We have noticed a significant rise in the number of Bali catamarans we have been delivering this year – and it’s easy to understand why! Reliance Managing Director, Nick Irving, calls the yachts ‘good looking and a pleasure to sail and deliver.’ He notes that there has been hardly any technical difficulties on these deliveries with only positive feedback from captains, ‘we love delivering these yachts and cannot wait for more people to know about them so we can deliver more!’
Currently, Captain Dylan Le Roux is delivering a Bali 4.8, transatlantic, from the Catana shipyard in Canet en Roussillon, France to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While Captain Pavol Cizmar has just embarked upon delivery from Catana’s other factory in Tunisia, heading for Split, Croatia.
It is not just the catamarans themselves that have impressed our captains and staff, but the people at Catana too. When Captain Pavol arrived in Al Huwariyah to pick up the yacht, he discovered that the shipyard staff had filled the boat with fuel and fully stocked provisions!
Captain Pavol is just off the Croatian coast now and Captain Dylan is passing by Cuba, turning up to Florida now. We’re looking forward to sharing our praises with each yachts’ respective clients and can’t wait to deliver more soon.
Contact us if you have a Bali catamaran or any yacht in need of delivery and we will provide logistical solutions that work for you!
Philippe Gigon Le Grain is our captain of the month for May! He has been sailing professionally for nearly 30 years with extensive experience and knowledge of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
Captain Philippe Gigon Le Grain
Despite his extensive experience, Philippe has never been fazed at the prospect of yacht delivery. He is one of our most enthusiastic captains, always seeking out the next job, and has been contracted to deliver 4 yachts this year already. He has sailed over 90,000 nm as a captain and has worked in super yacht management, running a Shipman 72 from 2009 to 2014 around the Mediterranean.
In order to showcase Philippe as the talented and accomplished skipper that he is, we asked him a couple of questions, covering his sailing origins, career highlights and future plans.
How did you get into sailing and what has led you to continue with it as a career?
I started sailing when I was 6, then went to Corsica with my family with a small sailing boat when 8. I kept close to the sea and explored most sports around it until 22, when I graduated from university. I then started to live for my passion for adventure, nature and freedom.
Shipman 72 GEOMETRY
What has been your career/sailing highlight so far?
Managing a Shipman 72 for 5 years for a Russian owner. Boat and clients were exciting. I stopped for a new adventure in Croatia.
What is the job’s greatest challenge?
Being able to ensure the best service no matter the conditions. When storms happen we must remember that it will be gone one day or the other.
Lagoon 46 recently delivered by Captain Philippe from France to Greece
Where do you see yourself in the future?
In between a boat and my house in south of France.
Do you have any advice for those looking to become a delivery captain?
Start with missions you can handle without stress and build on from that.
Former Reliance client, Andy Scott, has recently arrived in the Mediterranean with his yacht, Elton. Designed by renowned naval architect Bill Tripp, Yacht Elton is a 104’/31.7m custom gulet monohull built in 1992 and last refitted in 2021. The yacht accommodates up to 8 guests with 4 ensuite cabins and is available for charter!
Andy Scott is a UK businessman whose trading investment portfolio, REL Capital, specializes in buying ‘turnaround’, high growth businesses. In 2019 he was named one of the Sunday Times Maserati Top UK 100 Entrepreneurs. He also owns the heritage yacht Telstar, check out his website for more information about the yachts and charter availability.
UPDATE: Andy Scott’s classic yacht, Telstar, is now ready for charter too! The yacht was originally built in 1963 before refitting in 2019, offering accommodation for up to 8 charter guests in 4 cabins, with a crew of 2 on board. If you would like to charter Telstar in time for Classic Regatta Season, contact us.
Reliance manages loading and offloading of transatlantic yacht shipment
Reliance Yacht Management has successfully loaded the yacht, Carisma, in Antigua for shipped delivery to Mallorca.
The yacht was delivered by crew from Grenada to Antigua; from there a Reliance team prepared the boat for shipping and oversaw loading onto the cargo ship. Reliance crew based in Europe will be waiting in Mallorca to offload the yacht and take it to the nearest marina. With Reliance managing the loading process at both ends of the shipment, a careful and consistent delivery is guaranteed. We provide thorough predeparture preparation, independent safety checks, and highly qualified captains to oversee the entire process.
The ship, alongside Carisma, will be delivering super yachts and luxury cruisers such as Sunreefs and Oysters – all of which dwarf the custom built, 43 foot Carisma. At Reliance, we treat every delivery with the same level of care and attention. From straight out of the factory, luxury catamarans to well loved family yachts, every vessel is unique and every vessel deserves a bespoke service that puts safety, care and client peace of mind at the forefront.
Peters and May is the company shipping the yacht across the Atlantic; Reliance Yacht Management is their approved service provider for crewed delivery and loading services. If you would like to know more about Reliance Yacht Management and the services we provide, from management to delivery, please contact us.
Lionel Le Brenn is our captain of the month for March! He has been sailing professionally for over 10 years, although his love and passion for sailing goes back much further, and has worked across the industry as both a delivery and charter skipper. He has extensive knowledge and experience of sailing in the Mediterranean, but has also sailed across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans – most notably helping to create and develop a charter project in Sri Lanka in 2017, charting new sailing routes. Lionel’s love of freedom and adventure drove him to a life at sea; his respect for the ocean comes across in how he approaches every yacht delivery with care and attention.
Lionel is popular with clients and has worked on owner assisted passages, providing expert guidance and knowledge to new owners as they sail their new yacht home. Check out one of his most recent owner assisted passages with a client transporting their new catamaran from France to Portugal. The owner made a great video expressing how much he enjoyed the experience.
In order to showcase Lionel as the dedicated, conscientious and reliable skipper that he is, we asked him a couple of questions, covering his sailing origins, career highlights and future plans.
How did you get into sailing and what has led you to continue with it as a career?
My paternal family is from Brittany and has lived by the sea for a long time. I started racing every winter when I was 16 at the time in La Trinité sur Mer, which was the meeting place for sailing in France, then I never stopped racing and cruising a little everywhere on the sea. After a successful professional career in the world of distribution, I created my own consulting and training company. But 10 years ago, I decided to live around my passion which is the sea. I have a validates captain’s diploma and since then I have been delivering sailboats, a job in which I find both this feeling of freedom, autonomy and being close to nature.
What has been your career/sailing highlight so far?
Beyond the victories in regattas which were moments of great joy, the most enriching experience that I had was the chance to live was to make the first crossing of the Adam’Bridge in 2017 with Sapphire, a catamaran made in Sri Lanka. This passage between India and Sri Lanka not mapped was both a return to the sources of navigation, to find a passage between the different sandy islands, and a strong sharing with my Sri Lankan crew and the populations on site in very significant conditions of autonomy (no port, little reliable weather).
What is the job’s greatest challenge?
To manage between speed and safety, because we have to deliver a new boat to our client after 4 or 6 weeks of crossing. I always tell myself if I buy this boat I want it to be “Perfect” on arrival ..
Where do you see yourself in the future?
In the same place, I am writing these lines in the south of Sardinia and I will have to be in Palermo in 2 days to refuel, for delivery to Croatia…I love it.
Lionel (far left) with his crew
Do you have any advice for those looking to become a delivery captain?
Beyond getting the right qualifications, the ideal is to participate in winter offshore deliveries with confirmed captains to learn. This job is a job of knowing how and knowing how to be where we learn every day. Moreover it is necessary to always keep in mind that it is not our boat but that of a customer who is impatiently waiting for her.
What is your favourite knot?
The double sheet bend, I like it because it allows to hoist the courtesy flag when we arrive in new territorial waters and that means that we have arrived.
One of our oldest and most trustest clients, The Catamaran Company, have created this incredible reference for Reliance – on video!
Hugh Murray, the president of the charter and sales company, praises Reliance before going on to explain the transatlantic process through which we collaborate. A Reliance team picks up catamarans for The Catamaran Company from the manufacturers in France, undergoing all necessary safety checks and handovers. The yacht is then sailed over the Atlantic where the same team will do the handover again to The Catamaran Company’s teams in Florida and the Caribbean.
We are very excited to announce a new working partnership with shipping company Peters and May. Working together, combining resources, experience and knowledge, we hope to expand upon our end-to-end delivery service and offer clients bespoke logistical solutions.
As an approved service provider, Reliance Yacht Management the remit of services Peters and May provides, while also broadening our own international network. No longer limited to shipping routes, clients will be able to have their yachts collected from and delivered to almost anywhere in the world through our crewed transfer service. RYM captains will collect clients’ yachts, prepare them for freight delivery, and make safe crewed transfer to the ship. Once at the ship, a Reliance team will be there to continue the yacht’s onward journey. Working with Reliance Yacht Management makes the process smooth and simple with one point of contact and a safe pair of hands.
Even more than that, Reliance will be providing Peters and May clients a range of complementary services on top of crewed transfer. These include quality control and inventory checks, supply of safety equipment, and yacht handover and condition reports upon departure and arrival. This foundation of services fortifies both companies’ commitments to quality, customer service and bespoke logistical solutions.
Here at Reliance we cannot wait to begin this new chapter with Peters and May, built upon our already longstanding relationship. As the CEO of P&M, Simon Judson, says, our “first class service and can-do attitude” is something that we share with the “Peters and May philosophy”. Working in partnership will “provide full support and a comprehensive end-to-end solution” for both our clientele, expanding our businesses together.
Read Peters and May’s press release here for more information: Download
Captain Andy Mallion successfully delivered a Lagoon 46 catamaran from Les Sables d’Olonne to Athens for Istion Yachting. While experiencing some tough weather around the Bay of Biscay, with recorded wind speeds of up to 40kts, the catamaran made it safely to port by the end of January.
Istion Yachting is a charter company based in the south-east Aegean Sea. They started off in the early nineties with a small fleet based on Kos Island in the Dodecanese, before rapidly growing into one of the leading yacht charter companies in the Eastern Mediterranean. They have fleets across Greece, from Athens to Rhodes, from Lefkas to Nafplion. If you want to find out more, contact there here.
In 2021 we are starting a monthly series highlighting some of the incredible captains that work for us around the world.
Coming to the end of January, we would like to introduce you to Cpt. Karl Reed. Karl is one of our youngest skippers, but perhaps one of the most ambitious and hardworking. Not only does he have over 56,000 nautical miles under his belt, but he is also Reliance’s representative on the US East Coast and in the Caribbean. When Karl is not out on delivery himself, he is our eyes on the ground, sourcing skippers and organizing crew for delivery. With his local knowledge and extensive networks, Karl is able to provide Reliance with an unparalleled service: helping us to connect our clients with trusted, experienced captains that best serve each delivery’s unique requirements.
We asked Karl a couple of questions about how he began a career in sailing, his career highlights and any advice he might have for other prospective yacht captains:
How did you get into sailing and what has led you to continue with it as a career?
As a kid I spent my formative years going to sailing camps along the Potomac River, near Washington, DC, and eventually teaching at them as a summer job. Somewhat naturally extending to sailing in nearby Annapolis, MD, one of the premier US sailing destinations, and going on occasional trips back to the Caribbean (Haiti) where I was born. I grew to love sailing. When I was 18, I moved to Cape Town for a year to get my yachting license under legendary Offshore Sailor & Clipper Skipper, David Immelman. That led me into sailing and eventually running an Expedition Yacht in the Indian Ocean & Northern Madagascar. From there I gravitated back to the US East Coast & Caribbean, along with trans-Atlantic trips to Northern Europe. Now at 23, I have over this time garnered a great group of friends and resources in the industry who have helped me continue to be able to sail and mange vessels around the world.
What has been your career/sailing highlight so far?
Cpt. Karl Reed (far left)
While not so much a sailing highlight, I had the ability to be a part of a team to help the St. Luke Foundation In Haiti commission and build a sailboat in a coastal port near Port Au Prince, Haiti. I spent time in country managing the build and commissioning, then training the local crew to run the boat. With the boat, St. Luke can now provide much needed medical supplies, personnel, and goods to some of the most remote communities in Haiti. For me, that has been by far the most rewarding highlight of my career.
What is the job’s greatest challenge?
I think this job’s greatest challenge is being able to manage a wide range of things on at one time. In the delivery industry, especially, you may not need be perfect in every aspect of sailing and managing a vessel, but you are expected to be highly proficient in a large variety of aspects. From the technical and sailing aspect, to understanding the laws, formalities, to being able to move a vessel to that remote island in the Caribbean the Client found on a map, to being able to manage a team through bad weather or breakdowns. Add to that, the new COVID complexities and all these things can be some of the job’s greatest challenges. But, on the positive side, I find it is what keeps you aware of the fact that in finding the solutions, you will reap the many rewards of this industry.
Where do you see yourself in the future?
In the future I hope I am still working within the industry, leading a larger team of likeminded individuals who are aimed at providing the same high level of customer service Reliance expects. I believe I will be in the industry for a while and hopefully continue to assist Reliance in its endeavors.
Do you have any advice for those looking to become a delivery captain?
While RYA Courses and Qualifications are ideal, learning and gaining real world experience in a large range of aspects (for both the sailing and the delivery industry) will help you immensely. There is no one trick pony here – you need to be flexible and knowledgeable in many different arenas.
What is your favorite knot?
I have to go with the classic and timeless bowline, I believe simplicity is key here, while there may be a time and a place for more complex knots, I find myself time and again in the real-world making bowlines. Everyone has their way, as long as the end result is the same, you are good to go!
Finding new people to buy your product or service is an important part of the entire sales process. It may be tough for some people, but if your goal is to increase sales then you need to figure out which sales strategy will be effective for your target customer. Whether it is for boat sales or charter, it is generally accepted that social media is an essential part of the marketing mix.
There are so many more ways to get your product seen by customers than ever before. What’s the best part? They’re all free. You can use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and your blog to your advantage. By building relationships with your customers through these channels you can access more people than ever.
Benefits of content marketing include:
More access to qualified leads.
More channels to sell your product.
Lower costs to acquire customers.
It is important to remember that using social media depends on having good quality and relevant content. You will lose potential leads if your subject matter is irrelevant.
Our clients are now beginning to realise that our delivery services and the steady flow of updates, photographs and videos that we supply is a rich source of news that can be used to engage with clients.
Any of our deliveries whether by crewed delivery of ship provide a rich source of news that can engage customers and bring them back to your Facebook page or Twitter feed again and again.
As a corporate client, by using Reliance Yacht Management for your deliveries you will receive free:
What has been your career/sailing highlight so far?
