Choose a route, then choose your week.
Browse experiences by coast and sailing style, pick the departure that fits your dates, and decide how much of the yacht you want.
- Whole yacht
- Cabin
- Individual berth
How Malaka works
From choosing the route to stepping on board.
Malaka connects curated sailing experiences, verified skippers, exact departure dates and the practical tools your crew needs before the trip.
Verified skippers
Dated departures
Whole yacht · cabin · berth
The Malaka model
What you are actually booking.
Malaka is built around the sailing holiday, not the boat alone. Three things stack on top of each other — and once they click, the rest of the platform reads easily.
Two entry points
Two ways to get on the water.
Most people arrive looking for a week away. Some already have the yacht and only need the person at the helm. Malaka handles both, and both end up in the same organized trip.
Already have or chartered the yacht?
Tell Malaka where, when, which yacht and who is coming. Verified skippers available in that area reply with their terms, and you choose.
- Your own boat
- External charter
- Delivery & transfers
Journey A
Booking a sailing holiday.
Six steps from an empty search field to a trip your whole crew can see. Nothing happens by phone call, and nothing is decided before you have read the itinerary.
Explore
Start from a coast and a week. The search narrows experiences down to the ones that actually have space for your group.
- Destination
- Dates
- Guests
- Booking mode
Choose an experience
Read the whole week before you commit: where the yacht sleeps each night, how much sailing there is, and what is included.
- Route
- Itinerary
- Skipper
- Yacht style
- Reviews
- Included / excluded
Choose a departure
Each dated departure carries its own yacht, its own skipper and its own price. Availability is shown per departure, not per experience.
- Exact dates
- Yacht
- Skipper
- Availability
- Price
Choose how you book
The same departure can be reserved in three ways. What changes is how much of the yacht is yours and who else is on board.
- Whole yacht
- Cabin
- Individual berth
Confirm and pay
Before anything is charged you see the full breakdown: what is due now, what is due later and the conditions that apply to that departure.
- Total
- Deposit
- Payment schedule
- Conditions
Enter your Holiday Hub
The confirmation is not the end of the process — it is the beginning of the organized part. The trip page opens the moment the booking is confirmed.
- Crew
- Documents
- Payments
- Messages
- Travel details
Booking modes
One trip. Different ways to book it.
A departure can be sold as a whole yacht, cabin by cabin or berth by berth. Choose the row that matches your group — the week itself does not change.
Prices shown here are illustrative examples. Each departure publishes its own price, capacity and conditions.
Whole yacht
You reserve the entire yacht for the departure. Nobody outside your group is added to the booking, and the skipper hosts your crew alone.
- Best for families, groups of friends and private crews
- You become the Group Leader and invite the rest of the crew
- Cabin allocation is yours to decide inside the trip
- Who books
- One person, for everyone
- Crew on board
- Only your group
- Cabins
- All of them
- Route input
- Discussed with the skipper
€6,400 illustrative · whole yacht, one week, skipper included
Cabin
You reserve a private cabin on a departure that other guests are also joining. Shared spaces are shared; the cabin is not.
- Best for couples and two travellers booking together
- You see the crew size and the skipper before you pay
- Each cabin completes its own crew details
- Who books
- You, for your cabin
- Crew on board
- Mixed, hosted departure
- Cabins
- One, private
- Route input
- Set by the experience
€1,780 illustrative · one cabin, two guests, one week
Individual berth
You reserve your own place on board and join a crew that comes together for the week. The lightest way to sail without organizing anything.
- Best for solo travellers and small groups
- No sailing experience needed on hosted departures
- Cabin sharing is shown on the departure before booking
- Who books
- You, for yourself
- Crew on board
- Mixed, hosted departure
- Cabins
- Shared, as published
- Route input
- Set by the experience
€890 illustrative · one berth, one week
Group leader
Booking the whole yacht?
The person who books the yacht becomes the Group Leader and can invite the rest of the crew into the trip. Everyone then fills in their own details — nobody chases passports over WhatsApp.
- Invite crew by email or a shared link
- See completion status at a glance, per person
- Track what is still required before departure
- Access payments and receive trip messages
Crew members complete their own details. The Group Leader sees whether a task is done — not the personal data behind it.
Crew completion · 6 guests
Tudor L. · group leaderComplete
Ana M.Complete
Radu P.Under review
Ioana S.Uploaded
Mihai G.Missing details
Elena V. · invitedNot started
4 of 6 crew members have finished their part. Illustrative preview.
After booking
After booking, the holiday becomes organized.
The booking is the transaction. The Holiday Hub is where the actual trip gets organized — one page the whole crew can open, instead of a folder of PDFs and three group chats.
Croatia Islands Escape
Split · Bavaria Cruiser 46 · skipper Marko K.
Meeting point
ACI Marina Split, pier CSat 17:00
Boarding briefing18:00
Trip readiness
Crew details4 / 6
Documents2 pending
Crew · 6 guests
Tudor L. · group leaderComplete
Ana M.Complete
Radu P.Under review
Mihai G.Missing
Cabin plan
Fore cabinTudor & Ana
Aft cabin, portRadu & Ioana
Aft cabin, starboardMihai & Elena
Trip documents
Crew form · Tudor L.Complete
ID document · Ana M.Verified
ID document · Radu P.Under review
Waiver · Mihai G.Missing
Skipper credentials
IdentityVerified
Professional licenceVerified
VHF / SRCVerified
Payment status
Total€6,400
Paid€1,920
Remaining€4,480
Next payment15 April
Receipts
Deposit · 12 FebReceipt
Invoice · booking 4471Available
Trip messages
Marko K. · skipper
Forecast for your week looks settled. I would swap Vis and Hvar so we get the calmer crossing on Tuesday — happy either way.
Tudor L.
Works for us. Two of the crew land at 15:40, we should all be at the marina by five.
Announcement · packing listSent to 6
Holiday Hub
Everything that has to happen between the confirmation email and the marina, in modules the whole crew can see.
- Overview
- Yacht
- Route
- Crew
- Documents
- Payments
- Messages
- Meeting point
- Travel information
- Checklist
Preview only. Real trip data appears once a booking is confirmed.
Crew onboarding
Every crew member completes their own details.
Whoever booked does not have to collect anything by hand. Each guest gets their own short list, and the trip shows how far along everyone is.
Who you are
Personal information and, where the trip or country requires it, an ID or passport reference.
- Personal details
- ID where required
Who to call
An emergency contact for the week, kept with the trip and available to the skipper if it is ever needed.
- Emergency contact
How you arrive
Travel details, arrival time and anything that affects the boarding plan on day one.
- Travel details
- Arrival
Life on board
Dietary preferences, sailing experience and any required forms for that particular departure.
- Diet
- Experience
- Forms
- Uploads
Statuses you will see
Complete
Missing
Uploaded
Under review
Verified
Documents
Documents stay connected to the trip.
Whatever a departure requires stays attached to that departure — not scattered across inboxes. What is required depends on the country, the yacht and the charter company, and the trip page tells you which of those apply.
Crew side
- ID or passport where required
- Crew form for the departure
- Waiver and required declarations
- Travel documents you want on hand
Skipper side
- Identity
- Professional sailing licence
- VHF / SRC radio certificate where relevant
- Additional professional certificates
Uploaded documents are never shown publicly. Profiles display a verification status, never the document itself.
Document status · illustrative
Crew formComplete
ID documentUploaded
WaiverUnder review
Skipper licenceVerified
Dietary formMissing
Crew manifest · preview
| Guest | Nationality | Travel doc | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tudor L. | RO | •••• 4192 | Ready |
| Ana M. | RO | •••• 7730 | Ready |
| Radu P. | DE | •••• —— | Review |
Once required crew information is complete, Malaka can organize the trip data into a crew manifest for operational use. Values here are masked placeholders.
Payments
Know what you pay and when.
A departure sets its own schedule and conditions. Whatever they are, you see them before you confirm — and the trip keeps showing the same numbers afterwards.
What a departure can support
- Deposit, second payment and final balance
- Refunds and cancellation handling
- Payouts to the skipper or provider where applicable
What you always see
- Total price and what it includes
- Paid amount, remaining balance, next date
- Receipts and invoices for each payment
Splitting the cost
On a whole-yacht booking the Group Leader can see who has contributed and what is still outstanding, so the week is not settled by bank transfer roulette.
Cancellation terms and refund rules are set per departure. Always read the conditions shown on that departure before confirming.
Messaging
Messages stay connected to the trip.
There is no general inbox to lose things in. Every conversation belongs to a departure or a booking, so the context travels with it.
Ask before you commit.
Questions about the route, the skipper, the yacht or what is still free that week — attached to the departure you are looking at.
You
Is the Tuesday crossing to Vis fixed, or does it depend on the wind?
Marko K. · skipper
It depends. If the meltemi builds we stay on the Hvar side — same nights on board, calmer sailing.
Then it becomes logistics.
Arrival times, documents, crew updates and announcements to everyone on board — all inside the trip, visible to the people it concerns.
Marko K. · skipper
Announcement to 6 crew: soft bags only, no hard suitcases — there is nowhere to store them.
Ana M.
Noted. We land at 15:40 and will take the taxi straight to pier C.
Route & weather
The itinerary is planned.
The sea still gets a vote.
Published routes are the intended itinerary. Your skipper may adapt stops because of weather, sea state, marina availability or safety — that is normal sailing, and it is usually what makes the week better.
- The number of nights and the base do not change
- The skipper explains the change and the alternative
- Route updates appear in the trip, not only on the water
Verification
The person at the helm matters.
Skippers on Malaka are independent professionals, not staff. Before a profile can host departures or send offers, Malaka reviews who they are and what they are qualified to do.
Verified skipper
Marko Kovačević
Croatia · Split, Hvar, Vis, Kornati · 4.9 average over 78 trips
- IdentityReviewed
- Professional sailing licenceReviewed
- VHF / SRC radio certificateReviewed
- Additional certificatesOn file
Licence numbers and document scans are never published. Profiles show the status of a check, not its contents.
What is checked
Identity, professional sailing documents and, where it applies to the area or the yacht, radio certification.
What builds over time
Profile history, sailing areas, yacht experience and reviews from crews that actually sailed with them.
Reviews
Reviews come from completed trips.
A review can only be written by someone who was on board, once the departure is over. That keeps ratings connected to real weeks at sea rather than to browsing.
Skipper
Route
Yacht
Organization
Crew experience
“Eight of us, zero sailing experience. Marko read the forecast every morning and we never once felt out of our depth.”
“Booked one berth, knew nobody, came home with a crew. The trip page meant nobody had to organize anything by group chat.”
“We had the boat already and just needed a skipper. Posted on Sunday, four offers by Monday, sailed with one of them in August.”
Journey B · skipper only
Already have the yacht?
If the boat is yours, or you chartered it somewhere else, you can use Malaka for the part that is hardest to solve: finding a verified skipper who is free that week and knows the area.
What you tell us
- Sailing area
- Lefkada, Ionian
- Dates
- 10 – 17 August
- Yacht
- Bavaria Cruiser 46
- Crew
- 8 guests, 2 children
- Trip style
- Relaxed, short hops, swimming stops
- Language
- English or German
Illustrative request. Posting is free and does not commit you to anything.
-
1
Post request
Your trip becomes visible to verified skippers available in that area and those dates.
-
2
Receive offers
Skippers reply with their fee, expected expenses, availability, scope of work and a short message.
-
3
Compare
Verification status, knowledge of the sailing area, experience on that type of yacht, and reviews.
-
4
Accept
Accepting one offer creates the skipper booking. The others simply close.
-
5
Organize
The trip moves into a Trip Workspace — crew, documents, payments and messages, same as a marketplace booking.
- Post a skipper request
Offers
An offer is an answer, not a booking.
Skippers respond to your request on their own terms. Nothing is reserved and nothing is charged until you accept one of them.
Marko Kovačević
Croatia · 4.9 · 78 trips
Verified
- Skipper fee
- €1,450
- Travel
- €120 est.
- Availability
- 10 – 17 Aug
“Available for your dates and familiar with the Split–Hvar–Vis route. Happy to take the children sailing on the helm in light wind.”
Scope · skippering, briefing, provisioning help
Accept offer
Giorgos K.Ionian · 4.8 · 51 trips
- Fee
- €1,320
- Travel
- €60 est.
Andrea T.Adriatic · 5.0 · 24 trips
- Fee
- €1,590
- Travel
- included
Receiving an offer is not a booking. You choose which offer to accept, and only that one becomes a confirmed skipper booking. Fees and expenses shown here are illustrative.
Ecosystem
Your yacht does not have to be booked through Malaka.
If you already chartered the yacht elsewhere — or you own it — you can still use Malaka to find a skipper and organize the trip after the charter is confirmed. The boat comes from wherever it comes from; the week still gets organized properly.
- Own yachtYour boat, your marina, a skipper for the week.
- External charterBooked with any charter company or broker.
- Malaka departureYacht and skipper come together in one booking.
- Delivery or transferMoving the yacht between bases with a professional.
Trip Workspace
The trip exists beyond the marketplace.
However the trip started, it ends up in the same place: one workspace that holds the people, the paperwork and the plan. The Holiday Hub is what that workspace looks like when you booked a holiday.
Malaka marketplace booking
Skipper-only booking
Private / external trip
Trip Workspace
- Skipper
- Yacht
- Crew
- Documents
- Payments
- Messages
- Route
- Calendar
- Meeting information
Trust & safety
What Malaka takes care of.
Verified skipper profiles
Identity and professional documents are reviewed before a skipper can host or make offers.
Transparent payments
Total, schedule and conditions are visible before you confirm, and stay visible afterwards.
Secure document handling
Documents are attached to the trip, restricted to the people who need them, and never public.
Trip-linked messaging
Conversations belong to a departure or a booking, so context is never lost between apps.
Clear booking details
Yacht, skipper, capacity, inclusions and cancellation information are shown per departure.
Support
Help before, during and after the trip, with the booking on screen instead of in an email thread.
Verification and platform tools reduce risk; they do not remove it. Conditions, insurance and responsibilities depend on the departure, the yacht and local regulation.
Positioning
Not just another yacht listing site.
Malaka is not centred on browsing boats. The primary product is the sailing experience — the route, the skipper, the departure, the crew and the organization around it. The yacht matters, but it is one part of the trip.
A listing site sells
- A hull, a length, a year
- A calendar of free weeks
- An enquiry form
- A price per boat
Malaka sells
- A route and a week at sea
- A dated departure with a named skipper
- A booking you can share with your crew
- The organization that follows it
First time on a yacht
Never sailed before?
Many hosted departures are designed for guests with no sailing experience. Your skipper operates the yacht, and you can participate as much or as little as you want.
- No experience required on hosted trips — it says so on the departure
- Life on board is shared: small spaces, short queues for the shower
- Plans flex with the weather, and the skipper explains why
- A crew cooperates — mooring is a two-minute job that needs two people
Worked example
One trip, from search to sea.
A single booking, followed all the way through. Step through it to see what changes at each stage.
1 / 9
Questions
Everything else, briefly.
Fifteen questions people ask before their first booking.
A place on a dated sailing holiday. Depending on the booking mode that is the whole yacht, one cabin or one berth on a specific departure, with the skipper included.
The experience is the holiday itself — route, itinerary and sailing style — and it exists all season. A departure is one dated instance of it, with an exact yacht, skipper, capacity and price.
Yes, where the departure offers it. You reserve the entire boat, become the Group Leader and invite your own crew — nobody outside your group joins the trip.
Yes, on departures that sell individual berths. You reserve your own place and sail with a crew that comes together for the week.
Yes. A cabin booking gives two travellers a private cabin on a shared departure — the common areas are shared, the cabin is not.
Not on hosted departures, which are designed for guests with no experience. The skipper operates the yacht; you take part as much or as little as you like. Departures that expect active crew say so.
Malaka reviews identity and professional sailing documents, plus radio certification where it applies. Profiles then show verification status, sailing areas, yacht experience and reviews — never the documents themselves.
The Holiday Hub opens. That is where crew, documents, payments, messages, meeting point and travel details live until departure day.
Typically a crew form and, where the country or charter requires it, ID or passport details, a waiver or other declarations. The trip page lists exactly what applies to that departure.
A departure can use a deposit, one or more intermediate payments and a final balance. You always see the total, what is paid, what is left, the next date, and receipts — before and after booking.
The skipper adapts stops for weather, sea state, marina availability or safety. The published route is the intended itinerary; the number of nights and the base stay the same, and changes are explained in the trip.
Yes. Post a skipper request with the area, dates, yacht and crew. Verified skippers reply with their terms and you accept the one you want — that creates a skipper booking.
No. The yacht can be your own or chartered anywhere else. Once the charter is confirmed you can still use Malaka to find the skipper and organize the trip.
Yes. On a whole-yacht booking you can invite crew at any point up to the deadlines shown in the trip, and each person completes their own details.
Inside the trip. Messages are tied to the departure or booking they belong to, and documents stay attached to the trip and visible only to the people who need them.
Ready when you are
Choose how you want to sail.
Find a sailing holiday
Pick a coast and a week. The route, the yacht and the skipper come together in one booking.
Explore tripsAlready have the yacht?
Post the trip and verified skippers available that week come back to you with their terms.
Find a skipper