is not Australia-only: the company also operates from an office at 67 Av. des Frères Roustan, Vallauris, on the French Riviera, and charters across the Mediterranean, Caribbean, South Pacific and Southeast Asia as well as Australia.

Yes. We own and operate yachts here ourselves, so we know the paperwork, survey requirements, berths, shipyards, contractors and cruising grounds firsthand. We can act as your local agent for clearance, permits, biosecurity and state requirements, take the yacht through AMSA survey and any adaptations or flag change, market her to Australian charterers, manage her for a month, a season or longer, and run refits and shipyard periods in-house. Tell us when you’re arriving and how long you’re staying, and we’ll map the season around you.

The published weekly rate covers the yacht and its professional crew. Food and beverage, fuel, mooring and harbour fees and on-board communications are paid from the Advance Provisioning Allowance, typically 20% to 35% of the charter fee, which is reconciled with a full statement and receipts before you disembark.

All Ahoy Club charters are fully crewed, with the captain and crew included in the weekly rate. Ahoy Club does not offer bareboat charter, where the charterer skippers the yacht themselves.