Rapid growth in the global yacht industry has caused many new yacht owners to hire professional yacht delivery captains to skipper their boats on long or dangerous voyages. Yacht delivery skippers confirm that boat deliveries are growing with international trends. "If you have the money it's reliably easy to buy a new yacht," said one, "but sailing long distances through potentially difficult waters or weather conditions requires skills that can take years to learn."
Recreational boat ownership is currently a $ 25 billion international industry and sales are growing annually at 5-10%. While sales growth will likely 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 of up to three years for luxury yachts in the USA and Europe and so the international fleet of recreational boats will continue to grow strongly.
However sail training and sea experience lag far behind the growth in boat numbers. Learning how to handle boats safely, 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 Royal Yachting Association both operate training and certification schemes. But learning to sail is not as simple as doing a course – and developing experience is critical.
Often new boat owners will join a delivery skipper for the voyage to the boat's new home. This helps them to get to know their new boat and gives them valuable sea experience, while the presence of a professional skipper gives them security and confidence. Many delivery skippers offer sailing and navigation instruction in such cases.
But lack of experience is not the only reason that boat owners hire delivery captains to move their boats. Many wealthy boat owners are also very busy people and can not afford to spend days at sea away from mobile phones and Internet connections. The average sailing yacht will only move about 150 miles a day, so a long trip can take weeks – time that that busy boat owners do not have. Instead they want to be able to hop on a plane for a sailing holiday in a new cruising ground and have their boat ready and waiting for them when they land.
Popular routes for yacht deliveries include from the United States to the Caribbean and from the boatyards of Northern Europe to the sunny marinas of the Mediterranean. Yachts are also delivered to major events such as yacht races or the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers in which hundreds of yachts sail across the Atlantic Ocean each year. And of course, whatever the destination, the yachts usually have to be bought back as well.
As boatyards continue to produce record numbers of motor and sailing yachts for time-starved boat owners who are often inexperienced with long voyages, it seems that yacht delivery skippers will be busy for some time to come.
