
Dubrovnik, Croatia
- Gentle winds and occasional Mistrals
- Rich history and spectacular scenery
- Line-of-sight navigation and island hops
Take the pressure off with a skippered sailing holiday. Whether you're a newbie wanting to cruise one of our 25 worldwide destinations or an expert looking for a chance to relax, a skippered holiday lets you enjoy as much or as little sailing as you want.
Hire a skipper for your entire charter or just a day or two. The choice is up to you. You pay a daily rate on top of your boat charter, so you have absolute flexibility to choose the days that suit you. All you need to do is provide your skipper with a separate cabin to sleep in and food and drink for each day of your charter. We even offer provisioning packages to make it easier to feed your skipper.
Our friendly, qualified and experienced skippers are available at any of our destinations so you get expert local knowledge and sailing expertise on one of our world-class yachts. Choose a skippered holiday and sail the world in style.
Our skippers can be added to any of our bareboat or flotilla charters for your entire trip or just a day two, whichever suits you.
Skippers can come in handy and fulfil a number of different roles and should be considered if you don’t have a sailing certificate or if it’s been a good few years since you were at the helm.
You may have a first mate who just prefers sunbathing to getting fenders ready or has to much on their hands keeping the children occupied.
A skipper can also benefit you if you have been hoisting your own sails for decades and just want a little help and support with some of the more physical aspects of keeping a yacht moving under sail.
Below are some commonly asked questions about the finer details that come up when considering a skipper and the answers to help you decide what’s right for you.
Our skippers will be officially in charge of taking care of handling the yacht. Though depending on your level of sailing experience you can do as much or as little as you like, including taking the helm, so long as the skipper feels it is safe to do so. Please note that skippers will take pride in the presentation of the yacht but they are not cooks, cleaners or maids.
Skippers must generally be allocated a stern cabin to themselves for the duration of your charter, though occasionally the bow can be agreed upon. Anything outside of this normal arrangement may be agreed upon with discretion before you book your charter but please assume your skipper will need a cabin in the stern.
That’s entirely up to you. If you’re planning to pre-order all of your food online then remembers to buy enough to accommodate the skipper.
If you’re planning to provision when you arrive then speak to your skipper when you meet them to find out what they like or don’t like and can or can’t eat.
You may invite your skipper to dinner and they may accept or choose to stay aboard. If there is no food aboard and you do not want your skipper to come with you then you can give them ‘pocket money’ so that they can pop in to their favourite local haunt. They’ll only ever be a phone call away should you need them.
Again, that’s entirely up to you as every group is different and interacts with with people in different ways. Rest assured our skippers are professionals who are comfortable at meeting new people and adept at reading different social situations.
If you invite your skipper to be part of the fun in the evening they may accept or choose to stay on the yacht and wait for your return. You may find that your skipper is an early riser who bunks down early after a long day’s sailing.
We do recommend and it is customary that you tip your skipper. A guideline amount would be 15-20% of your skipper fee, though as this could encompass quite a range, we leave it at your discretion and ask that you offer the gratuity you think your skipper deserves. We’re sure they’ll add immense value to your charter experience.
Our skippers are of mixed nationalities, but all of them will speak English to a level that will mean your holiday is not impeded in any way, and the vast majority will speak excellent English and generally be excellent communicators.
You could have a French national skippering you out in St Martin or find a proud Lancastrian at the helm in Athens. You may find a native Virgin Islander taking you under his wing in Tortola, but all of them will speak English to a more than acceptable level.
A fully qualified, commercially endorsed and experienced sailor, with tonnes of local knowledge to share with you. Our skippers will help you benefit from the best places to moor up, eat out and the best times to visit certain places. They can teach you new things about sailing, help you rediscover confidence at the helm, provide an extra pair of hands and handle the heavy lifting for you.
Yes – if you’re new to sailing, want someone else to take care of manoeuvring your yacht, or simply want a helping hand or regional expert aboard, then you can hire a skipper to join you on flotilla. If you’re travelling alone or as a pair, and don’t need the whole yacht to yourselves, you can even charter by the cabin to join a flotilla with a skipper and crew of up to 8 others. Click here or call 1800 803 988 for more information