24 July 2024
Sail Ionian is a family-owned-and-operated yacht charter business based on the island of Lefkada, Greece, and will be exhibiting at this year’s Southampton International Boat Show (stand J156). Operating the newest, best-maintained charter fleet in the Ionian, the company prides itself on outstanding customer service, winning a TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice award.
Sail Ionian’s guests want new, luxurious charter yachts and the fleet has four brand-new Bavaria yachts joining this summer: a Cruiser 37, C38, a C50 and a Nautitech Open 40, plus another two C38s already approved for 2025.
They offer:
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Free unlimited WiFi on all yachts
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Seven days away from base
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24/7 support
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Best maintained yachts in the area (they go out 100% defect free)
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Private flotillas for group bookings
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All yachts have green solar, keeping the fridges on 24/7, air conditioning and outboards
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Lithium batteries
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Electric outboards.
What’s new?
Today, new developments in the efficiency of solar power and the use of lithium batteries, coupled with low-voltage cooling units, finally allow us to install air-conditioning on small yachts. No generator or shore power required.
In a charter company first, Sail Ionian has equipped two solar-powered yachts 'Freedom', a Bavaria C42 and 'Aqua Therapy', a Bavaria C38 with exclusive low-voltage variable-speed-drive solar yacht air-conditioning units.
You can now charter a yacht without a generator and enjoy the comfort of air conditioning wherever you are.
This groundbreaking new tech is environmentally friendly; without a diesel generator running you'll find the new system is quiet, and won't disturb the rest of the harbour overnight. What's more, it's also completely without any exhaust greenhouse gases. So, not only will you feel cool overnight and get a good night's sleep, but you can also be smug about it too, without any fossil fuel guilt.
The system has been made possible because Sail Ionian uses the latest technology from solar panels and lithium batteries. The panels are mounted above the bimini on a steel gantry as normal, usually two 215w panels. The Ionian sunshine gives us a great, reliable power source to rely on. The panels power 800Ah lithium batteries.
Lithium batteries offer huge advantages over traditional AGM units. Not only can they be discharged to around 90% without any damage, but they can also be recharged from flat to full capacity in under eight hours; far less than the 12-24 hours for a flat AGM to recharge. This level of discharge is, however, highly unlikely, even with the air conditioning running all night.
We usually see the lowest battery levels at around 50% of capacity in the early morning before the sun is up. A recharge to full capacity is normal by lunchtime without using shore power. This allows us to directly power the air-conditioning unit without worrying about flat batteries overnight, as they will be topped back up quickly and efficiently the next day.
The abundant battery power has many other advantages too. Guests do not really need to monitor power consumption anymore. Diligently entering battery levels in the logbook every hour is simply not necessary. Solar-powered lithium means no power worries onboard - fridges can be run all the time, even in the August Ionian heat!
This clean power then directly feeds the low voltage variable-speed-drive yacht air-conditioning unit. The new units are powered directly from the batteries' 12-volt system. There is no need for an inverter as the units run on the same voltage as the batteries, yielding further power savings, previously not possible. The air-conditioning unit’s power consumption is carefully controlled so that it does not draw huge amounts of power when starting up. ‘Sleep Mode’ also slowly raises the temperature in the boat overnight while you sleep, further reducing power consumption.
The efficiency of the whole system is far higher than was previously possible. This exclusive low-voltage yacht air-conditioning system has revolutionised the market and introduced a world of cooling to smaller yachts.
It will be rolled out to the rest of Sail Ionian’s charter fleet over this summer and into 2025.
Special show offers
Sail Ionian’s legendary boat show special offers are back again this year, with discounts of up to 30% on late season charters and further discounts on early bookings for 2025. We have offers on bareboat, flotilla or crewed charters and RYA Sea School courses. You can also secure your 2025 booking with just a £200 deposit.
Join us at stand J156 for a free glass of bubbles to celebrate 21 years of Sail Ionian and a chat about your dream yacht charter.