Sunsail yacht skipper salary?

[Jamesuk]

Which is what I want.

About what I expected. I needed to know as they ask about expected salary on the application. Not really interested in getting rich (just as well!) but for the experience. I won't complete my commercial endorsement until the end of September so there's not much hope for this year. I was toying with doing my CI over winter but I may wait and see if Sunsail have some training offers. Thanks.

The Yacht Week - that is awesome. You get to sail a variety of boats over 11 weeks.

I got my friend James involved in it as he was at Menorca Sailing and he jumped into the training programme and ever since All I see on his Facebook throughout his two summers has been "james is now friends with Malika *Swedish", James is now friends with Emily (American) etc etc. He had such an amazing time and got to sail in Croatia for half the time and then Greece for the other half, brilliant for that stepping stone to the superyachts. He then got offered to crew a boat during the Spring Break with one of the crews he had out in the BVI. He banked salary and spent his tips. In any case everything was free for the skipper.

Things might have changed but when I did it, it was marketed as a holiday, now they pay staff a proper wage to take on the responsibility of the yachts.

Enjoy.

If you can do the RYA training at Sunsail then I would rate that above all other jobs at Sunsail.

Blimey. Two hundred quid a week is 31 hours 42 minutes at National Minimum Wage.

Yes but when I calculated my hours it came out at 77 hours per week. in 2010 it was £100 per week.

 

[Ceirwan]

If you're a qualified Yachtmaster with commercial endorsement you can make much more experience working on Work Boats. Skippers on Wind Farm transfer Vessels make between £175-£200 a day, deck hands around £130. 12+ hour days.
No idea what Sunsail pay abroad but I used to get £85 a day for a crewing on the Solent fleet in 2011.

But it all boils down to what you want, working on work boats is far less fun than working for Sunsail but unless you're doing it on the side or on a gap year its not really enough money to make a career of.

 

[Jamesuk]

edit -

 

[[3889]]

If you're a qualified Yachtmaster with commercial endorsement you can make much more experience working on Work Boats. Skippers on Wind Farm transfer Vessels make between £175-£200 a day, deck hands around £130. 12+ hour days.
No idea what Sunsail pay abroad but I used to get £85 a day for a crewing on the Solent fleet in 2011.

But it all boils down to what you want, working on work boats is far less fun than working for Sunsail but unless you're doing it on the side or on a gap year its not really enough money to make a career of.

I've already been offered a job on a windfarm guard boat at considerably more pay than Sunsail, but 2 weeks endlessly cruising 10 square miles of the Irish Sea does not appeal. To be clear, I'm not looking for a career - I've been retired quite comfortably for the last 6 years doing a few unpaid deliveries etc. but now I fancy something a bit more structured and Sunsail seems to tick the box.

 

[Woodlouse]

One risk about working with Sunsail is that they have in the past not bothered too much with the legal situation of their employees. A year or two ago they were effectively shut down in Turkey when all their staff were deported for working on tourist visas.

 

[Jamesuk]

I've already been offered a job on a windfarm guard boat at considerably more pay than Sunsail, but 2 weeks endlessly cruising 10 square miles of the Irish Sea does not appeal. To be clear, I'm not looking for a career - I've been retired quite comfortably for the last 6 years doing a few unpaid deliveries etc. but now I fancy something a bit more structured and Sunsail seems to tick the box.

How old are you? what was your previous job?

 

[[3889]]

I'm sure that there are employment horror stories in all sectors. At the end of the day, if things go piriform I'll get on a plane and come home. Most people seem to stick it though.

 

[[3889]]

How old are you? what was your previous job?

49, fire service

 

[Talulah]

One risk about working with Sunsail is that they have in the past not bothered too much with the legal situation of their employees. A year or two ago they were effectively shut down in Turkey when all their staff were deported for working on tourist visas.

Sunsail and other Sailing School operations (mine included) should now be endorsing their coding certificates under the new rules of the Maritime Labour Convention - 2006. This became a legal requirement last week.
The purpose of the regulations is to make sure Seafarers are treated fairly, have proper pay, employment contracts, rest, free refreshments/meals, facilities including games, rest hours etc
I know of one sailing school which last week had their coding changed so they could continue to offer cross-channel trips. Other Sailing Schools, skipper chartered companies etc may have done so as well but for a lot I suspect they are as of last week operating unlawfully. They will be a rush when their next coding renewal comes up.
I've just had to sign up for a Food Hygiene course as part of the compliance.

 

[dom]

Can hardly consider an apprentice "beach bum" for 7 years is much of a cv is it

Is that really called for? Trust it was a typo.

 

[Ceirwan]

I've already been offered a job on a windfarm guard boat at considerably more pay than Sunsail, but 2 weeks endlessly cruising 10 square miles of the Irish Sea does not appeal. To be clear, I'm not looking for a career - I've been retired quite comfortably for the last 6 years doing a few unpaid deliveries etc. but now I fancy something a bit more structured and Sunsail seems to tick the box.

Thats fair enough. The work on the transfer vessels is a fair bit more interesting as you have to push the bow of the boat onto the monopile in various conditions of tide / waves / wind, great for improving boat handling.

But if not after a career definitely not the way to go, I wouldn't call it a 'rewarding job' apart from maybe the pay and the novelty of cruising at 23kts!

 

[dunedin]

Per week my friend and that's a 7 day week.

So does the National Minimum Wage rate not apply to Sunsail ?

 

[capnsensible]

I've just had to sign up for a Food Hygiene course as part of the compliance.

Eleven quid and two hours of your life well spent.

 

[Greenheart]

It's quite a few years now since I've been on a Sunsail holiday but they still go most years so I guess the experience is as good as ever. The sailing is easy and almost irrelevant, but they like the lunchtime bays and being with other people in the evenings.

Your description makes the experience sound far more laid-back and fun than I had understood was the case - in fact, it reads like an advertisement! Great fun & happy memories.

I had a feeling that over the years on the forum, there's been a persistent murmur of disapproval towards the behaviour of Sunsail flotillas - which may have coloured my response.

 

[mjcoon]

I had a feeling that over the years on the forum, there's been a persistent murmur of disapproval towards the behaviour of Sunsail flotillas - which may have coloured my response.

Along with disapproval of anything else you care to name!

Mike.

 

[prv]

I had a feeling that over the years on the forum, there's been a persistent murmur of disapproval towards the behaviour of Sunsail flotillas - which may have coloured my response.

It's not so much the flotillas, though I'm sure independent cruisers don't exactly welcome a dozen boatloads of mostly beginners turning up in a tiny Greek harbour all at once. Rather it's the racing fleet based in Portsmouth which is sometimes hired en-masse by obnoxious City types who think they've hired the Solent as well. But that's a relatively small part of the global Sunsail operation - even where they don't do clubs or flotillas, they charter out bareboats as far away as Thailand.

Pete

 

[Jamesuk]

So does the National Minimum Wage rate not apply to Sunsail ?

No, but you get to play on yachts.

 

[Jamesuk]

49, fire service

Superyachts, go for it. Safety officer 3-5k per month great lifestyle.

 

[[3889]]

Superyachts, go for it. Safety officer 3-5k per month great lifestyle.

I know a few crew on superyachts and the management styles of their skippers seem far too overbearing for my taste. With Sunsail I'd be my own boss, at least some of the time. Money isn't really a motivator.

 

[vyv_cox]

Can hardly consider an apprentice "beach bum" for 7 years is much of a cv is it

I assume you are unfamiliar with operations such as Sunsail? What do you think happens to yachts that are not returned to base because the weather is too bad? Owen was bringing them back alone when he was 17. Or jumping from a motor boat onto a yacht with a tool box in one hand and a replacement starter motor in the other, in a force 6 in the Channel? Or berthing a flotilla in adverse conditions in a harbour that has no wall left for visitors? Or supervising the installation of instrumentation in 100 new boats in Toulon? Or running an instrument repair business in Athens? Or responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of a whole charter fleet in Mallorca?

Hardly the description of a beach bum.