What are the realities of yacht delivery crew

[Uricanejack]

The only yacht delivery, other than my own. I’ve assisted with, have been for friends, family or an organization I was familiar with. Obviously with friends or family you know the skipper. You know what to expect. The organization again I knew what to expect. I worked with them in other capacities. So when they asked, I was quite happy to tag along.

Getting involved with yacht delivery, I don’t or didn’t have time available. Which is the reality, for most of us. it sounds nice but how do you fit it in. As it happens my circumstances are changing and time may be available. If something interested me.
Obviously, I have a few reservations about the idea, I may or may not ever decide to have a go.

Organizing it myself might be possible, but I am not really interested in trying to start my own business.
Instructing was a pleasant experience, I quite enjoyed it. working through a well reputed sailing school.

The thing seams to be who you work for. If it’s a reputable company or not.
With a reputable company or skipper it’s probably all good fun.

Now all I need to do is find one who I would like to sail with going somewhere interesting.

 

[RupertW]

The only yacht delivery, other than my own. I’ve assisted with, have been for friends, family or an organization I was familiar with. Obviously with friends or family you know the skipper. You know what to expect. The organization again I knew what to expect. I worked with them in other capacities. So when they asked, I was quite happy to tag along.

Getting involved with yacht delivery, I don’t or didn’t have time available. Which is the reality, for most of us. it sounds nice but how do you fit it in. As it happens my circumstances are changing and time may be available. If something interested me.
Obviously, I have a few reservations about the idea, I may or may not ever decide to have a go.

Organizing it myself might be possible, but I am not really interested in trying to start my own business.
Instructing was a pleasant experience, I quite enjoyed it. working through a well reputed sailing school.

The thing seams to be who you work for. If it’s a reputable company or not.
With a reputable company or skipper it’s probably all good fun.

Now all I need to do is find one who I would like to sail with going somewhere interesting.

A disreputable company with a good skipper is still fine. My 3 Reliance deliveries had two good skippers and one who I was worried about until he saw the difficult harbour exit ahead at the start of our first leg. He turned straight to me and said, you’ve been in and out of this harbour a few times - take over until we are clear or turn back if the bar looks too rough. He wasn’t great at anything except being strong and fast, but did know which crewmber was good at which thing.

 

[penfold]

Delegation and knowing when to do it is part of leadership.

 

[RupertW]

Delegation and knowing when to do it is part of leadership.

Alas he showed very little of that for the rest of the long trip, but two or three crucial times he turned to the right team member.

 

[graham]

You wouldnt set off without fuel for the engine so why neglect fuel for the crew? Apples and cold tin of peas ? Dear o dear.

Failing to have plenty of food on board is plain bad seamanship.

 

[dunedin]

You wouldnt set off without fuel for the engine so why neglect fuel for the crew? Apples and cold tin of peas ? Dear o dear.

Failing to have plenty of food on board is plain bad seamanship.

…. And crew failing to check equally so.

However, a lot of these stories, as per a lot on this forum, seem to relate to decades ago, or even last century

 

[graham]

…. And crew failing to check equally so.

However, a lot of these stories, as per a lot on this forum, seem to relate to decades ago, or even last century

Nearly all are from last year or older

 

[capnsensible]

…. And crew failing to check equally so.

However, a lot of these stories, as per a lot on this forum, seem to relate to decades ago, or even last century

A friend of mine will be leaving Martinique later this morning. He is delivering a Lagoon 45 catamaran from Greece to Panama. They didn't get enough food when they pit stopped here in Lanzarote, the skipper really didn't do his job properly. A couple of days past the Cape Verdes they got a forecast for days of light winds so turned back to Mindelo and got stuck waiting for new crew that didn't show up. Naturally on leaving, they crossed in 14 days....

He has been asked to stay on to get the boat up to the Sea of Cortez but probably needs to get home.

Hope this is up to date enough.

 

[obmij]

…. And crew failing to check equally so.

It is NOT the responsibility of the crew to ensure that the vessel is adequately provisioned, or that it is any any way suitable to embark on a voyage. That responsibility lies entirely with the skip. There are limited (obvious) exceptions for example if a crew member is instructed to carry out a task but the skipper must be sure that the crew is both qualified and competent to carry out that task and the skipper will always retain responsibility for its outcome.

With deliveries, where the majority of crew are young, inexperienced and unpaid it's important that skips are especially aware of their responsibilities. Human nature (and the largely unregulated nature of the industry) means that this isn't always the case . Most of the time the outcome is a good story..

 

[capnsensible]

For me, the victualling arrangements form part of the crew briefing so they all know the standard mealtimes, who is going to cook each day/ meal and where its all stowed if they haven't been involved in the shopping.

It's all standard practice for vessels putting to sea since.....the beginning.

But I agree that the skipper is ultimately responsible. For everything. Always.

 

[dunedin]

A friend of mine will be leaving Martinique later this morning. He is delivering a Lagoon 45 catamaran from Greece to Panama. They didn't get enough food when they pit stopped here in Lanzarote, the skipper really didn't do his job properly. A couple of days past the Cape Verdes they got a forecast for days of light winds so turned back to Mindelo and got stuck waiting for new crew that didn't show up. Naturally on leaving, they crossed in 14 days....

He has been asked to stay on to get the boat up to the Sea of Cortez but probably needs to get home.

Hope this is up to date enough.

Well certainly more up to date than many of the Reliance stories that have featured here

 

[dunedin]

It is NOT the responsibility of the crew to ensure that the vessel is adequately provisioned, or that it is any any way suitable to embark on a voyage. That responsibility lies entirely with the skip. There are limited (obvious) exceptions for example if a crew member is instructed to carry out a task but the skipper must be sure that the crew is both qualified and competent to carry out that task and the skipper will always retain responsibility for its outcome.

With deliveries, where the majority of crew are young, inexperienced and unpaid it's important that skips are especially aware of their responsibilities. Human nature (and the largely unregulated nature of the industry) means that this isn't always the case . Most of the time the outcome is a good story..

I agree with the Skipper prime responsibility - BUT equally (per earlier post) it is also the responsibility of any wise crew to check quite a few things before heading to sea on an unknown boat with an unknown skipper. Not to do so would be foolish, as from what has been shown here there are a minority of skippers who one might choose not to sail with.

 

[Laser310]

I've done many ocean miles for the purpose of delivering a yacht.

I just completed the ARC -which is basically a delivery.

With one exception, I have only ever delivered boats owned by friends. The one exception is with a professional captain (of Swans only) who is also a friend.

I have been fortunate to have friends with really nice boats; Gunboats, Swans, Oysters, X-Yachts etc.

I have never had to worry about the quality or fit-out of the boat, the skill of the captain/crew, or the sufficiency of the provisioning.

In spite of all that good luck, I have still found myself browsing various online places where people seek delivery crew. I have made one or two initial responses, but have never gotten to the point of being serious.

Many of the "opportunities" i see are so sketchy that I wonder if anyone would consider responding - yet they do. Examples include boats that probably shouldn't be out of sight of land... planning to cross from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean at the height of hurricane season. I figure that the people who sign up for these deliveries are completely clueless.

I'll keep looking.., but I am pretty sure I will never get on a boat for a delivery without knowing the people involved.

 

[Uricanejack]

Safety of the vessel, passengers, crew, cargo and environment is the skippers responsibility.
It’s also a crew members responsibility to assist the skipper with the above.
Everyone has the responsibility for there own safety.
Adequate provision and water appears to me to be something a crew member should ask about. If you are about to take a long voyage.
Or even a short one. Who’s bringing the beer, steaks and bacon and will we have enough seams to be quite an important question my crew want know even for a weekend.
Hell I’m sure you would ask or look at the brochure to find out if you bought a ticket on a cruise ship when and where meals are served and what you could expect.

 

[Halcyon Yachts]

The three main variables are the type of boat, the route and the skipper. If all three are good then you will have an amazing time crewing on a yacht delivery...

I started out years ago as delivery crew and haven't looked back.

Pete

 

[Dutch01527]

I did a delivery as amateur crew from the West Coast of Scotland to the South Coast of England last year with the owner of the rather nice classic Scandinavian racer cruiser who was also skipper. Four people on board, all boat owners and experienced. The owner, his close friend and myself all settled in well and contributed to all aspects of the trip equally.

The fourth guy was a member of the owners yacht club who had offered to help. Out of many examples in the four days on board he did not make as much as a cup of tea, was continually late on watch, did not wash up a thing and stood and watched as the rest of us cleaned up the boat at the end of the trip.

Despite being the least experienced and competent sailor he assumed the role of being the resident expert on all things. One night I took over the watch from him and noticed that the wind had dropped completely and that we still had the full set of sails up while motor sailing. There was a full moon and the reflection off the sails was ruining night vision and they were flopping about with no purpose so I slowed down and dropped them. He heard the reduction in engine speed and was back on deck telling me that they had to go back up because “that was the most efficient way of sailing” and he suggested that he would take over and “sort out the boat properly to help me”. He got a polite but firm answer declining his offer. He also took umbridge it was pointed out that the central buffer zone of the traffic seperation scheme was not a small boat channel to be used to navigate along.

Fascinating insight into a persons mentality that was bearable for a few days but would have been a building pressure cooker of resentment on a longer trip. Despite being a very senior professional he had a child like view that the world revolved around him.

 

[obmij]

I agree with the Skipper prime responsibility - BUT equally (per earlier post) it is also the responsibility of any wise crew to check quite a few things before heading to sea on an unknown boat with an unknown skipper. Not to do so would be foolish, as from what has been shown here there are a minority of skippers who one might choose not to sail with.

From your earlier post it seems like you are a competent and experienced sailor and that the skipper was fortunate to have you on board. Great, but not everyone is at the same level and many of those signing up for unpaid deliveries are doing so to gain the experience which you already have.

My first offshore trip was a 2-up Biscay crossing in April with a bloke who ordinarily sailed single handed. The boat was an Elan 36. I got the gig through an agency. Travel paid buy no pay kinda deal and I'd signed up to kick on from the RYA competent crew I'd done in the Solent a couple of weeks before..

Wow - we're not in the Solent any more! What a rush! We arrived 5 days later, I was wide eyed and landsick and I was hooked (and still am). Thing is though, when I turned up proudly waving my CC I had absolutely no idea what competence in a skipper looked like, nor an adequate seagoing vessel. I didn't have a scooby what spares we should have been carrying or what to do with them if I did. Was April a good month for a Biscay crossing? If you say so.. As for provisioning, well I was 20 years old and my mum had taken care of the provisioning thing for the first 18 and the next two had been pretty haphazard provisioning wise.

OK, we all have responsibility for our own safety in the sense that you should look out for traffic when you are crossing the road, but many people simply do not have the skills or knowledge to make a meaningful assessment of risk when joining a vessel. That also applies to professional crew - you can make an assessment up until the limit of your own experience / knowledge and no more. I suppose that is why we have the systems, processes and regulations in place to ensure responsibility is taken by the correct people.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

In the end it all comes back to the skipper. Assessing the skills and competences of the crew, and arranging things to make the most of them is most definitely a skippering skill worth having. However, nobody has skills if they’re not fed, and sailing offshore is a hungry business.

 

[laika]

it is also the responsibility of any wise crew to check quite a few things before heading to sea on an unknown boat with an unknown skipper. Not to do so would be foolish

While this is undoubtedly prudent when a bloke in the marina asks if you'd like to help out in a trip to relocate their boat...just how practical is it for the OP's and similar cases with professional deliveries through a big company? You've agreed to do a trip. You either paid for your own flights or the company did. You may have booked them back from your destination too. You make your way to some godforsaken marina in france in winter and then...interview the skipper to make sure he/she is up to scratch then go through your own checklist for the boat when the skipper has just been through the delivery company's? If it doesn't meet expectations you're calling a taxi to the nearest hotel and arranging last minute flights home? If it does, I'm not sure that an intro declaring that you don't trust the skipper is always going to get you off on the right foot. And that's assuming crew actually know enough to make a judgement call which given most people doing "volunteer crewing" are doing it for the experience is probably not the case (per obmij's post).

Stepping off an obviously unsafe boat or refusing to set out with a skipper stinking of booze as you're about to push off? Absolutely: run away. But in practice most normal crew are going to rely on the fact that a big delivery company will have checked a skipper's qualifications and trust the skipper. I'll argue that it's not foolish to trust to that. For most crew it will be a practical necessity and besides, people wanting to prioritise safety over adventure probably won't be doing "volunteer crewing" in the first place.

 

[Resolution]

Even experienced sailors can make a delivery mistake. When a fellow yacht club member invited myself and another extremely competent and experienced member to help him deliver "his yacht" from mainland Spain to Ibiza we both thought this would be an easy and enjoyable few days. First night on board in Denia and it was abundantly clear that our friend new bu**er all about "his yacht" and that it was very very tired. Teak deck as bad as I have seen, running rigging very worn, sails like sacks, hull very knocked about. Nosing about on board I discovered that in a previous guise this had been a yacht which I knew had been a skippered charter yacht that had been raced across the Atlantic and back several times. Same manufacturer as Cheeki Rafiki.........
We should have stepped off right there but this would have been embarrassing in front of a fellow club member. so we double checked everything we could, tested the pumps, found the lifejackets, reefed early and sailed soft, and made the delivery intact. Very relieved to make it intact.
Our friend then admitted that it was not really his yacht but one he was considering buying. He was told in no uncertain terms to look elsewhere. Haven't sailed with him since.