How much to pay a Captain
- Thread starter Maldwin
- Start date
Left Shift
Super Anarchist
On a delivery to Hawaii, we had 10 on board a 50'er. Owner's friends mostly, with a couple of sailors. Into the tradewinds, we started to settle into a two on, two stand-by and six enjoying life, except the first night under spinnaker, I was semi-asleep down below when I heard the pair on deck say: "What do we do now? Isn't 70 degrees heading back to LA?" So I popped up on deck and saw that they had managed to tack the spinnaker through the forestay and were making about 2 knots due east with the helm hard over. They had been pinned like that for almost and hour and they had no idea what do, but - like guys everywhere - were too embarrassed to ask for help.
So I said, Let's try this and see if we get lucky." spun the wheel the other way. Magically the kite blew through the forestay triangle, popped open, right on course and I quietly settled in to drive the rest of their watch. My wife came up to trim. However, the owner - a very good sailor - heard the kite refill with the typical whomp and stuck his head up next, wondering what was happening. I gave him an edited version, trying to keep everybody happy. He figured it out, though, and settled in to join me and my wife and sent the pair off to snooze. Next morning, he called an all hands meeting and announced that from that point on only six people were allowed to drive and only four at night. When he included my wife in the night time drivers, she was a bit surprised, as she'd sailed a lot, but never been across an ocean before.
But she completely got it, and the two of us had a great time sliding along to the islands all alone on deck for our starlit four hours each night, until the owner and his wife came up for their turn. It helped that it was not a squally year.
So, a little targeted crew management can end up being good for everybody.
So I said, Let's try this and see if we get lucky." spun the wheel the other way. Magically the kite blew through the forestay triangle, popped open, right on course and I quietly settled in to drive the rest of their watch. My wife came up to trim. However, the owner - a very good sailor - heard the kite refill with the typical whomp and stuck his head up next, wondering what was happening. I gave him an edited version, trying to keep everybody happy. He figured it out, though, and settled in to join me and my wife and sent the pair off to snooze. Next morning, he called an all hands meeting and announced that from that point on only six people were allowed to drive and only four at night. When he included my wife in the night time drivers, she was a bit surprised, as she'd sailed a lot, but never been across an ocean before.
But she completely got it, and the two of us had a great time sliding along to the islands all alone on deck for our starlit four hours each night, until the owner and his wife came up for their turn. It helped that it was not a squally year.
So, a little targeted crew management can end up being good for everybody.
EquusAsinusDomesticus
Member
$1000/day for a one-off trip with a captain qualified for ocean passages + travel home.
Does that seem ridiculous? I have charged that in the past and no one really seemed to balk at that. I don't work as a captain anymore but that seemed to be the going rate 10 years ago for stuff like this.
Does that seem ridiculous? I have charged that in the past and no one really seemed to balk at that. I don't work as a captain anymore but that seemed to be the going rate 10 years ago for stuff like this.
Read the following book for a tale of how a drunken, irresponsible paid captain ruined an owner’s trip-of-a-lifetime.
Troll alert!
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kent_island_sailor
Super Anarchist
I actually don't get the captain idea to start with. If I wanted to ride around as a passenger, cruise ships have swimming pools, air conditioning, and are cheaper.
psycho tiller
Anarchist
There was a young couple on youtube a few years ago attempting to sail around the world (I know, a shockingly original youtube channel). Instead of just setting off on their own and doing stupid & dangerous things they hired a professional captain for the first couple passages. After just a couple days they were going under a drawbridge with the "pro" at the helm when the girl, with limited sailing experience, starts yelling at the captain, "Uh our mast isn't going to clear the drawbridge". The captain starts arguing back that there's plenty of room. There wasn't. Mast catches the drawbridge and destroys the boat beyond repair. You could probably get that captain for cheap, just don't have him at the helm under a bridge.
hobot
Super Anarchist
He must be available still, he's hanging in the older of the two Oak Harbor SBUX this morning drinking coffee and surfing the web on a tablet.BravoBravo said:
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darth reapius
Super Anarchist
SASSAFRASS
Super Anarchist
We are in Western Panama and have met a couple in this year's world arc and talked about it a little. They take care of most of the logistics. You might look for a captain to take the boat from St Lucia to the Marquesas with the option to extend. It will give you the opportunity to go through the logistics and paperwork shuffle for several large items canal and a few countries and get one of the bigger passeges under your belt. Not too big of a time commitment for a captain so you can up your budget some to get somebody good. By the time you get to Tahiti you will know if you are comfortable or not with the rest.
