Charter Company - The Nanaimo Yacht Charters & Sailing School

About Us

With more than 30 years of experience, our management team delivers memorable charter holidays on a fleet of highly maintained sail and power yachts. We are the only Charter Company with a full-service yacht repairs and yacht-maintenance division, boatyard with a Travelift, and Marine Store on site. For more information about our Yacht Services, Stones Boatyard, and The Marine Store at Stones Boatyard, visit: www.nanaimoboatyard.ca.

WHO ARE WE?

Ian MacPherson,Nanaimoyachtcharters the CEO of Nanaimo Yacht Charters & Sailing School, is the Vice President of Boating BC and on the board of the Canadian Recreational Yachting Association (CRYA) as well as the President of the Association of Bareboat Charters and Sailing Schools of BC. His experience managing over 300 staff, maintaining 250 yachts and developing 6 hotels brings exceptional expertise to our yacht charter owners, charterers, and sailing school clients. Ian’s exceptional skill and teaching ability has created generations of sailors, power boaters, and instructors who have carried their passions across the globe and established the success of our education programs.

Shari MacPherson,iMarketing owned and managed a day charter operation of a 70′ Stays’l Schooner called “Gandalf of Eldemar”. The charters included day, evening, and dinner cruises- a huge attraction to all those who visited the Caribbean. Shari, together with Ian, cruised some 32,000 nautical miles, crossing several oceans with two very young daughters. Read about some of the MacPhersons’ exploits prior to immigrating to Canada.

These customer-driven owners make the strong management team of Nanaimo Yacht Charters & Sailing School – proud owners and proud Canadians. We are privately owned and not affiliated with any other charter company.

We have recently been asked to work with Transport Canada in promoting safe boating in the rental boat fleet:

Launch Course

Below is just a snippet of some of the world’s best cruising ground along the Sunshine Coast and through Desolation Sound onboard the Beneteau 40 – ‘Baraka Too’.

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Laurent Pelissier

2020-11-09

Had an amazing time on the water with Marla as skipper and instructor. The staff at Nanaimo Yacht Charters is very helpful and friendly. Highly recommend! Great experience, thank you!

Daren Forster

2020-10-07

I just completed a 14 days Yacht Master course with NYCSS. This was an exceptional experience with an outstanding instructor and crew. Circumnavigating Vancouver Island is the best training ground you could ask for! NYCSS is the best of the best in there field. A huge thank you to Ian and Beth MacPherson for this outstanding experience!

Michelle Wijesinghe

2020-09-29

I did the introductory 5 day women’s only sail and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Nanaimo Yacht Charters was so professional from the registration all the way to the end when I received my International Yacht Training certificates. Our skipper Tracey was soooooooo incredible and probably the best teacher I have ever had. She was so knowledgeable, skilled and provided us information in easily digestible chunks. 11 out of 10 stars! The boat (38 foot white hull named Sante) was BEAUTIFUL. Great cabins, good amenities, spacious. We went from Nanaimo to Salt Spring Island with several stops along the way. I’ve also never seen so many stars in the sky as I did at night. We got lots of practice anchoring a boat, using a mooring ball and of course raising and lowering the sail, handling the line, driving, etc. I can’t wait to take the 2nd level course! My love for sailing grew exponentially after this course and it was all about the company staff, skipper, beauty of the boat and of course being on open ocean hearing nothing but the waves hitting the boat and the wind hitting the sails! Truly magical. If you are thinking of taking a sailing course, pick Nanaimo Yacht Charters. It’ll be an experience you’ll never forget and one you won’t regret.

Bill Boyce

2020-09-24

If you get the opportunity to sail with Ian, go for it. He is incredibly experienced and has many a sailing story to tell. The best adventure I had was going Around Vancouver Island with him which is 2 weeks of sailing. Learned a lot and he tested my skills... thank you Ian. Bill Boyce ISPA and ASA sailing Instructor

Craig Bosenberg

2020-09-18

Our family chartered “Never for ever” out of NYC. We were very happy with every aspect of the charter. Despite the challenges presented by COVID, everything went very smoothly. The yacht was in great shape with all the necessary equipment for 2 weeks safely sailing and staying in anchorages around desolation sound. Having chartered around the world, we would place Nanaimo Yacht Charters amongst the best charter companies. Thanks for a great vacation.

Ken Murphy

2020-09-15

We just returned from our second charter with Nanaimo yacht charters. This was a last minute booking and they opened up a booking for our dates. Beth was on top of all our needs including having the charts already selected for our sailing agenda. "Sante" was a beautiful vessel and performed both under sail and power, Absolutely worry free and made our time away a true adventure with smiles all around Thank you again and look forward to our next adventure Ken and Wendy

Margot Delport

2020-07-02

Shawn McGregor

2019-11-06

David Thomas

2019-10-25

Over the past 5 years I’ve attended the sailing school twice and chartered boats three times. Each experience with NYC has been professional, organized, and enjoyable. Beth and Ian are wonderful to work with. They are warm, knowledgable, courteous, and encouraging. I particularly enjoyed living on a sailboat and receiving instruction for a week while attending the intermediate cruising course. Living on a boat for a week develops a strong appreciation for the maintenance that a boat requires. I greatly admire how NYC services and maintains their fleet. The systems and equipment of each vessel in the expansive fleet is continuously monitored and attended to. The sailing courses helped familiarize me with the Gulf Islands and made me comfortable eventually chartering for myself. NYC offers wonderful itinerary planning for boaters not familiar with Gulf Island, Sunshine Coast, and Desolation Sound areas. My recent charter into Princess Louisa Inlet on the Sunshine Coast will be a life’s highlight. I look forward to many years enjoying and exploring western Canada’s costal waters with Nanaimo Yacht Charters.

Stephanie Mathyssek

2019-08-08

Thank you NYC for helping to make our dreams come true! We ticked a huge item off our Bucket List in July 2019. Stargazer, a beautiful Bavaria 43' was our home for 10 days. These are just a few of the squillions of photos! She was comfortable, clean, and very well appointed and maintained. A big thank you to Ian and his team. This was our first charter and we could not have been happier with the kind and courteous service. After a warm welcome we were briefed on the sailing area, received charts/books and plenty of tips to help us on our adventure. We were given a very thorough brief aboard Stargazer and our questions were answered professionally and respectfully. We have two teenage boys and this was the perfect family holiday. We will definitely be chartering again with Nanaimo Yacht Charters as we really felt that they wanted us to have the best experience possible. Thanks again! Stephanie, Marcus, Noah and Nicholas