Sailboat charter in Pattaya

Sailboat charter in Pattaya starts from ฿11,999 for a five-hour trip on a 36-foot yacht that takes up to 18 guests, with the captain and crew in the price. Three sailing monohulls work from the same marina; below are their prices per guest, the fees paid on the day, the islands they reach and the booking terms.

How a sailing trip is priced: hour blocks with the crew on board

Sailing yachts here are not rented by the day like a scooter or a car. Each one is sold as a private trip in a fixed block of hours, and the crew comes with it.

Whole boat, captain and crew

Booking a sailboat here means the whole boat for your group, not a seat on a shared tour. Each of the three on this page — the Malbec, the Hanse 46 and the Enigma — is sold as a private sailing trip in Pattaya, and on each of them the services of the captain and crew are part of the rental price rather than a separate line. That changes how you read the number: the ฿11,999, ฿14,399 or ฿17,999 you see is already the cost of the yacht with the people who sail it. What the rate leaves out varies from boat to boat — food, pier or marina entry, a hotel transfer — and a later section goes through those lines one by one. When you compare this with any other way onto the water, put the crew on the same footing first: here it is never an extra.

5, 8 or 9 hours: the blocks each yacht offers

Each of the three yachts sells time in its own set of blocks, so the cheapest headline price does not buy the same hours everywhere. The Malbec offers trips of 5 or 9 hours, and its ฿11,999 starting rate is the five-hour one — about ฿2,400 for each hour of sailing. The Hanse 46 has 3, 4 and 8-hour options from ฿14,399, and the Enigma runs anything from 3 to 8 hours from ฿17,999. For the Hanse 46 and the Enigma it is not stated which block the starting price buys, so a quote for the longest option will sit above it. If your plan needs a set number of hours, ask for the price of exactly that block on each yacht; three "from" figures side by side show the entry point, not the cost of your trip.

Extra hours and evening sailing

Longer trips are possible, but time beyond the block is charged on top. On the Malbec additional hours can be ordered for a fee, and the 9-hour trip is its long option. On the Enigma an extra hour appears among the items that are not included, and so does sailing after 20:00 — an evening on the water is possible, but it is priced above the starting rate. For the Hanse 46 the 8-hour block is the way to get the longest trip. Decide the return time before you ask for a price: a quote for a five-hour daytime trip and one that ends after 20:00 are two separate bookings, and comparing them as one hides the difference.

Licence: why you do not need one

You do not need a sailing licence or a boating certificate to charter one of these boats, because you never take the helm. Sailing boats at Ocean Marina are offered skippered, with no licence needed; the captain and crew are part of the price on every yacht covered here. Bareboat hire — taking a boat out alone on your own licence — is not part of this market, since none of the three is offered without its crew. That also means the island stops and the snorkelling breaks are agreed with the crew rather than chosen at the wheel. If a particular island, a fishing stop or a swim in a certain bay matters to your group, name it in the request, so the plan is fixed before you board.

Three monohulls from ฿11,999 to ฿17,999

The sailing monohull market here is small enough to see whole: three yachts, all priced per trip, with starting rates ฿6,000 apart from the cheapest to the most expensive.

The three yachts side by side

Why the list stops at three

Three is the full size of the market for sailing yacht charter in Pattaya, not a sample of it. Every sailing monohull offered with a price here sails from one marina, Ocean Marina Yacht Club in Na Jomtien, and the remaining sailing boats are catamarans. The Rent-Trip section for sailboats therefore lists the Malbec, the Hanse 46 and the Enigma, while sailing catamarans such as the Lagoon 380, the Bali 45 or the 39-foot Rose sit in the separate catamaran section of the city. A longer list would only be possible by adding boats based elsewhere in Thailand, in Phuket or on Koh Chang, which cannot be boarded here. If your group has more than 18 people, look at the catamaran section straight away: above that number, every sailing option in the city has two hulls.

Malbec and Hanse 46: length is not the price

The Hanse 46 is 10 feet longer than the Malbec yet takes 8 fewer guests, and it starts ฿2,400 higher. On paper the 46-foot yacht gives you about 3 more metres of hull for a group of up to 10, while the 36-foot Malbec takes 18. The difference lies in how the space is used: the Hanse 46 has a shower, a toilet and a galley with an oven and a microwave, and the Malbec lists one cabin and two bathrooms plus deck gear such as a paddle board and a clear kayak. Per foot the two cost almost the same — roughly ฿333 for the Malbec and ฿313 for the Hanse 46. For a family of six, the longer yacht buys room; for a group of 15 friends it simply does not fit, and of these two only the shorter one takes them.

Enigma: the top price without a length

The Enigma has the highest starting price of the three, ฿17,999, and it is the only one whose length is not stated. It takes up to 15 guests, which places it between the Malbec and the Hanse 46 by group size, and it is described simply as a sailing yacht. It costs 1.5 times the Malbec's starting rate while carrying three fewer guests. What the Enigma does set out clearly is catering: two set menus with fixed prices per person, covered in the section on food below. Because its length is unknown, ask for it together with the quote if deck space matters to you — the price alone will not tell you whether it is the largest yacht of the three or simply the most expensive one.

Guests, cabins and the cost per head

Group size changes the comparison more than the headline price does. Divided by the number of guests each yacht takes, the most expensive yacht is not the dearest per person.

Price per guest on the starting rate

Large group or small group

For a group of 16 to 18, the Malbec is the only sailing monohull that takes everyone, and at full load it works out at about ฿667 a head on the starting rate. A group of 11 to 15 can also choose the Enigma, at about ฿1,200 a head when all 15 places are used. Small groups see a different picture: with 10 guests the Malbec and the Hanse 46 come out at about ฿1,200 and ฿1,440 a head, and the Enigma rises to about ฿1,800. With fewer guests the per-head figure only climbs, because the yacht costs the same whether it carries four people or ten. For a small party, compare on what is on board — shower, galley, air conditioning — rather than on price per person, since every option here is a whole-boat fee.

Cabin, shower and toilet

Of the three, the Malbec states its layout most clearly: one cabin and two bathrooms. The Hanse 46 lists a shower and a toilet among its equipment, along with air conditioners, a music system, an oven and a microwave. For the Enigma, cabins and bathrooms are not stated. The guest numbers quoted are for trips on the water — the Hanse 46 is described as taking 10 guests for a day cruise — so they say nothing about how many people could sleep on board. All three are sold in blocks of 3 to 9 hours, not as overnight charters. If anyone in your group needs a cabin to rest in or a proper bathroom on a long outing, ask about it for the Enigma before booking, since it is the one boat where neither is stated.

Monohull or catamaran for the same group

For a group of up to 18, a sailing monohull is the cheaper way onto the water; above that, every sailing option is a catamaran. The 39-foot catamaran Rose takes 20 guests from ฿23,999 a trip, about ฿1,200 a head — the same per-person figure as the Enigma at full load, and almost double the Malbec's. Other sailing catamarans start at ฿23,999 for 15 guests on a Lagoon, ฿26,399 for the 42-foot Champagne and ฿26,999 for the Bali 45, both for 20. The cheapest catamaran priced per trip therefore costs about twice the Malbec's starting rate. A catamaran buys more deck and more places; a monohull heels under sail and feels like sailing in the classic sense. In my view, if the sailing itself is the point of the trip, rather than a stable deck for a large party, the three monohulls are the place to start.

What the price covers and what you pay on the day

The starting price covers the yacht and its crew. Food, entry fees and transfers are separate and differ from yacht to yacht; for a group of 15, meals and entry together can add about half to the bill.

What comes with each yacht

• Crew: on all three yachts the captain and crew are included in the rental price, so there is no separate skipper fee to add.
• Malbec: air conditioning, a Bluetooth speaker, a barbecue grill, a pool float and paddle board, a clear kayak and fishing rods come with the trip.
• Hanse 46: a music system, air conditioners, an oven, a microwave, a shower and a toilet are listed as the yacht's equipment.
• Enigma: captain and crew are included; air conditioning is charged on top, and so are meals, an extra hour and sailing after 20:00.
• Rule of thumb: read the equipment list before the price, because air conditioning is part of the trip on one yacht and an extra on another.

Pier, marina and park fees

Every boat leaves from the same marina, yet each handles entry in its own way. On the Hanse 46 a pier fee of ฿80 per person is paid on site. On the Enigma the entrance fee to Ocean Marina Yacht Club, about ฿160 per guest, is not included, and neither is the national park fee. The Malbec lists a marina fee and island admission fees, where they apply, among the extras; the amounts are not given. For a group of 10 the Hanse 46 pier fee comes to ฿800, and for 15 guests on the Enigma the marina entrance alone is about ฿2,400, before any park fee. Ask for every per-person fee in writing with the quote, because these sums are paid on the day and are easy to leave out of a price comparison.

Food on board

Food is not part of the starting price on the Malbec or the Enigma. The Enigma offers two set menus: Menu A at ฿650 per person with steamed crab, barbecue prawns, grilled squid, fried sea bass, barbecue chicken and seafood fried rice, and Menu B at ฿450 per person with chicken and cashew nuts, roast duck, tom yam soup, pad thai with prawns and fried rice. The Malbec has a barbecue grill on board, but the food itself is listed as an extra. On the Hanse 46 a galley with an oven and a microwave is part of the equipment. For 15 guests on the Enigma, Menu B adds ฿6,750 and Menu A ฿9,750 — more than half the yacht's starting rate in the second case. Settle catering before comparing quotes, because a yacht with a fixed menu and a yacht with only a grill on board are priced on different terms.

A worked total for 15 guests

For 15 guests on the Enigma, a realistic bill is about ฿27,149 rather than ฿17,999. The starting rate is ฿17,999; the marina entrance at about ฿160 each adds ฿2,400, giving ฿20,399; Menu B for everyone adds ฿6,750. National park fees, air conditioning and any time beyond the first block come on top of that. Spread over 15 people, the total is about ฿1,810 a head instead of the ฿1,200 the starting rate suggests. The same sum for 10 guests on the Hanse 46 gives ฿15,199 with the pier fee, about ฿1,520 a head before food. Run this calculation for each boat with your own headcount and menu: once the fees are in, the gap between the three can narrow or widen.

Ocean Marina and the islands on the route

All three sailing yachts board at one marina in Na Jomtien, south of the city centre, and head out to the islands of the gulf.

Departure from Ocean Marina Yacht Club

Every sailing yacht on this page departs from Ocean Marina Yacht Club in Na Jomtien. Getting there is your part of the plan: the transfer from the hotel is listed among the extras on the Malbec, and all three trips are described as starting at the marina. Because the starting point is shared, the choice between the Malbec, the Hanse 46 and the Enigma never depends on which pier is nearer to your hotel, as it can with speedboats that leave from the city piers. Ask what time the yacht leaves the marina and plan the transfer around that time, not around the start of the booking.

Islands the yachts sail to

The islands within reach of a sailboat rental in Pattaya are named on the yachts' own routes. The Malbec's 5 and 9-hour trips go to Koh Pet, Koh Lan (Ko Larn), Koh Khram, Koh Rin and Koh Ran Kwain. The Hanse 46 visits Koh Kram Noi or Koh Rin, with a snorkelling or trolling stop on the way. For the Enigma the route is not set out, so it is agreed with the crew when you book. Koh Lan is the large island most visitors to the coast already know, while Koh Rin appears on both of the routes that are listed. If you want more than one island in a single outing, ask which of them the chosen block can cover, since a five-hour trip leaves less time at each stop than a nine-hour one.

Snorkelling, trolling and paddling

Time in the water is part of the trips, but the gear differs from boat to boat. The Hanse 46 route includes snorkelling or trolling — towing a fishing line behind the moving yacht. The Malbec carries a pool float, a paddle board, a clear kayak and fishing rods as part of the trip, and further water activities on board are available for an extra charge. For the Enigma, water gear is not specified. If your group wants to fish, the Malbec and the Hanse 46 are the two yachts set up for it; if you want to paddle, only the Malbec lists a board and a kayak. Ask whether masks and fins are on board before the trip, so nobody arrives at the reef without them.

Season, holiday dates and booking terms

Prices and terms move with the calendar. Two holiday periods suspend the cheapest rate on one yacht, and cancellation rules range from free to none at all.

November to April

November to April is the peak season for charter boats on this coast, and that is when demand for the three sailing yachts is highest. With only three monohulls in the market, a popular date can leave you choosing whichever of them is still free rather than the one you wanted. The starting prices on this page — ฿11,999, ฿14,399 and ฿17,999 — are entry rates without a date attached, so a quote for a busy weekend in the peak months may come in above them. Outside those months the coast is quieter, and a flexible date gives the widest choice of yacht. In the peak months, ask about two or three dates at once: with three yachts in the whole market, the date can decide which boat you end up on.

New Year and mid-April

On the Malbec, the five-hour rates are not available from 28 December to 2 January and from 12 to 15 April. Those dates cover New Year and Songkran, the Thai New Year water festival in mid-April, so the cheapest block on the cheapest yacht drops out over both holidays. That points to the 9-hour Malbec trip as the option for those days, and the ฿11,999 entry figure stops applying. For the Hanse 46 and the Enigma no holiday rule is stated, so their prices on those dates are a question for the quote. If you plan a sailing trip for New Year's Eve or Songkran, compare the 9-hour Malbec price with the other two yachts, because the cheapest yacht of the year may not be the cheapest that week.

Cancellation and the passport photo

Cancellation terms split the three yachts. On the Malbec and the Hanse 46 a booking can be cancelled free of charge no later than 7 days before the trip. On the Enigma the date cannot be changed and the reservation cannot be cancelled once made. For the Hanse 46 the operator asks for a photo of the first page of the passport when booking, for insurance purposes. That makes the Enigma the yacht to book last, once the date and the weather outlook are firm, and the Malbec or the Hanse 46 the safer choice for a plan that might still move. If you choose the Enigma, treat the payment as final and pick a date with spare days on either side of it in your stay.

What to put in a request

• Yacht and block: name the yacht and the exact block — 3, 4, 5, 8 or 9 hours — so the quote is for your trip, not the starting rate.
• Headcount: give the full number of guests, because every pier and marina fee on these yachts is charged per person.
• Return time: say when you want to be back at the marina, since on one yacht a return after 20:00 is charged as evening sailing.
• Food: state whether you want a set menu, the barbecue or no catering at all, so meals are priced in from the start.
• Fees in writing: ask for pier, marina and park fees and air conditioning as separate lines, with the cancellation terms beside them.

Key points before you choose a sailing yacht

Five figures to keep in mind

• Entry price: the three sailing monohulls start at ฿11,999, ฿14,399 and ฿17,999 per trip, with the captain and crew included.
• Per guest: at full load the Malbec works out at about ฿667 a head, the Enigma about ฿1,200 and the Hanse 46 about ฿1,440.
• Group limit: 18 guests is the most any sailing monohull here takes; larger groups move to catamarans from ฿23,999 a trip.
• Fees: ฿80 per person at the pier for the Hanse 46 and about ฿160 for the marina on the Enigma, with food on top.
• Terms: free cancellation up to 7 days before on two yachts and none on the Enigma; the Malbec's five-hour rate pauses over New Year and mid-April.