The current COVID situation has certainly changed my perspective on life and what is important. Postponing dreams is no longer an option. I want that lifestyle change. Some of us are financially secure and retiring on a boat seems a great idea. For others the thought of operating a yacht as a crewed charter boat might be the change they are after as a way of ‘semi retirement’.
Yet, are you suitable for life on a boat or being an owner-operator? With little or no experience this dream could soon turn into a nightmare and an expensive one at that.
The alternative … try before you buy. Not just a boat, but the actual experience of all what living or working on a yacht involves.
So I turned to a friend, Bruce Issell, who operates as captain on a yacht out of Thailand that might just provide the experiences I am after.
Introducing ‘Dallinghoo’, a majestic 100’ Schooner, 5 star cruising come training vessel with 7 sails and 12 winches.
Clearly ‘Dillinghoo’ is not what you envisage when you are thinking of buying a yacht to retire on, at least not on my budget. But I have sailed with Bruce many times before and I have always learnt something new. Let’ see what he has to say:
Bruce, I am thinking about retiring on a boat. I have sailed a fair bid on 40 odd feet catamarans, especially my own Helia 44 ‘No Shoes’ which is in Charter with DYC in Croatia. However, most of it is coastal cruising. My dream is to cruise the world but possibly offer crewed charters at various destinations. I want to hone my professional skills, gain experience and seamiles …
I noticed ‘Dillinghoo’ is set up for 5 star cruising. Yet from what I understand, it is a training vessel as well. How does that work? How do you combine the two?
‘We alternate the times when we do 5-star charters and join-in training cruises. Effectively, we spend half the year in exploration and training cruises and the other half in 5-star charters.
At all times, we have a core crew of skilled professionals to ensure a smooth operation. This provides a great opportunity for the trainee crew to apply their skills. As we are training vessel, standards are high and provide a better than average experience for our guests on board.’
‘For the most part, our high season the Northern Winter. In the tropics, this is our 5-star charter season. When we complete it in April we hit the shipyard for annual maintenance and following begin our 5 months “Exploring the Spice Routes of Asia” cruise.
This is when we take on Trainees and guest crew to join us on longer passages in the South China Sea, bordered by Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia Borneo and the Philippines. This is our cruising ground with trainees joining from 2 to 6 months and guests joining from 2 weeks to months at a time.
Our cruising season guests are usually part of the crew and due to the longer times aboard become well involved in all parts of the logistics for our travels. They get to experience firsthand immigration procedures, provisioning, refueling in remote locations and all the skills a world cruising yachtsman needs to have to smooth the way of international travel.
Of course, it changes from country to country but the principles are the same. For example, don’t try to plan to the finest detail too far ahead as local knowledge is key to most things and you get that in a better way when you are close to your destination.
Once you have arrived at your destination one of the tricks is to meet the locals, spend a day or two and find a helpful, friendly local that you can communicate with to help to ease the way of things. It is a very interesting life of discovery.’
Dallingoo is a big boat, a true sailing yacht. I am not about to buy one of those and they are way different from a catamaran, how can sailing with you help me prepare for my world cruise?
‘Well they say a boat is a boat and this is very true. They all go to the same places, take similar routes to see the same things to then enjoy the same food and experiences. A large, comfortable and safe sailing yacht like Dallinghoo allows people new to sailing to concentrate on learning the ropes without too many of the difficulties of the sailing life that a smaller yacht can introduce.’
What about the weather? It’s a key part of the sailing and when it gets rough, experience counts. You are operating in the tropics, how will I learn about storms and handling?
‘Weather … now the key to that is to avid bad weather as much as you possibly can. But if you do get caught in it, it is important to have strategies and knowledge to manage the heavy weather with the least impact to persons and property.
Yes, we do experience heavy weather in the tropics but usually for short duration which allows us to weather it for a few hours until it clears without becoming exhausted by days of pounding weather.
So in short, we get to experience it for sure but do not need to endure it too long. We regularly have up to 60 knot winds which is pretty serious stuff, we learn to watch the weather and prepare for oncoming weather in an efficient manner. We analyse and study it and usually know when it is coming. This is a great learning process for those on board.’
On a personal level, how long have you been there and what is your previous experience?
‘I started here about three years ago. Basically I have over 25 years of experience across all aspects of the maritime industry.’
What made you take the job as a skipper on this boat? It would have to be a more challenging position than say on a more modern vessel?
‘I have always had an interest in the classics. Well-built sports Cars, classical music, antique furniture and traditional sailing yachts. Schooners were the culmination of a thousand years of non-motorized shipping development.
In my opinion they are the most efficient, seaworthy, sailing vessels ever built. I also have an interest in seamanship and exploring the oceanic parts of our world. The more remote, less populated, beautiful and untouched parts are places of interest to me.’
Some of the biggest challenges in this job? I am sure that’s relevant for people interested in moving onboard.
‘Interpersonal relationships onboard for extended periods of time are always interesting and challenging. Life on a yacht 24/7, for months at a time on passages is not life as we know it. This brings with it its joys and its challenges.
Travelling internationally and doing the administration procedure for immigration, customs, quarantine and port captain entry and clearances can be pretty interesting and definitely a challenge.
The other things that are challenging are all part of the job and taken in our stride; engineering, sourcing spare parts, provisioning the yacht and finding fuel all add to an interesting time keeping the ship operational.’
Finally, I heard about you are linking up with Ron Patsons from the Group Island Spirit and his sailing school. What’s the structure? Will you be able to issue any “certification” I can show to future employers or regulators when I want to set up my own ops or just work for others?
‘Yes, I am a qualified instructor and Ron provides the sailing school administrative structure. There are two streams you can consider: Commercial or Leisure.
On the commercial front, we are working towards offering commercially endorsed Master of Yachts 200 Ton tickets. We will be offering the MCA Training record book. Dallinghoo being over 24m provides relevant training and sign off records that are a requirement prior to sitting the OOW 3000 up to 3000 Ton oral examination.
If you are short of time because you recently lost your job, we can help you acquire the needed time at sea experience. We also offer MCA rib master certification for tender driving up to 12 meters commercially and VHF/DSC radio licenses, a requirement for all VHF radio users worldwide.
On the recreational front, we can offer a full range of recreational sailing courses, but most importantly, we can help you gain sea miles, night hour and time at sea experiences required prior to sitting your Yacht master certificate for example.’
Thank you, Bruce, for the information. I am very excited to be part of your crew soon to take my nautical experience to the next level. Retirement on a boat does seem like an appealing option
Great blog Nils, I think it captures quite well the experiences we offer