Yacht DeliverySkippers -Thrive InGrowing YachtIndustry

Rapid growth in the global yacht industry has caused manynew yacht owners to hire professional yacht delivery captainsto skipper their boats on long or dangerous voyages. Yachtdelivery skippers confirm that boat deliveries are growingwith international trends. And Recreational boat ownership iscurrently a $25 billion international industry and sales aregrowing annually at 5-10%. "If you have the money it'srelatively easy to buy a new yacht", said one, "but sailing longdistances through potentially difficult waters or weatherconditions requires skills that can take years to learn".

Introduction

Why Yacht SkippersHowever, sail training and sea experience lag far behind thegrowth in boat numbers. Learning how to handle boatssafely, how to navigate, and how to operate the often-complex equipment found on a modern boat can take years.The American Sailing Association and the British RoyalYachting Association both operate training and certificationschemes. But learning to sail is not as simple as doing acourse - and developing experience is critical.

Often new boat owners will join a delivery skipper for thevoyage to the boat's new home. This helps them to get toknow their new boat and gives them valuable seaexperience, while the presence of a professional skippergives them security and confidence. Many delivery skippersoffer sailing and navigation instruction in such cases

Yacht DeliverySkippersBut lack of experience is not the only reason that boat owners hire deliverycaptains to move their boats. Many wealthy boat owners are also very busypeople and cannot afford to spend days at sea away from mobile phonesand Internet connections. The average sailing yacht will only move about150 miles a day, so a long trip can take weeks - time that that busy boatowners don't have. Instead, they want to be able to hop on a plane for asailing holiday in a new cruising ground and have their boat ready andwaiting for them when they land.

ConclusionPopular routes for yacht deliveries include fromthe United States to the Caribbean and from theboatyards of Northern Europe to the sunnymarinas of the Mediterranean. Yachts are alsodelivered to major events such as yacht races orthe Atlantic Rally for Cruisers in which hundredsof yachts sail across the Atlantic Ocean each year.And of course, whatever the destination, theyachts usually have to be brought back as well.

As boatyards continue to produce record numbers of motor andsailing yachts for time-starved boat owners who are ofteninexperienced with long voyages, it seems that yacht deliveryskippers will be busy for some time to come.