skippering for sunsail

PintPlease

PintPlease

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as i am currently 'job-seeking' i have looked at skippering for sunsail, i get an invite to an 'assesment day' or the suchlike and a table showing wage structure. At this point i nearly fell off the chair - £90 a week! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif have any of the folks here done this job and if so can you tell me what level of spending is normal whilst working (i.e. how much of the 90 quid goes on beer?)
any advice
thanks
 
I've spent a bit of time with this crowd when doing deliveries between S. France and the Ionian (in mid-Winter, not warm but plenty of wind). It's a very student style of living, hand to mouth but outdoors and working all hours. Most seemed to be having quite a laugh and as skippers are usually paid by charterers for drinks and meals during the charter weeks you spend virtually nothing, but are continually on hand.

If you were talking about corporate day charters (Solent-style) then the money is a great deal higher but you tend to need more contacts - I've only every done one - 300 for the day plus tips.


Not a way to make any money but if you can muck in with all sorts of people then I'd go for it as an experience. My preference was to do more voyaging than socialising (for even less money sometimes).

Best job of all was held to be the flotilla mechanic as you had your own rib that you could drive anywhere whilst on call and could call out a more serious local mechanic if it was any more than air, coolant or fuel problems. Having said that, you didn't get the free beers unless you hung around after fixing a charterers problem, and you had to kip down on whatever spare boat was around.
 
hmm,

unfortunately my bank manager still will not allow me to pay in 'laughs' to my account in lieu of cash /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

will have to look elsewhere methinks

thanks anyway
 
chatting to a Sunsail flotilla skipper in the Ionian a couple of years ago, he said that although the pay was pocket money, the lead crew hardly ever paid for any meals (& possibly drinks as well), since they were fed by the owners of the tavernas which they recommended to the flotilla members.
 
yep - on the calculation basis of

salary -
living expenses(rent)
living expenses (food)
holidays
boat owning other than holidays
travel (to work and or holidays)
car ownership
work clothes (paye peeps only)

to actually start with about 200 a month positive, and the opportunity to add a little here and there for the ablove and beyond, is going to look very very good to many people.

on the other hand you look at it as a life of servitude for very little reward and future security............
 
What happened.......

...to the Minimum Wage Directive?

No wonder those Sc**sail flotilla skippers are such a surley, arrogant lot. Next time they "plant" their customers all over my peacefully moored yacht on Vathi quay I'll treat them with a little more sympathy*

Steve Cronin

* No I won't!
 
Knew a young lad who did this during the summer and ski leader in winter. Just the job, all your keep for free, lots of booze, and a fresh delivery of women on holiday every week.

In the end he had to get sensible and get a proper job. But in the meantime, he had permanent bags under his eyes!
 
Try the Challenge Business if you don't mind English Summers. I worked for them a few years ago and they were paying £9,000 a year then. So a little better than Sunsail.

Not sure what the previous post was about showing £300 per day, who was that for????
 
The daughter of a friend of mine had a fabulous time working for Sunsail (as a skipper) in Greece I believe and actually met her future husband there.

She was well qualified (both paper and practically) though and eventually found the limitations of the work didn't allow her to 'stretch' her knowledge and experience enough so left after a couple of seasons.

To my, and her parent's surprise, she still rates the experience highly as a way for young people to get involved in sailing cheaply and have some fun.

Wouldn't be my choice, but it obviously works for some.
 
£300 per day was the rate paid by a training company for skippering one-off corporate awaydays in the Solent. The money was small compared to what the corporates were paying (and less than a third of what I get for facilitating the occasional office-based awayday, but the fun factor was a lot higher).

I only managed to get two days with them over a single weekend and not sure whether they're still operating.
 
Hi
Over the years the Solent has got more crowded - luckily mostly with nice people. Then came S**msail. With its team building-bonding-corporate antics. If you had worked for them most local yotties would welcome you as if you had a contagious disease.
 
Ah! that explains a lot!
NONE of it goes on beer. Not a penny.
I did Comp. Crew with them in 2000. Our Skipper took us to some great pubs and eateries all around the Solent. He was well looked after.
I also have experience of SS in Greece and Turkey so, I guess I must think they're OK. But, it's always quite obvious that the staff aren't in it for the money. If I were 18 I'd give it a year or two though.
 
SC/sail at present are paying £75 pd for skippers u're s/employed and responsible for own tax etc. Can be a long day or short day. My mate does it every april-october and he'll probably average 3-4 days in a week. Gets a few corporates and races and few tips thrown in - might do an occasional weekender, usually to cowes. He then retires to Dom Rep for our winter where he keeps his boat, and flaunts his megabucks.
 
My Mate who i used to work with has just come back after two years working in Greece for sunsail. H was a big party animal and even he got by on that amount of money. He said that sunsail pay for everything apart from the partying. not sure how true this is though?!
 
Yep, spent 2 months skippering for Sunsail in Leda, Greece.
However, I treated it as a bit of a holiday before starting a "proper" job. Guess you have to consider it for what it is: a bit of a doss, no money but plenty of laughs, drinking, women, partying etc.
£90 a week is more than enough to survive on whilst you're working for them and have a good time - Sunsail will pay for your flights, accomodation, insurance, most of your meals and you get a massive discount at the bar (though you will rarely buy your own drinks anyway).
Depends what you want I guess - if you want a proper sailing career or some half decent cash I'd definitely go elsewhere. If you want a few months bumming in the sun and having a good time, and come home with no money, but equally no debts then go for it.
 
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