Best route to commercial sailing or working on yachts?

[lw395]

Thanks Pete, I think you confirm that yacht delivery is not a full time profession for someone starting out on life other than for a few years to get the wanderlust out of the system. It simply cannot pay enough in the context of earning opportunities.
....

There are quite a lot of people these days working at more than one income stream, many with multiple freelance/casual/agency jobs.
Not everyone has the luxury of looking at low paid work and saying 'I don't need that, I can get £50k from a bank'.
For some younger people, it's like lots of other sports/leisure industries, they will put a few years in scraping to get by, either they get established and get a decent role in the industry or they fade back into 'ordinary civilian life'.

 

[obmij]

20 years ago it used to be £1 / mile so realistically around £100 / day and then expenses on top of that.

Recently I worked with a couple of guys who had come out of the delivery industry and into the commercial sector. Both were highly experienced and qualified but apparently rates haven't really advanced that much. It's a lot of responsibility for £5 / hour especially as 20 years ago it cost 6 x less to buy a house than it does today..

 

[Uricanejack]

It is a sliding scale. If you tried to make a living delivering boats under 30ft then you would struggle. We deliver yachts of all sizes, but once you get above the 60-70ft range most yachts will have a full time skipper. Working with a full time contract on any yacht will give you enough money to comfortably live on, even as a deck hand. The terms usually mean that all accomodation and food is provided, so the salary is all take home and often tax free. It suits the younger person (or single person) as you have to move around with the yacht and don't get much time off. Not ideal if you have a family.

The rates a skipper will earn whilst on a yacht delivery go up with the size and value of the boat. If you are a skipper with lots of experience of vessels over 50ft then you can earn a good rate. One of the challenges, as with all contract work, is that you are only earning when you are at sea. I think for this reason the yacht delivery industry favours people who have had another career, possibly paid off their mortgages, or even have a pension from another job. They can afford to have plenty of time at home and don't need to be earning all the time.

In general, the skippers we have employed under the age of 40 (and who are looking to have a career at sea) will work for a few years on deliveries and will then move onto either a full time contract on a larger yacht or move into the commercial sector (wind farm work for example).

Pete

Good point. There are probably a lot of opertunities on other kinds of small comercial vessels. Which the various RYA YM certificates appears to be valid for use on.
Not sure about the UK. Here finding qualified crew for a small comercial vessel is quite difficult.
It’s usualy not sailing, although there are a few sail training vessels.

I usualy advise people here if interested to go and take the basic safety traing requirements which will cost a couple of G.
Or better take a Deck Hand Bridge Watchman course at one of the recognized traing centers. Which will cost quite a bit more 5G ish.
It’s basicaly a modernized EDH course. Efficient Deck Hand. Which no longer exists here.
Most of those who complete the course get hired. Quite often on Yachts.
The big problem a lot of vessels have. Is meeting STCW Bridge manning requirements, along with emergency duty requirements.

One of the reasons I was interested in the Lad with the PB level. The time he had worked on the yacht counted towards an STCW Bridge Watch certificate. So with just a little bit more time as a “trainee”. Sent him to get the certificate which he passed easily.
It struck me as a pretty good entry level qualification.