What's average sailing yacht skipper salary?

Gedimin

Gedimin

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Does anyone know reliably how much a skipper and mate might earn these days?
To give more details, I'm thinking of sailing yacht of 35-45ft, doing longer skippered charters, adventure trips (2-3-4 weeks). Doing it regularly throughout the year. What's average weekly/monthly earning that is expected for those roles?
I'm interested both from a position of potential earning if I ever ditch the office routine and from a position of a potential employer if one of my ideas ever comes to life.
 
Your thinking of charter rather than skipper, so the price is up to you on how much you want to charge your guests ,
Firstly you need to get your boat coded and insured, get your qualifications, which are not legally needed but it shows to your insurance and your guests that you are competent to do this,
Then their is boat maintenance, coding every 3 years I think I may be wrong?
So really it depends on your ability to run a profit and loss account and number crunch to see if the money is coming in and giving you what you want and need to live
 
Gedimin said:
Does anyone know reliably how much a skipper and mate might earn these days?
To give more details, I'm thinking of sailing yacht of 35-45ft, doing longer skippered charters, adventure trips (2-3-4 weeks). Doing it regularly throughout the year. What's average weekly/monthly earning that is expected for those roles?
I'm interested both from a position of potential earning if I ever ditch the office routine and from a position of a potential employer if one of my ideas ever comes to life.
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mid life crisis! We all go through it.
 
atol said:
most people who do this on a boat that small would be happy just to cover costs , marina and haul out etc
working for an owner on a 60- 70 ft yacht in the med you might get 3k euro a month and the hostess/mate/cook 1-2k euro
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A retired Naval Officer I know ran a sailing school on his yacht and reckoned it paid for his sailing.
 
I know someone who does exactly this. He covers his 20k pa costs and has lots of interesting sailing for free.
He took early retirement some years ago and while not rich is not dependent on it to live. Obviously closes down November to March.
 
FlyingGoose said:
Your thinking of charter rather than skipper, so the price is up to you on how much you want to charge your guests ,
Firstly you need to get your boat coded and insured, get your qualifications, which are not legally needed but it shows to your insurance and your guests that you are competent to do this,
Then their is boat maintenance, coding every 3 years I think I may be wrong?
So really it depends on your ability to run a profit and loss account and number crunch to see if the money is coming in and giving you what you want and need to live
Click to expand...
The qualifications of the skipper and crew are legally required for coded boats.
 
I looked at this about 11 years ago as my retirement date from the forces approached. If I ignored the capital cost of buying a suitable boat, I might have been able to break even assuming I could get a 12-16 week season with a 75-80% occupancy rate. I would have needed a 45-50 foot boat, either a classic in excellent condition or a newer boat with at least 4 cabins, preferably 5. All of that was pretty marginal in terms of the ability to make money.
Then I looked at marketing the offer. I would have had to find someone to build and maintain a website and deal with the bookings as reliable mobile internet access was in it‘s infancy and wouldn’t have permitted me to manage that end of the business remotely,
Bit the final nail in the coffin was the regulatory hurdles to be jumped. No problems getting a boat coded and insured but basing myself anywhere warm was fraught with problems dealing with the local regulatory authorities. I rapidly came to the conclusion that it simply wasn’t worth the effort.
In the event, my pension turned out to be adequate for buying a boat and living on board it for a number of years after I retired.
However, there is money, lots of it, to be made in the superyacht business but that’s not what the op was asking about.
 
mainsail1 said:
If you consider what he specifically says that he wants to do you may see that he is not wishing to do what you did.
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Ok. Specifically, three people I know do skippered charters on their own boats. One in the Caribbean, one in South Spain and one in the Canaries. The last one I do some part time skippering for. Like many other such leisure businesses, life is on hold with Doombug.
To suggest that it's not possible is entirely wrong in a normal world.
 
capnsensible said:
Ok. Specifically, three people I know do skippered charters on their own boats. One in the Caribbean, one in South Spain and one in the Canaries. The last one I do some part time skippering for. Like many other such leisure businesses, life is on hold with Doombug.
To suggest that it's not possible is entirely wrong in a normal world.
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The question is: How much do they earn?

.
 
The instructors I know all fall into the children grown up, mortgage paid off, looking for a bit of tick over money and something to get them out the house category.

Can’t think of any in the ‘paying out’ phase of their life.

If you include buying and maintaining a 12 m boat in your plan, the figures required will be quite frightening even before a few unexpected costs pop up,

I think the reality isn't lazy days of care free sailing with guests covering the boat costs and your wages, more like they break stuff and you spend your time cleaning up sick, making them 3 squares a day and being constantly on call.
 
FlyingGoose said:
Thanks for the clarification at what level is needed for the UK to be qualified.
I assume rya is the governing body, bit can a foreign license be used in uk waters
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You can be MCA or RYA certified the minimum is a commercially endorsed DS which won't be accepted by foreign authorities and limits you to 3 miles in daylight from a nominated departure point. Spain requires a YM offshore commercially endorsed with the STCW as well as a minimum. On UK flagged vessels of course.

Other jurisdictions may vary, and Brexit might well kill that recognition.

In the UK on UK vessels foreigners can get a certificate of equivalent competency where their cert is acceptable.

This year hasn't been great.
 
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