The rapid growth of the global yacht industry has forced many new yacht owners to hire professional yacht captains for captains of their ships on long or dangerous voyages. Yacht delivery skippers confirm that boat supplies are growing with international trends. “If you have the money, then it’s safe to buy a new yacht,” one said, “but long-distance sailing through potentially difficult waters or weather conditions requires skills that can take years to learn.”
Owning a recreational boat currently stands at $ 25 billion in the world, and sales are growing annually by 5-10%. Although sales growth is likely to be lower in 2008 due to economic conditions, many motor and sailing yachts are pre-ordered and are already under construction. There are waiting lists up to three years for luxury yachts in the USA and Europe, and therefore the international fleet of recreational boats will continue to grow.
However, sailing training and marine experience are far behind the growth in the number of boats. Learning how to safely control boats, how to navigate, and how to manage the often complex equipment found on a modern boat can take years. The American Sailing Association and the British Royal Yacht Association provide training and certification. But learning to swim is not as easy as making a course, and the development of experience is crucial.
Often, new boat owners join the captain of the delivery for a flight to a new boat house. This helps them get to know their new boat and give them a valuable marine experience, while the presence of a professional skipper gives them security and confidence. In such cases, many delivery skippers offer sailing and navigation training.
But lack of experience is not the only reason boat owners hire delivery captains to relocate their boats. Many wealthy boat owners are also very busy with people and cannot afford to spend days at sea from mobile phones and Internet connections. An average sailing yacht will only move about 150 miles a day, so a long trip can take weeks — a time that this busy boat owner doesn't have. Instead, they want to be able to jump on a plane for sailing at the new cruising site and prepare their boat and wait for them when they land.
Popular yacht delivery routes include from the United States to the Caribbean and from the shipyards of Northern Europe to the sunny marinas of the Mediterranean. Yachts are also delivered to such major events as the yacht race or the Atlantic rally for cruisers, in which hundreds of yachts every year sail the Atlantic Ocean. And, of course, regardless of the destination, yachts usually also need to be redeemed.
As the shipyards continue to produce record numbers of motor and sailing yachts for dizzying boat owners, who are often inexperienced with long voyages, it appears that the yacht delivery skippers will be busy for some time.
