Sailboat charter in Noumea · Gibert Marine Gib Sea 442 (1985)

Chris and the Balsamine have hosted us for a full week of sailing , visiting beautiful atolls and landscapes in south New Caledonia. Despite being a bit unlucky with the weather at first (it rained 2 days), Chris still managed to show us around safely and responsibly, printing memories of a trip that we won’t forget :) Chris is a skilled skipper, very welcoming and chatty, and made us very comfortable from the first moment. Moreover he is also a good cook and an excellent apéro-organizer. We indeed had several aperitifs with stunning views and good company of local people (when we met them on the islands). Thanks to Chris, we managed to experience a fantastic tour of south New Caledonia , giving us the luxury of a private experience in atolls and islands where we were often alone. We are also glad we met some of Chris’ sailor friends on the way, as well as part of his family on the last day. Unfortunately, we have some constructive feedback when it comes to the maintenance of the Balsamine. The windows of our cabin were leaking rain water in the first two days. For sure we were very unlucky with the weather, but it was not very pleasant to be waken up repeatedly by the rain drops during the night. Probably a deep check and fix of the windows are needed to ensure the problem is solved for the future. The boat is very comfortable and spacious, but it was not ready when we arrived. It is true that because it rained we spent 1.5 day in the port, giving extra time for checks, but if the sun was up from day one, I would expect we would sail from day one and in this our case, this could have not happened because the boat was not ready. For instance, there were checks on the engine and the fridge, throughout the entire first day which I would expect to happen the day before the customers arrive. Boat preparation should also include the washing of the boat externally. The cockpit for instance was not clean when we arrived. The day we left, Chris has of course washed everything off, and I expect he did it also the last time with previous customers. But if the trips occurs after months, additional cleaning should be made the day before the new customers come, and I’m afraid this did not happen in our case. Lastly, the cutlery, including plates and pots, were very old and “used”. For example, some mugs were brown because of past usage, and resulted dirty although washed off. We suggest to get rid of old appliances in favor of buying new ones for the next customers.