Skippers will discuss the passage with you and look to sail the quickest most efficient route ensuring the boat is not pushed or used excessively. The idea of a yacht delivery skipper is to get the boat from A to B in the safest and fastest way. I say them in that order as safety is the skippers first rule. The skipper has full responsibility of the boat and crew and will make all decisions based on his own experience. If he is unhappy to sail for any reason he has to call the shots and will not be afraid to do so. Our skippers sail when others wouldn’t want to and are not afraid of strong winds and rough seas. However, there is a level where it may put undue stress ion the boat and crew that have a negative effect on the overall delivery. Therefore a skipper has the last say on any decision made for a delivery.
Our skippers are employed to get the boat from A to B as quick as possible. They will choose the fastest and most direct route to the destination sailing 24 hours a day. Because of this, the motor will often be used either to assist the sails or when necessarily relied upon 100%. We try to limit the use of the engine, however, it is a balance between using the engine or adding undue stress on the boat and rig. We do not expect our skippers to tack into a head wind, it makes more sense to sometimes put them away, have a rest period and get the motor on.
Stops may become necessary to either restock food, fill up on fuel, rest the crew and boat or shelter from adverse weather conditions. As a rough rule of thumb, our skippers would look to do any delivery under 4 days in one hit. Once it goes over 4 days there would normally be a stop. This inst always the case as if all crew are happy and the boat is in good shape then our skippers are experienced and used to going maybe 1 or 2 weeks at a time. most of them have crossed the Atlantic so long passages are not an issue.