sailing la vagabonde yacht

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

Sailing La Vagabonde explain their multihull criteria

• Toby Hodges
• February 12, 2021

Why do sailing’s most successful influencers think the best boat for novice ocean cruisers is a performance multihull? Asks Toby Hodges

Over the last seven years Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu have advanced from novice sailors to logging more ocean miles than most of us will sail in a lifetime. And they’ve managed to translate their journey in the most engaging way, reaching more people than any other sailors on the planet via their YouTube channel, Sailing La Vagabonde .

This Australian couple are actively influencing a new generation of bluewater cruiser s. Millions of viewers watch their weekly episodes of the Sailing La Vagabonde channel, which brings multihull cruising into your living room (or office).

In them they share their liveaboard lifestyle by providing 20-minute hits of endearing weekly escapism.

But their reach is now ensuring they have the ear of the industry too, with the couple starting to leak plans of a new emission-free vessel, which will be sponsored by marine manufacturers.

One of Riley’s latest videos is more opinionated and advises people what to look for – and what to avoid – when buying a new catamaran. Just how much do these influencers want to influence?

Sailing La Vagabonde: Novices to experts

For those unfamiliar with Sailing La Vagabonde, the channel has accrued over 1.5m followers thanks to the fresh, self-deprecating, and admittedly easy-on-the-eye nature of its bronzed protagonists. Riley and Elayna are supported by the crowdfunding model Patreon, through which they have accrued over 3,600 paying members, and make a healthy return from YouTube revenue.

Riley Whitelum. Photo: c/o Sailing La Vagabonde

Their journey began when Riley, now 33, bought a 43ft Beneteau Cyclades in 2013, financed from eight hard years spent working on oil rigs. He met Elayna in the Greek islands, where she was working as a musician for a travel company. Seduced by his characterful moustache and the appeal of life afloat, the 21-year-old from Geraldton soon agreed to join Riley aboard.

She began documenting their budget cruising adventures for family and friends, including the myriad trials, challenges and plain scary moments of liveaboard sailing, before sharing the videos publicly.

After three years, including crossing the Atlantic and Pacific, they struck a deal with Outremer for a new 48ft catamaran on a hire-purchase agreement. This provided a more comfortable base for shooting and editing video, which has transformed into slick TV-quality production for their Sailing La Vagabonde episodes.

It also provided a stable platform to bring a mini Vagabonde into the world in the shape of their son Lenny.

In November 2019 they made headlines by carrying climate activist Greta Thunberg eastwards across the North Atlantic (along with 11-month-old Lenny). However, it was only once Riley had completed this intense, stressful passage as skipper and topped up his estimated 80,000 sea miles that he says he felt more “comfortable handing out advice or behaving like an expert”.

Riley’s video on buying a new catamaran centres on why it makes sense, particularly in terms of safety, for anyone thinking of going long term cruising to opt for a performance multihull over a charter-style production cat. He thinks more buyers should look at the numbers, demand the polars, ask more relevant questions of brokers and not get sidetracked by sales talk.

“If more people start going into boat shows asking better questions and it all filters back through, then the second-hand market would be full of much better-performing vessels,” he reasons.

Cat among the pigeons

He describes people being attracted to a multihull that looks like a comfortable house as the ‘great safety paradox’. “You’re drawn towards, and inevitably end up buying, the exact vessel that you don’t want to be in when faced with a difficult forecast,” Riley argues. He believes that the performance potential of multihulls is one of their biggest safety factors, pointing out that during their passage with Greta they were “jumping from one safe piece of ocean to another, while surrounded by fairly inclement conditions”.

Riley lists a multitude of further benefits of a fast cat, including allowing you to: “pick your path across an ocean; keep up with weather systems; travel twice as far in a day; maintain the same boat speed with half the amount of sail up, making your passage dramatically safer”.

Riley and Elayna struck a deal with Outremer for a new 48ft catamaran on a hire-purchase agreement. Photo: Robin Christol

These are valid points, but I’m left wondering how far up the performance curve he recommends going for ocean cruising. “So that’s the question,” Riley replies enthusiastically. “If you’ve got a multihull that can really perform, you don’t need to sail it at full throttle all the time.” Therefore, excluding full race boats, he thinks performance craft from Outremer up to the more minimalist speedsters such as Marsaudon’s TSs are actually fine for beginners.

“You end up with a lot better sailors because those people will learn to sail on a boat that performs. You get that feedback, it talks to you more.”

That said, Riley and Elayna think that selling a performance machine to the less experienced sailor should come with responsibility.

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“I think that they [the buyers] need to be trained by 
the company that’s selling the vessel. So it’s sort of like, ‘yeah, you can have this, but you need a license’.”

I point out that a high proportion of multihull buyers are coastal holiday sailors, while many new performance cats are too costly. But Riley confirms that his video is aimed at people who want to do some miles. “And I also said be aware that if you start doing this you’ll probably catch the bug and end up doing a lot more than you think.”

The ‘truth about buying video’ is more focussed on getting people to ask the right questions in the first place. Elayna thinks the larger companies selling production catamarans “need to give a truthful option of what is best for coastal sailing and what is best for crossing oceans.”

Creating, filming and editing accounts of liveaboard life are all part of the daily routine for Riley and Elayna. Photo: c/o Sailing La Vagabonde

Despite their opinions on production catamarans, Riley and Elayna make it very clear they don’t want to put anyone off sailing. “People are very emotional and I need to be really careful,” accepts Riley. “The last thing I want to do is upset Ma and Pa Kettle, who just spent their life savings on a Lagoon 45 – I really don’t. But all things considered, I just felt obligated to point out a few things… and because people do want to know our thoughts and ideas and opinions on stuff.”

Life in a slower lane

They emphasise that cruising is not all about sailing far or fast. “You don’t have to sail around the world to have fun, in fact the slower you go the more fun you have.” They refer to another channel, Catamaran Impi, inviting a response from South African couple Brent and Ana who’ve lived and cruised extensively aboard a heavier-style catamaran for 11 years.

Brent and Ana had to modify their Lagoon over 18 months to make it bluewater ready, but maintain they are comfortable on a heavier cat, especially during storms, when they’ll actually slow the boat down to avoid weather systems. In particular they highlight the ability for one person to be able to reef on any point of sail.

So, two different vloggers, two different views. It all shows how easily we can now gain rich information based on first-hand experience.

In their opinion, Riley and Elayna have the ideal boat for their adventures in their relatively new 48ft performance cat. Yet over the last couple of years they have been working away on a new zero emissions project, and have attracted sponsors, including Oceanvolt and Doyle Sails.

“The whole idea is to have a very good performing vessel… that can sail right up to the anchorage, before motoring in that last part,” Riley explains. He admits they don’t expect the new technology to be faultless and that with a young family they’ll err on the side of caution.

They already live relatively frugally, with minimal waste and use their reach to promote an awareness of ocean health. But do they feel the pressure to influence others with their new project too?

“With the emissions thing, it’s just so politically charged that we’re just generally going to lead by example,” Riley answers thoughtfully. “We’re going to do our own thing and just show you that either the technology works or it doesn’t.”

The bigger picture

Sailing La Vagabonde’s lifestyle may seem enviable, but when you consider the exhaustive hours of editing work, the endless search for wifi, and issues such as trolling which flourish when you make your personal life public, it’s heartening to find that Riley and Elayna still genuinely seem to love what they do.

Juggling the not insignificant trials of producing and uploading content along with parenting the newest Vagabonde, Lenny is not an easy task. Photo: c/o Sailing La Vagabonde

It seems viewers are increasingly turning to them for guidance too (they now produce digital sailing tutorials). “The journey itself is going to be harder than people think and probably more rewarding as well,” is Riley’s advice to those considering long-term cruising.

“So it’s not easy and you just have to love it. And once you do really love that time on the water, which is a massive reset, everything just disappears. Your worries, your concerns, all of the things that seemed important, just evaporate.”

He says his enjoyment of sailing has enriched his experience of becoming a capable skipper. “If you love the lifestyle and everything around it, then the learning side of things – and upping your level as a sailor – just becomes easy… it just happens.”

“But you do have to love the hard times too,” Elayna cautions. She is heartened that their typical viewers have evolved with them and moved on from older men to younger dreamers and doers.

When Nikki Henderson wrote her ‘Across the Atlantic with Greta’ account for Yachting World last year, she put Sailing La Vagabonde’s success down to the relatability of Riley and Elayna. I’d add to that their genuine desire to communicate the positives of sailing.

“One of the main things is getting people interested in sailing that aren’t already sailors. That’s really cool,” thinks Riley. Somewhat influenced, I couldn’t agree more.

If you enjoyed this….

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Sailing La Vagabonde choose Rapido 60 to sail world’s oceans

June 08, 2021

Rapido Trimarans is thrilled to confirm that Sailing La Vagabonde (SLV) will sail the world’s oceans aboard a Rapido 60!

In fact, SLV’s video announcing the decision to their 1.59 million subscribers (yes, 1.59m subscribers!) will go live live at 8.30am, Adelaide time in Australia (GMT/UTC +9:30) on 8 June 2021.

See the SLV video embedded below.

Welcome Riley, Elayna, Lenny +1 to the Rapido family!!! It is so good to have you on board!

Who is Sailing La Vagabonde?

SLV comprises an Australian couple, Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu and their son, Lenny. Additionally – and literally – joining the team will be their new-born, any day from now!

Riley and Elayna’s job is to sail the world’s oceans and, each week, bring their adventures to our phones, desktops and iPads via You Tube.

They began documenting their evolving journey on You Tube back in 2014 with a single-hull vessel. After a time, they upgraded to a twin-hulled vessel and, for the last 18-24 months, have been researching which boat would become the future of their sailing story, and proudly wear the title Sailing La Vagabonde III .

As part of their exhaustive selection process, they travelled to New Zealand in December 2019 for a test sail aboard the Rapido 60, Romanza . Owners of Romanza Dougall and Jaz Love were there together with co founder of Rapido Trimarans, Paul Koch. Some photos from that trip are posted below.

Eventually, falling out of Riley and Elayna’s exhaustive selection process was a three-hulled 6o’ (18m) trimaran, the Rapido 60.

Riley and Elayna explain why they chose the Rapido 60 (comments from video above)

But now, let’s hear from Riley and Elayna as to why and how the Rapido 60 met their criteria:

Riley – Rapido offers sailing performance and space

I know that the Rapido sails unbelievably well which is the main thrust behind all of our decision making.

(When we went to New Zealand), I knew it was going to sail well. I knew it was beautiful. I knew it was very well made because I’ve got a lot of respect for the boat builders.

The only thing I was worried about was the amount of space on board.

I jumped onboard ( Romanza ), ran around and I was like, “Ahhhhhh!, this is perfectly fine!” (Later in video Riley describes the forward cabin as being “massive” with a “huge” bed. “When you’re standing in the saloon, you’re actually standing in a huge room.”)

Elayna – Lightning speed at 25.7 knots

She goes at lightning speed. During the test sail, I was at the helm with one hand on the helm and we were going at 25.7 knots! I think I got the top speed for the day!

Riley – Maintaining a speed

25.7 knots – that’s extraordinarily fast. (And) that’s maintaining a speed; not surfing down waves.

Elayna – Just slightly heeling over

That was constant 25.7. In fact I think it was 26.7 but just in case, I will say 25. There you go!

It was fast and I was worried it would really heel over. (But) even at that speed, it was just slightly heeling over.

Riley – I want to be able to go at a good pace safely

I’m much more interested in average crossing times. I mean it’s good fun to go fast but that’s the least important on my list of things. I want to be able to go at a good pace safely.

It felt beyond comfortable.

When we were doing 20 knots, It felt like we were only going 10 – and it felt like we had so much more power just sitting there in reserve.

It felt like we were just ticking along and that is a nice feeling.

Elayna – Must be able to sail it single-handed

One thing that was really important for us with the trimaran was that Riley will have the ability to sail it single-handed because we will have two kids on the boat.

Riley – I’m not going…

I’m not going on a boat that I cannot single-hand.

Riley – Selecting a boat

In the end, it came down to what we really want to be on and what we think you guys (our viewers) want to see us sailing on.

This is so exciting.

And, I think, new.

Comment from Rapido Trimarans

As mentioned above, Rapido with Sailing La Vagabonde’s decision to explore the world on a Rapido 60, the Queen of the Oceans .

Elayna and Riley love the boat and also believe that it’s what “we think you guys (SLV’s 1.59 million viewers) want to see us sailing on”.

Dougall Love, co owner of Rapido 60, Romanza , once remarked that he believed the qualities found in the Rapido represent the “the future of sailing”.

With the extraordinary reach and exposure of Sailing La Vagabonde, perhaps the future is now a lot closer than many would have thought possible!

Post from the Sailing La Vagabonde website [7 June 2021]

We’re. So. Excited. We’ve been exploding waiting to tell you the massive news now that it’s official: LA VAGA III has begun.

It’s been a real labour of love to find our new home. It’s something that we’re really looking forward to and something we’re really confident we’re gonna love. We want to take you inside our new home, what it looks like…. hypothetically.

Yes, we haven’t built it yet, so this is as big a journey as ever for us. It’s clean and green, it’s a super stable and fast trimaran that we’ve always dreamed of.

As our family is getting bigger, these things have got that all-important storm-dodging speed and an insane level of stability.

The guys at rapidotrimarans.com  really know what they’re doing with these beautiful boats and we’re so glad to be with them.

• If you are interested in learning more about becoming a Patreon of Sailing La Vagabonde, click here .

Video below: Riley describes his ideas of a “good and safe multihull sailing philosophy” and how to apply them when selecting a boat that is right for you.

Related websites for Sailing La Vagabonde (SLV)

• Sailing La Vagabonde explain their multihull criteria , by Toby Hodges, Yachting World, 12 February 2021 (this article was published prior to SLV announcing their decision to ‘go with Rapido’).
• SLV’s You Tube channel
• SLV’s Facebook page
• Elayna Carausu’s Instagram page
• Riley Whitelum’s Instagram page
• Rapido Trimarans’ You Tube page

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Open Gallery

LA VAGABONDE Yacht Charter Catamaran

Size / Year Built / Builder

Other specifications

• Beam 23 Feet
• Draft 3 Feet
• Type Catamaran

Deck Jacuzzi

Air conditioning, deck shower, hair dryers, wheelchair access, stabilizers, onboard entertainment, salon tv/dvd, salon stereo/music, board games, ipod/mp3 hookups, gym equipment, water entertainment, snorkel gear, beach games, fishing gear, under water camera, under water video, stand-up paddle, sea scooters, sailing instructions, boarding ladder (loc/type), fishing gear type, scuba diving, license info, air compressor, technical details, water maker, charter types, special diets, kosher diets, gay charters, nudist charters, crew smokes, pets onboard, guest pets allowed, children allowed, green initiatives, make drinking water tested for purity, nationality, languages spoken by crew.

Riley Whitelum & Elayna Carausu’s new yacht ‘La Vaga III’

Riley Whitelum & Elayna Carausu have been travelling the world by yacht for more than five years and have built a Sailing La Vagabonde fan base of close to 1.6 million subscribers on YouTube along the way! Their journey is not showing any signs of slowing, with the recent announcement of their current yacht La Vagabonde selling and their new vessel under construction.

“We’re. So. Excited. We’ve been exploding waiting to tell you the massive news now that it’s official: LA VAGA III has begun. It’s been a real labour of love to find our new home. It’s something that we’re really looking forward to and something we’re really confident we’re gonna love. We want to take you inside our new home, what it looks like…. hypothetically. Yes, we haven’t built it yet, so this is as big a journey as ever for us. It’s clean and green, it’s a super stable and fast trimaran that we’ve always dreamed of. As our family is getting bigger, these things have got that all-important storm-dodging speed and an insane level of stability. The guys at rapidotrimarans.com really know what they’re doing with these beautiful boats and we’re so glad to be with them” comment Riley and Elayna.

La Vaga III will be launching later in 2021 and will be showcasing a top of the line Doyle Sails inventory, sporting all of the latest technology and innovation. Doyle Sails specialise in making sails that are lighter, faster and more durable than anything else on the market, and it is a pleasure to be onboard with Riley, Elayna, Lenny & Darwin as they head into this exciting new chapter of their sailing journey!

Watch their announcement video here..

Read more about Doyle Sails and the Sailing La Vagabonde partnership here .

Sailing La Vagabonde

Rescuing Greta Thunberg Is All In A Day’s Work For Sailing La Vagabonde

“That Feeling” is a sense of freedom and human connection. It comes when you’re out at sea and you become so close with the people you are with that you start to be able to read their thoughts. Getting to know people while out on the ocean is an amazing experience. We’ve had some incredible people crewing for us. We love the feeling of intimacy that you experience out there.

Crossing the Atlantic in November is a daunting prospect for the most experienced of sailors.

But Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu put their fears aside for the sake of one very important passenger.

In November 2019 they responded to a social media appeal from teenage climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg.

She had found herself suddenly on the wrong continent when climate change conference COP25 was moved from Chile to Spain at the last minute.

With air travel not an option Greta turned to Twitter for help - and Riley and Elayna came to her rescue.

Overnight they ditched their plans to spend a gentle winter sailing to Charleston, US - opting to face the fearsome seas of the North Atlantic instead.

“That ranks among our proudest achievements”, Elayna says. “It was an incredible experience with Greta and her dad Svante along with our son Lenny who was just one years old at the time.”

It is sharing extraordinary adventures like this that has seen Elayna and Riley’s Sailing La Vagabonde channel become the most popular sailing channel on YouTube with over 1.82million subscribers.

Now the couple are revealing what ‘That Feeling’ means to them as part of our global influencer campaign.

It was sailing that first brought Elayna, 29, and 38-year-old Riley together in a chance encounter when the pair were both exploring the Greek islands.

Elayna explains: “At the time, Riley would spend three weeks working and three weeks sailing. We met and he asked if I wanted to head to the next island with him. The rest, as they say, is history.”

Alongside son Lenny who is now four years old, the couple also have another son - Darwin, who is one and a half.

While Elayna spent her high school years in Western Australia learning how to sail, country boy Riley is more self taught.

Elayna recalls: “Riley learned everything by himself when he and his friend Lucas took out his sailboat for the first time.

“They rolled out the headsail and didn’t know how to fill it back in. So for the first two years before he met me he was just learning the hard way, no inspiration, no role models.

“He was just this country kid who came into the sailing industry not knowing a thing and luckily, made it out alive.”

When the couple got together, they were immediately hooked on the sailing life. “It was freedom,” says Elayna. “The feeling like we could just go anywhere and do anything, like we were making our own rules.”

Initially documenting their sailing adventures just for fun, they soon found that they had built a devoted audience without realising it.

Elayna says: “In the beginning, it was just a hobby. But we started to get people writing in asking, ‘Hey guys how are you? Hope everything’s OK’ and it quickly became obvious that our followers had become family to us. We felt like that was a good reason to post more regularly.

“The emails and videos we get of people saying how our videos have changed their lives makes it all worth it.”

Elayna and Riley and their young family are currently based in Vietnam while they prepare for their next adventure - sailing around Asia on a trimaran they are building themselves.

“We plan to go from Vietnam to Indonesia, stopping at some bigger cities along the way like Singapore and Bangkok”, says Elayna. “Our new boat is so light that we’ll be able to sail with such light conditions, which is what Asia kind of gives you.

“So we’re not worried that we’ll be stuck with no wind because we can sail in minimal wind which is why we wanted such a light and fast boat.”

And through all the ups and downs of life at sea since 2014 the couple remain committed to sharing their knowledge with others, so they too can experience ‘That Feeling’ in their lives.

“If we can do it, so can anyone”, says Elayna. “We were just a couple of kids that had very little or no sailing experience who crossed an entire ocean within a year of getting started.

“It’s very possible - and we just want to encourage people to get out of their comfort zones.”

Find out more about Sailing La Vagabonde:

• Riley’s Instagram
• Elayna’s Instagram

What does That Feeling mean to you?

Tag your content with our hashtags #AkzoNobel #ThatFeeling so that we can celebrate your passion with the sailing world.

Songs for sailing

Our influencers have come together to curate this playlist for you to enjoy when you are out on the water.

Meet our influencers

Antarctic sailor Lisa Blair shares what THAT FEELING means to her

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Cruising the Moskva River: A short guide to boat trips in Russia’s capital

There’s hardly a better way to absorb Moscow’s atmosphere than on a ship sailing up and down the Moskva River. While complicated ticketing, loud music and chilling winds might dampen the anticipated fun, this checklist will help you to enjoy the scenic views and not fall into common tourist traps.

How to find the right boat?

There are plenty of boats and selecting the right one might be challenging. The size of the boat should be your main criteria.

Plenty of small boats cruise the Moskva River, and the most vivid one is this yellow Lay’s-branded boat. Everyone who has ever visited Moscow probably has seen it.

This option might leave a passenger disembarking partially deaf as the merciless Russian pop music blasts onboard. A free spirit, however, will find partying on such a vessel to be an unforgettable and authentic experience that’s almost a metaphor for life in modern Russia: too loud, and sometimes too welcoming. Tickets start at $13 (800 rubles) per person.

Bigger boats offer smoother sailing and tend to attract foreign visitors because of their distinct Soviet aura. Indeed, many of the older vessels must have seen better days. They are still afloat, however, and getting aboard is a unique ‘cultural’ experience. Sometimes the crew might offer lunch or dinner to passengers, but this option must be purchased with the ticket. Here is one such  option  offering dinner for $24 (1,490 rubles).

If you want to travel in style, consider Flotilla Radisson. These large, modern vessels are quite posh, with a cozy restaurant and an attentive crew at your service. Even though the selection of wines and food is modest, these vessels are still much better than other boats.

Surprisingly, the luxurious boats are priced rather modestly, and a single ticket goes for $17-$32 (1,100-2,000 rubles); also expect a reasonable restaurant bill on top.

How to buy tickets?

Women holding photos of ships promise huge discounts to “the young and beautiful,” and give personal invitations for river tours. They sound and look nice, but there’s a small catch: their ticket prices are usually more than those purchased online.

“We bought tickets from street hawkers for 900 rubles each, only to later discover that the other passengers bought their tickets twice as cheap!”  wrote  (in Russian) a disappointed Rostislav on a travel company website.

Nevertheless, buying from street hawkers has one considerable advantage: they personally escort you to the vessel so that you don’t waste time looking for the boat on your own.

Prices start at $13 (800 rubles) for one ride, and for an additional $6.5 (400 rubles) you can purchase an unlimited number of tours on the same boat on any given day.

Flotilla Radisson has official ticket offices at Gorky Park and Hotel Ukraine, but they’re often sold out.

Buying online is an option that might save some cash. Websites such as  this   offer considerable discounts for tickets sold online. On a busy Friday night an online purchase might be the only chance to get a ticket on a Flotilla Radisson boat.

This  website  (in Russian) offers multiple options for short river cruises in and around the city center, including offbeat options such as ‘disco cruises’ and ‘children cruises.’ This other  website  sells tickets online, but doesn’t have an English version. The interface is intuitive, however.

Buying tickets online has its bad points, however. The most common is confusing which pier you should go to and missing your river tour.

“I once bought tickets online to save with the discount that the website offered,” said Igor Shvarkin from Moscow. “The pier was initially marked as ‘Park Kultury,’ but when I arrived it wasn’t easy to find my boat because there were too many there. My guests had to walk a considerable distance before I finally found the vessel that accepted my tickets purchased online,” said the man.

There are two main boarding piers in the city center:  Hotel Ukraine  and  Park Kultury . Always take note of your particular berth when buying tickets online.

Where to sit onboard?

Even on a warm day, the headwind might be chilly for passengers on deck. Make sure you have warm clothes, or that the crew has blankets ready upon request.

The glass-encased hold makes the tour much more comfortable, but not at the expense of having an enjoyable experience.

Getting off the boat requires preparation as well. Ideally, you should be able to disembark on any pier along the way. In reality, passengers never know where the boat’s captain will make the next stop. Street hawkers often tell passengers in advance where they’ll be able to disembark. If you buy tickets online then you’ll have to research it yourself.

There’s a chance that the captain won’t make any stops at all and will take you back to where the tour began, which is the case with Flotilla Radisson. The safest option is to automatically expect that you’ll return to the pier where you started.

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Restaurant-Yacht Chaika

Ratings and reviews, location and contact.

Pleasantly surprised, service is good so is the food. Great selection of Fusion food, a mixture of Italian, Japanese, European, Asian etc. A pleasantly nice dining experience, highly recommended, a must try!

Thank you for your feedback and invite you to have lunch or dinner again aboard the ship in an atmosphere of high standards of yacht hospitality.

everything was perfect - the food, the service, the desserts were the best, nice atmosphere and the location - magical

Best food, best view in Moscow. absolutely faultless from arrival to finish. Best risotto i had for many years absolutely perfectly cooked. The view on Ukrainian hotel and the white house by night is amazing

Had to wait for the food for 1.5 hours and then another 20 minutes for the check. Finally called for the manager and he offered... a 10% discount as a compensation. Simply pathetic! The food is mediocre at best. Not bad per se, but one... would expect something better considering the prices. There are many places to eat in area that are much better. Avoid this one at all costs. More

Hello, Alexander Your comment is extremely important for us, thank you a lot for it. We are terribly sorry for your time that you`ve spent waiting your order and we have already taken actions to improve quality of our service and it would be realy... More

Food is very expensive,very pretentious, doesn't worth that money. Portions are very small. We ordered ravioli and there were 4! Four raviolis! For almost 15 euros. Then we asked to bring us dessert menu but nothing, they didn't even bothered, so we payed and left... without dessert. Very poor service for that price. More

This is a very good restaurant. The food is really good, maybe the best in Moscow. The service is also good. The view from the restaurant is great. The prices are very high.

I often visit this restaurant and must say it’s one of the best in Moscow in terms of quality and service. Staff really try hard to make sure that you are happy and satisfied. Customer service is a huge problem in Moscow but Chaika sets... a great example for others in the industry! Food is delicious and the menu has lots of options for everyone! Atmosphere is great and view is beautiful on the embankment. Special thanks to German & Oleg! More

Thank you for your feedback! Again aboard the yacht restaurant "Chaika" in accordance with the high standards of yacht hospitality.

Highly recommended, great location in the city center of Moscow with a superb atmosphere. Too many menu choices, though all delicious!

Thx a lot for your review! We are looking forward to see you in our restaurants.

Visited this lovely restaurant with a friend of mine. It was relaxingly warm August evening - so the place on the river seemed like a good idea. We came quite early and the restaurant was not full. The hostesses kindly offered several places to sit... and we chose to sit on the sofas. We had some wine, which was good. We struggled a bit when deciding about the food as few options (scallops) were not available. Fish on ice on display did not look very fresh. To be honest it was an unusually hot August and it is probably understandable that some see food options were not available. However, we did manage to order something and sat waiting and looking onto the river. My long-legged friend struggled sitting at the low sofa and the manager noticed that, offering as a very good, proper table beside the open window. It was nice touch and I was very pleased by their polite observations and immediate reaction to solve the problem. Food was quite good and presentation was perfect. Perhaps I can something about the food, but 1 visit is not enough to criticize or make a definitive opinion. Overall, quality place, which of course, does not come cheap. I would recommend this restaurant without hesitation. More

Good afternoon! Thank you for your detailed feedback! We are looking forward to seeing you again, we are sure that you will be delighted with our dishes!

I've been here several times during two business trip in Moscow. The overall quality for both service and food is absolutely top-notch, plus the location is very unique.

Hello! Thank you for your feedback! We are looking forward to visiting again!

Located on a boat at Krasnopresenskaya River Bank this 5 Star Restaurant transforms into a party location due to multiple groups hosting events. Impressive wine selection, Asian and European kitchen...

Thx a lot! We are waiting for you!

It is a nice place to gather specially at the lounge The service and staff very good I like the river view The food is almost like all restaurants in Russia they serve different cuisine. Staring Russian appetizer till Asian dishes Presentation and taste amazing... I consider it overpriced little bit More

Good location. Nice views. Good choice of food and drinks. European and Asian menu. Nice service. Pricey enough.

Had a large group dinner here. Food was above average and service quite good. The real attraction is the view of Moscow from the river on a nice night. Great place for a larger group dinner. More

Hello, John We are really pleased by reading that you and your friends were satisfied by our service, client`s experience is the highest value for us. We will be happy to see you again, come and enjoy some new dishes from our chef and nice... More

The luxurious atmosphere of this place, the view and the location make it quite outstanding. We had dinner here with friends and the dishes were amazing, accompanied by a chilled bottle of Chablis, it really made me feel as if it was a part of... the classic Russian movie. More

RESTAURANT-YACHT CHAIKA, Moscow - Presnensky - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Tripadvisor

• Service: 4.5
• Atmosphere: 4.5

Here's a peek onboard Emerald Sakara and some of its inaugural destinations