What to Expect from and How to Treat a Skipper
The most important person on the boat.
What do you think about yacht transfer in the wintertime? Is it a good job or a bait for inexperienced sailors? The important thing is to think good and hard about the conditions, both weather and the terms of the job. As always, safety first…
This is a story about how I took an accidental swim in April, when sea temperature doesn’t go over 15°C. I wanted to moor the yacht. Everything was going great until I realized that my engine has stopped working and that the neighbouring lines were unexpectedly too tight. Fortunately, only my pride was damaged.
When you charter a yacht, your also hire a skipper. He possesses great knowledge and you should respect his decisions. Sometimes, certain misunderstandings can appear between the guests and the skipper.
If you are not confident with your sailing skills or you did your sailing exam recently, it is recommended to hire a local professional to teach you about local waters and regulations in ports and marinas. In such situation it would be very useful if you consider your skipper as a tutor on your sailing trip and try to do as many maneuvers as possible on your own.
When you charter a yacht, your charter agency will also offer you a skipper. He is the most skillfull person onboard, and guests should always listen to them and respect their decisions. Sometimes, however, certain issues arise between the guests and the skipper. Read the post to learn about such situations.
Sailing can give you many opportunities to meet new people. This is a story about one odd encounter with a very interesting and uncommon person.
How to behave onboard? Why you should follow all the orders by your captain or skipper? Is it just skipper’s ego or his rules matter? Find the set of rules that will keep you, your crew and your skipper happy and, most importantly, safe.
There are many virtues of a good skipper. It is hard to make a universal list and even harder to rank them. Our skipper made the following list of virtues after recent discussions: knowledge, organizational skills, interpersonal skills, coolness, courage, wanderlust and sailing skills.
Familiarize yourself with the most frequently asked questions regarding time spent on a yacht and at sea. Skippers will appreciate it!