Yacht charter in Stockholm archipelago · Albin — Vega (1970)

We absolutely loved our trip on this Swedish legend of a boat! While not a youngster, she’s beautifully maintained and has everything you could possibly need on board. The owner’s service and care were spot-on — quick, kind, and genuinely helpful. It truly felt like sailing with a trusted friend’s boat.

DON'T RENT FROM ALEX! Alex didn't show up for the check in but decided to shortly send us three brief videos on how to open the boat and start the motor, as well as how to use the sink and stove etc. instead, just in the night before the charter. The pin for the padlock, which he reconfirmed, wasn't working, so I had to try random numbers like a lock smiths. When we finally opened the boat we found it super dirty. There were empty bottles and beer cans, transparent bag with used toilet paper, many places with black mould including the bed room and food crumbs and remainings of snacks in the boat and cockpit, obviously all cutlery, plates, pots, kitchen utensils ... not clean to use. We also found a sewing needle lying openly in the cockpit where you often walk barefoot ... Alex didn't provide the necessary key either to arrive at the marina even though he has it. So we had to carry all our luggage from a far parking, same at the return. In addition to the dirt, the boat wasn't in a good condition at all, so we spent the first day of our trip cleaning and fixing the boat (incl. adding missing lines to the reefing system, which you definitely need in the archipelago). The description of the boat is not accurate. For instance the boat has no fridge, just a cooling box. About the latter Alex said we should just buy ice as it would last for one week ... sure thing. The boat has no grey water tank. Alex said we should just empty the toilet into the sea, which is totally illegal in Sweden. So we could only go to the toilet in harbours. Electricity is totally improvised on this boat and since he added an outboard and left the old rusty non functional original motor inside, the battery is not charging when you motor. The outboard stoped many times while navigating and refused to be restarted. This and other inconvenient modifications make it painful to navigate this Vega single handed. Luckily we were in two. We did the self check out midday and informed Alex about it. He showed up at the boat at night that day and was pissed since he expected us to wait for him. Obviously Alex has no experience in service industry and how to treat customers. Neither does he have any interest in learning it. We offered him to talk about a discount on the renting fee for the miserable experience and the many hours we spent on the boat to make it work. Not necessary to mention that he refused to give any discount. So my sincere advice: STAY AWAY AND RENT FROM SOMEONE ELSE.

Boat was clean, functional and very easy to sail. We had a great trip exploring the Stockholm archipelago for 12 days on this boat and felt like it was our second home. The boat was comfortable in the conditions we had - 10-20kts - upwind and downwind, was easy to manoeuvre in moorings. Aleksandr was a great support and easy to contact before and throughout our trip.