What are the realities of yacht delivery crew

[Gsailor]

I have done one on a luxury 65 footer in uk waters.

It was hell. Only a few days total.

Lots of things broken (on an 8 yr old £750 000 boat ... second hand price!). Made watchkeeping difficult and hand steering.

It was: sleep, helm, sleep, half a tin of peas cold, sleep, helm, sleep...

Have others found delivery better?

I have heard of worse; fires etc.

So is it worth a second go ?

At present my tendancy is to say "no", stay at home and be warm and well fed and read a book, do the gardening, work on own boat, go for a walk...

Does a Malta to USA make for a better than above life or experience?

 

[penfold]

Broken things is a fact of boat life; I've crewed on new and used boat delivery, both suffered breakages and defects(a fresh water system that emptied its contents into the bilge was a good one), some of which were rectified(generally safety related), some of which we just had to live with. If the food is carp give the skipper a rocket for pocketing all the catering money and if via an agency complain to them; it's feasible to eat well without breaking the bank and even a culinary ignoramus like me can assemble a meal. Malta to USA just means there's more of it(at least 5 weeks, would need to allow 8 for weather contingency) and there's also the joy* of dealing with US immigration.

It is sleep, helm, sleep, helm a lot of the time, you're there to get a boat where it needs to be, not have a free holiday; the aforementioned breakages can give a decent excuse for a port layover while repairs are done. I'd do it again if I could fit it around work, but it's not easy to schedule, it was a lot easier when I was labouring or doing other casual work.

 

[Gsailor]

Broken things is a fact of boat life; I've crewed on new and used boat delivery, both suffered breakages and defects(a fresh water system that emptied its contents into the bilge was a good one), some of which were rectified(generally safety related), some of which we just had to live with. If the food is carp give the skipper a rocket for pocketing all the catering money and if via an agency complain to them; it's feasible to eat well without breaking the bank and even a culinary ignoramus like me can assemble a meal. Malta to USA just means there's more of it(at least 5 weeks, would need to allow 8 for weather contingency) and there's also the joy* of dealing with US immigration.

It is sleep, helm, sleep, helm a lot of the time, you're there to get a boat where it needs to be, not have a free holiday; the aforementioned breakages can give a decent excuse for a port layover while repairs are done. I'd do it again if I could fit it around work, but it's not easy to schedule, it was a lot easier when I was labouring or doing other casual work.

It is not free, that is for sure.

The owner of the delivery company (think of Reliance Yachts- taken to court at least once) is free.

I did it when I had a free bit of time; every night on watch I said "Never again", but here I am with some free time thinking... again...

 

[capnsensible]

Done loads mostly as skipper.

If you enjoy being at sea, visiting new places, if aren't afraid to get involved in victualling and preparing the yacht, if you can help when things break, get up reliably to do your watch, can stop being seasick after a day or two, don't mind a bit of discomfort and tiredeness and are prepared to take your turn to cook and clean, it's a blast.

If you are a bit picky and can't put up with a bit of personal discomfort and following someone else's rules, forget it.

Don't reckon there is an in between.

If you go for it, don't forget your kindle!

 

[geem]

I did a week delivery in the Summer from Sweden down to Netherlands. Great food, great company, but not always an easy ride. It was a racer cruiser that needed all four of us to reef and remove reefs. Night watches on a 72 ft boat on your own in busy shipping lanes when you are used to ships gving way to you was different. We were overtaking the ships! Never had that before? it took some different techniques when navigating. I would do it again.

 

[penfold]

It was a free holiday to me; I only had to pay for myself when we were on land, so I wanted to get back to sea! Reliance don't have the greatest rep, but it's the skipper who is the immediate arbiter of whether the trip is a good or a bad one. I guess I was lucky in that respect, they were all decent, didn't skimp on food or take undue risks.

 

[Gsailor]

I had half an apple and half a tin of peas in3 or 4 days. Other bloke ate other 5 apples.

I was a bit faint towards the end even though I took a bottle of water and a chocolate bar with me.

It was rough weather and other bloke didn't turn up for his watch at 2 am.

Many things broke, but I fixed what I could and we managed with what could not be fixed.

Reliance Yachts were taken to court some weeks later for dereliction to their crew. So I was lucky. It was still a good and awful trip.

 

[penfold]

Are you saying you were too sick to eat or that was all that there was to eat? Atrocious if the latter.

 

[Gsailor]

Are you saying you were too sick to eat or that was all that there was to eat? Atrocious if the latter.
[/QUOTE

Are you saying you were too sick to eat or that was all that there was to eat? Atrocious if the latter.

The other crew member ate all the other stuff. Greedy person and late on watch.

I don't get seasick.

 

[penfold]

Provisioning for 5 days was half a dozen apples and a tin of peas? Sod that for a game of soldiers, I'd have got off before departure.

 

[Gsailor]

I

Provisioning for 5 days was half a dozen apples and a tin of peas? Sod that for a game of soldiers, I'd have got off before departure.

Learned a bit...

 

[laika]

The other crew member ate all the other stuff. Greedy person and late on watch.

Are you saying there was just you and a greedy skipper, or you, a skipper and this other person?

Forgive me but I'm having a hard time believing that a professional delivery skipper, albeit one working for reliance, would only take 6 apples and half a tin of peas as provisions for a 4 day trip. What happened to the other half of the peas?

Provisions come out of the skipper's profit so it's not going to be anything fancy but a decent skipper will have planned out basic but calorific meals for the whole trip with snacks for in between, and should emphasise the "make the snacks last" point and have words with gluttons. It's fundamentally in their own best interests to keep crew happy.

it's normal for the outgoing watch to make a cup of tea for the oncoming watch and "remind them" if they're late and also something for the skipper to have words about for repeated violations.

Deliveries I've been on (all longer than 4 days) have been mostly on autopilot, so little helming but yes mostly watching, cooking, cleaning, sleeping and reading.

Interpersonal dynamics are always interesting to observe in what are potentially stressful situations for crew who haven't realised what they've let themselves in for. You can learn a lot about leadership from watching the successes and failures of skippers with differing degrees of management skills. Someone can be a great sailor (and even get the provisioning right) but be a poor skipper.

I can't say my interactions with mr. Irving left me with a positive impression of him, but l've never crewed on a delivery without food.

 

[Gsailor]

1 skipper, 2 crew.
Other half of tin went in fridge.
There were some eggs I believe... I think I had one.
I was quite faint on the train home.
Big dinner brought to me in the car!

Skipper was good sailor, not sure about much else.

He was working for a bad company so money may have been tight.

Worked out ok. Many moons ago.

 

[steveeasy]

Sorry, sounds dreadful. everyone needs good food and I suspect strict rules on nibbles. There has to be rules in place and standards at sea or all hell could break out. Recently when I sold my boat I nearly got talked in to sailing it or crewing on it for a few days to its new home. At first I thought why not. After careful consideration I thought better of it. You can only have one Skipper .

Steveeasy

 

[Gsailor]

I said: "never again" many times during the trip.

The best bits were at the helm in big seas (no autopilot working... perhaps one reason why owner used delivery mules).

But it seems I simply had a cheap skipper.

I could possibly apply to skipper now...

But when you have your own boat delivery seems like time away... perhaps.

It was an experience anyway.

 

[capnsensible]

I have never, ever delivered a yacht where the victuals budget came out of my delivery charge. Where do people get this stuff from?

I got so many requests that if ever some bozo came up with that in the t&Cs they would be looking for someone else.

I've turned down deliveries for other reasons, but that's up there in top ridiculous.

 

[Gsailor]

I have never, ever delivered a yacht where the victuals budget came out of my delivery charge. Where do people get this stuff from?

I got so many requests that if ever some bozo came up with that in the t&Cs they would be looking for someone else.

I've turned down deliveries for other reasons, but that's up there in top ridiculous.

He was a young skipper; younger than me (but more qualified than me at the time, many many years ago, over 20 years ago) so perhaps the company took advantage of him. He did seem really skint.
Who knows. He was not working for a company with a good reputation.
Just after the trip the company was in court for pushing a skipper regarding time and it ended in fatalities. Bad company. So skimping on food was no big deal.

 

[capnsensible]

He was a young skipper; younger than me (but more qualified than me at the time, many many years ago, over 20 years ago) so perhaps the company took advantage of him. He did seem really skint.
Who knows. He was not working for a company with a good reputation.
Just after the trip the company was in court for pushing a skipper regarding time and it ended in fatalities. Bad company. So skimping on food was no big deal.

I do hope your next deliveries go a lot smoother!

 

[RupertW]

I have never, ever delivered a yacht where the victuals budget came out of my delivery charge. Where do people get this stuff from?

I got so many requests that if ever some bozo came up with that in the t&Cs they would be looking for someone else.

I've turned down deliveries for other reasons, but that's up there in top ridiculous.

That was the Reliance way for the 3 deliveries I did with them 20 years ago. One was a freezing (litreally ice forming on my trousers), but just a single overnighter from Portsmouth to Plymouth so just one meal bought and reheated plus a fried breakfast. Great fun. The next was France to the Ionian in February and the food was a bit poor - basically pasta with little flavouring for 10 nights - great skipper (22 year old minute woman who had just spent 2 years sailing in the Antarctic). But as we shopped together I just bought a few onions and flavourings for my turn at cooking. The Atlantic trip could have been a real problem as it was all coming out of the skipper’s fee and there were four of us. Fortunately the skipper was a round bodied fisherman from Cork who did nothing else but deliver and expected (and often cooked) good food all the time.

 

[capnsensible]

A few years back I was invited to sail a Sunreef 74 from Antigua to Barcelona. The skipper is a good friend and I did some coaching for him some years before that. His girlfriend, now wife has won awards at charter yacht catering competitions.

I must have put on a stone....well felt like it. Got fed up with steaks but I did eat a mountain of ice cream.....

No way would I have delivered for the company you mentioned...

 

[laika]

I have never, ever delivered a yacht where the victuals budget came out of my delivery charge. Where do people get this stuff from?

Skippers working for Reliance on deliveries I crewed for. Maybe they were fibbing. And the ones RupertW crewed for. But I’m not sure why they would.