At short notice Reliance Yacht Management was tasked to take over the Lagoon 450 Catamaran “Solicitude” at the commissioning dock in Les Sables d’Olonne in France for a delivery to Tortola. The boat was destined to join the Dream Yachts charter fleet in the BVI. (more…)
An expanding charter company in the British Virgin Islands uses Reliance Yacht Management for the first time for the delivery of a new Lagoon 450 catamaran from France. The Operations Manager was there to meet them and sent us her comments;
Hi Nick
Just to let you know she is on docks safe and sound and she is beautiful, the crew have delivered her immaculately clean and tidy which is a wonderful thing. Usually they turn up very dirty! So thank you to your team looks like a great delivery thank you.
Many Thanks
Kirstie
The image below has been filtered from our Atlantic fleet to show two Lagoon Catamarans that recently departed France bound for Tortola.
Sea Runner departed La Rochelle on the 19th October, two days after the Lagoon 450#561 had departed from Les Sables d’Olonne. Today Sea Runner shows a clear lead and closer to their destination
The route chosen by each is clearly different. Sea Runner had the benefit of our new Sea Router Service. The Lagoon 450 did not. (more…)
As an established provider of marine weather Searout offer a complete portfolio of services customised for our yacht deliveries. Searout have a deep understanding of yacht deliveries and are the perfect partner to support the Reliance Yacht Management Operations desk.
“We are delighted to be working with Searout as their team has continually demonstrated excellence in their field and are perfectly positioned to assist our delivery captains worldwide,” says Reliance Yacht Management’s Founder, Nick Irving. (more…)
In the last few years yacht tracking systems have advanced in leaps and bounds and there are now additional features and benefits as well as improvements in existing features. We have been comparing tracking systems since 2005 and in this time we have delivered hundreds of yachts all over the world for fleet managers, yacht dealers and private owners. As the leading yacht delivery company we are best placed to have an expert and objective view on the subject. (more…)
Along with yacht ownership comes certain responsibilities and requisite services such as insurance, finance and moorings. These are obvious and will come as no surprise, and many will already have at least a minimum understanding of them. The one service that is often overlooked, mis-understood and often forgotten about, almost until the sale is made, is the yacht delivery.
Nick Irving, Director and Founder of Reliance Yacht Management spreads some light on the subject in his recently published article in the September/October 2016 issue of MULTIHULLS Magazine
Downlowd the full article here
DownloadYou may learn some difficult truths but it is essential to understand the customer experience. How else will you improve your service? Negative feedback should be considered as constructive and acted upon. Positive feedback should be celebrated and shared.
And this is the latest positive feedback.
Dear Nick:
Thanks a lot for requesting feedback (another positive trait around how you choose to do business). Even when I don’t have any previous experience I can certainly provide the following comments:
- Superb customer service
- Extremely professional and diligent
- Great combination of personal contact (at least by email) and live technology tracking (GPS)
- Great to receive pictures and updates posted directly by the Captain
I’m extremely pleased, so a big Thank You to you and the rest of the Team.
We want to say a big thank you to Anna Abramek and her all female crew for the safe delivery of our client’s Bavaria 34 from Gillingham, Kent to Sonderborg, Denmark.
Nick Irving of Reliance Yacht Management said “This is the first time we have completed a contract with an all-female crew. We have over half a dozen highly experienced and qualified ladies with whom we contract as yacht delivery Captains but this is the first will all girl crew. It wasn’t planned, it just happened.”
Thanks again to Anna and her crew Carolyn and Sarah. The photo shows a clearly very happy customer.
You’ve decided to buy your first boat. That’s great – well done. Two thirds of the earth’s surface is covered by water, You are now able to see more of the planet than ever before and much more than walking, or by car, or even flying. There are many reasons why people buy yachts, to cruise, to race, to explore, to relax, to live aboard and a good broker will advise what is best for you. Along with yacht ownership comes certain responsibilities and requisite services such as insurance, finance and moorings. These are obvious and will come as no surprise, and many will already have at least a minimum understanding of them. The one service that is often overlooked, mis-understood and often forgotten about, almost until the sale is made, is the delivery.
Seeing the latest 45ft production catamaran at Annapolis in its pristine boat show condition, one can be forgiven for not giving any thought as to how it got there. Walk around any boat show, marina or boat yard in the world and you will see vessels built in France, South Africa, Poland, China, Brazil and many other places. There is no restriction geographically on the yachts available to purchase because of specialist delivery services.
A yacht may undertake one or more mode of transport on its way to market. The first being is to get the yacht from the factory to it natural environment – water. No problem if the manufacturer is right there on the water and no more than a crane and slings are needed. But more often than not yachts are built away from the coast and need to negotiate the public highway.
With the average size of pleasure yachts increasing every year, this becomes an ever increasing challenge to the trucking companies. Specialised trucks have the ability to manoeuvre under, around and over obstacles. It is a regular sight for some residents in the Vendee, France to see 45 ft Catamarans going past, inches from their bedroom windows on their way to Les Sables d’Olonne.
Commissioning completes the building process and launches the boat. So now the boat is in the water and with access to the sea that connects to the rest of the world. A properly designed, built and commissioned yacht can, in the right hands go anywhere in the world.
Professional and specialist delivery captains sail many thousands of miles every year moving yachts to boat shows, dealers, charter fleets and private owners around the world. Commuting to work can be sailing from France to the Caribbean or Cape Town to Florida. It takes a special kind or captain to do this work. A special mind-set is needed for sailing deliveries that is neither cruising nor racing. Every aspect of the job is to get the yacht to the destination safely, efficiently and in perfect condition. Time taken before departure is spent identifying potential areas that need protection.
Stove tops are covered in foil, cushions are removed and stowed or covered in plastic, mattresses covered and yards of pipe insulation are used to protect vulnerable edges. With interiors stripped and protected it will look nothing like the boat you saw at the boat show. There is a good video that we produced a few years ago that shows the whole process.
With 4000nm to go, surfaces are covered and even offcuts from a local carpet store are used to protect the floor. Outside, all cushions are removed and stowed below away from sunlight never to be used on delivery.
So you’ve done your homework, followed up on references, asked your broker for recommendations, read the small print and appointed the delivery company. Now is a leap of faith. You hand over your money and the keys to the boat. Your baby, your dreams, your future happiness is in the hands of others who you may never meet. And the delivery company takes your money and your boat and sails away with it. Sounds scary – but it shouldn’t be. By choosing an established delivery company and not just a private captain you will have the reassurance that there is always someone there at the end of the phone to answer all you questions. The delivery company may set up a dedicated webpage just for you that enables you to follow the delivery as satellite tracking follows your boat. You receive photos, videos, weather updates, ETAs, reports from the captain and support staff. You will be comforted in the fact that a professional captain and shorebased support team have your interests at heart and the boat is in safe and experienced hands. You can relax and enjoy following the delivery live on line, share the anticipation of its arrival with friends and family and engage with the process of it delivery as you see the row dots increase across the screen to the boat’s destination.
There is a good video made by a crewmember that shows life on board a boat on delivery. The cooking, cleaning, and the constant vigilance to keep the boat in great condition.
And then it arrives.
It can take a good 24-48 hours to give the boat a good deep clean, to put the cushions back, put curtains up, remove all the protection and write up the condition reports. The captain has just sailed your boat hundreds or thousands of miles. He knows it. Take time to de brief and get a better understanding of your boat.
Now enjoy.
Multihulls magazine picked up the story we first posted on this site
On Satuday 5th December 2015 Delivery Captain Hanna Golebiewska on board the Lagoon 450 catamaran and reported the position of Lalou Roucayrol’s Multi50 trimaran Région Aquitaine-Port-
Médoc that capsize and abandoned almost exactly 5 years before. The skipper and his three crew members were rescued by the cargo ship La Scala. During the rescue the cargo ship ended up crushing one of the trimaran’s floats and the boat was never recovered.
See the the previous post with pictures of the upturned hull taken by our delivery crew.
Multihulls magazine provides a wealth of information valuable to anyone sailing cats or tris.
Visit their website
You can also download the article.
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