A boat is used for about a third of the available time in a season. August is still tight — because everyone wants it then. A procedure agreed in advance saves the annual negotiation.
The round of wishes
The most widespread method, and it needs no software:
- By a set date everyone names the weeks they want, in order of priority.
- In a fixed order, each picks their first choice.
- Then the second round, then the third — until the high season is allocated.
- The rest of the season is booked as needed, with no procedure.
The order moves on every year. Whoever picked first this year picks last next year. Over four years everyone has been first once — and nobody has to justify themselves every spring.
What counts as high season belongs in writing
Otherwise you negotiate that too, every year. Usually it is the school holidays of the region plus the weeks either side. Write the weeks down concretely, not „the summer holidays“ — those fall weeks apart depending on the state or country.
Weekends are the real scarcity
Few people take whole weeks. What actually collides are the long weekends from May to September. Two rules help:
- A lead time: weekends may be booked four weeks ahead at the earliest. Otherwise the whole summer is gone by February.
- A cap: at most two weekends in a row while somebody else still wants one.
Swapping allowed, but on the record
Plans change. A swap between two people should be possible — but it belongs on the record, otherwise by the end of the season nobody knows who was aboard when. That is less a question of mistrust than of memory.
Counting helps with planning
Anyone who sees at the end of the season how the nights were spread — and how that compares with their share — plans the next one more easily. Not as a settlement, but as a starting point: if someone was well below their share, perhaps they take first pick next year.
Use and costs are two different things. Fixed costs are borne by everyone according to their share, regardless of how often they sailed — the berth costs money even while the boat sits in it.
In short. A round of wishes with an order that rotates yearly, high season weeks named concretely, a lead time for weekends, swapping allowed and recorded. The figures at the end of the season are a planning aid, not an invoice.