cost of crewing?

[zephyrsailor]

what do people suppose is a reasonable price per day to be expecting to pay for an atlanic crossing such as the arc?
obviously it is possble to get all found on an atlantic delivery, but my friend has just been asked for 50 quid a day to be crew in the arc. which seemed to me to be alot. i thought about 15 quid or so seemed about right.


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[tony_brighton]

Depends if there is a profit element involved - for £50 it sounds like skippy is making some money out of it (although there is a crew cost to the Challenge Business for each crew). I would expect food and drink to be covered plus maybe a share of other costs (gas, diesel etc).

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[StellaGirl]

That sounds expensive!!!
The crew entry fee is less than a £100 per crew member so that cannot be used as an excuse...
I paid £1200 last year which included 10 days in Las Palmas before the start and then the option of staying on the boat for Christmas but at least for a week in St Lucia.
Whatever your friend does - make sure they are really happy with the skipper and rest of crew. There is nothing worse than being stuck with someone for 16+ days thats you dont get on with.
Dont necessarily take the first offer that comes along either. They may be very keen but there are so many boats doing the ARC they will probably end up with a choice like I did.
Either way good luck to them and hope they pick a happy and fast boat!!

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[snowleopard]

the ARC is a special case- supply and demand. i charged £10 per day for food & expected the crew to make their own transport arrangements but i could probably have charged 5 times that as there were so many wanting to go. apart from anything else, had i charged £50 it would have become a business and would have invalidated my insurance plus breaking EC rules.

does your friend have commercial charter insurance and is his boat EC coded? if not, he's pushing his luck and you have no comeback if things go wrong.

at the other end of the scale the big commercial boats like Challenge Business and Formula 1 charge upwards of £2000 per berth. the benefit of going with them is that you get a guaranteed berth, unlike the hopefulls who throng the quays at las palmas hoping for a free ride.

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[Guest]

Post deleted by danfoley

 

[tony_brighton]

You seem to be arguing supply and demand - I think there is a huge legal difference between crewing (not for profit) and crewing (for profit) which requires the boat to be registered as a commercial operation with all that implies.

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[Guest]

Post deleted by danfoley

 

[Sybarite]

I think there are two ways of looking at this:

a short term crewing experience where the owner looks at covering the marginal voyage costs : food, fuel mooring etc. then;

where a longer term crew situation exists ie where somebody is substantially using the boat on a longer term basis. In this case it might be reasonable to expect that the person contributes to things like the mooring costs, repairs and even a contribution towards the cost of capital employed.

If somebody were getting long term pleasure from a boat on which I paid all the substantial costs I would feel a bit miffed - unless I really needed the person as a crew and not just somebody there for company.

If you add the total annual cost for the boat (moorings, insurance, maintenance etc) and include interest on the capital cost and divide that by the real number of days you sail every year you would probably ..... take up golf.

John







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[aod]

If it's coded he/she can charge what they like so supply and demand is a fair point.

If it's not coded big probs for he/she should they ever be discovered.

I would have thought £50 per day strays well into the commercial arena but £20 per day may just meet costs as in food, diesel, marina fees etc. However if as someone has already said that there are only 4 people on the boat = £200 per day maybe 10 days marina costs either side plus food + diesel + + + may well work out to be £50 per day.

Not enough information in the question Helen

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[zephyrsailor]

i have no more information rich. just john asked me if i thought 50 quid a day was alot. i told him to ask if the boat was coded etc and told him i thought 20quid a day was more reasonable.
i'm not planning to pay anyone to crew for them...i have my own floating bundle of joy.

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[Jeremy_W]

>>> My point was it costs a blooming fortune to own and operate any sort of boat and asking for a share of costs or looking for a slim margin from the crew is entirely up to the owner and if the potential crew think it's too much then they are perfectly capable of walking away or buying a boat of their own.

I'm sure crew don't realise the costs of running a yacht. A friend stopped sailing his MacWester out of Chichester many years ago when the costs hit £20/day. I guess that most skipper/ owners I've sailed with over the last few years are paying well over £100/day for every day they're out sailing. Are any skippers out there prepared to provide accurate figures (Or do they fear the wrath of SWMBO)?


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[jimi]

Depends how many days sailing you do as many of the costs are fixed. However based on 80 days sailing a year and excluding depreciation. I reckon about £85/day of which half is berth costs .. if I only sailed 40 dys pa then the cost would be £170/day.


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[Twister_Ken]

Are any skippers out there prepared to provide accurate figures

There are certain roads down which a man does not go.

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[ottie]

There are many sailors who never buy their own boat. They hope to do it on the cheap by sailing in other peoples boats. It is surprising how tight fisted some can be. So all you non boat owners, get real. You are asking for full board and lodging, safety, the ability to travel like few are able to enjoy and the pleasure of indulging your passion at someone elses considerable expense. If you do not like the price by your own boat and see how generous you are to people sailing with you. People sailing with me actually pay far less than £50 a day. But if appear tight fisted in any way they will never sail with me again. Its life - buy your round!

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[Jeremy_W]

80 days a year sailing - That's a man who has his priorities well sorted!

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[beancounter]

I'm one of the (apparently) despicable breed who are boatless, but rely on occasional crewing opportunities on friends boats. Before tarring all "journeymen yotties" as tightwads, consider that there may be many circumstances which may make boat ownership impractical at a particular point in time, e.g. demands of one's work or family, location, and yes, money.
Are the majority of us in this situation really the grasping freeloaders you are suggesting? When I sail on the Solent with my friend, I make various offers of contributions (most of which are politely refused on the basis of "I would be doing this anyway") and usually end up buying our dinner and drinks, and if I'm sufficiently forceful, paying the marina fee. Yes, I realise that this is a good deal, and it does give me a twinge of guilt that I am not currently in a position to reciprocate.
Am I so unique in expecting to share in the cost of the venture?

John

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[alanhanson]

i am taking crew on the arc.
i have done my home work and i am very comfortable with £50 per day
so are the 4 persons who have signed on.
so are my insurance company and the w.c.c.
the individuals are going to get a very comfortable crossing.watermaker, panda generator,freezer,sat phone, dvd, etc.
i am also intending to celebrate crew birthdays and half way mark start and finish etc with champagne and special meals etc but they do not know this.(hope they dont read this site).
i think after the event they will realise what a bargain they got.but it will be a lot easier with the crew than short handed as things get broken scratched damaged etc i will not be as concerened.
i suppose i could lower the price and ask everyone to contribute to breakages as they happen. i am sure that would not work.
at the end of the arc each one of the crew who has signed up as asked to stay on at £50 per day to cruise the grenadines.
they get to use all the boat equiopment incl diving gear compressor, and jet rib with toys etc.
so they think its a bargain.
you pays your money you take your chances



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