Crew Available: Delivery Skipper: Qualified and Experienced

[rupertfb]

Former Officer Royal Navy (20yrs) Boat Surveyor & Professional Experienced & Qualified Yacht Skipper E Coast, Bahamas, Caribbean
________________________________________
Available by arrangement for Boat Surveys, Yacht delivery and skipper for east coast USA, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

References available
Full detailed and open quotations given

Over 45,000 documented offshore sailing miles as skipper:

Delivery completed in the last 36 months
2017
Beneteau 44' Charleston to Abacos
Catalina 34' St Pete FL to Mexico
New Lagoon 40' Annapolis to USVI
Voyage 44' St Augustine to BVI
2018
New Beneteau 45' Charleston to Miami
PDQ Capella 36' Antigua to BVI
Fontaine Pajot 40’ St Petersburg to St Thomas USVI
New Beneteau 38' Charleston to USVI
New Jeanneau 41' Charleston to BVI
PDQ Capella 36’ Bahamas to St Augustine
Hans Christian 38’ South Carolina to Massachusetts
Silverton 50’ Connecticut to Florida
Sea Ray 330 Charleston to Jacksonville FL
Island Packet 52’ – a weeks instruction in The Chesapeake
Jeanneau 44’DS Rhode Island to Bahamas
2019
Island Packet 52’ Annapolis to St Maarten
Island Packet 52’ USVI to Annapolis
Hunter 31’ Charleston to Annapolis
Beneteau 41’ Miami to Charleston
Lagoon 40’ Martinique to Florida
Moorings 58’ Marsh Hbr-Gt Exuma-Nassau (Hurricane Dorian)
Lagoon 45’ Annapolis to St Thomas USVI
Fontain Pajot 40’ charter captain USVI/BVI
Beneteau First 53’ Beaufort to Charleston
2020
Island Packet 52’ Annapolis to Little Creek and back (aborted Caribbean trip)
Fontain Pajot 40’ Puerto Rico to St Lucia
Beneteau 41.1 Charleston to Annapolis
Catalina 47’ Charleston to Galveston TX
Jeanneau 45’ Ft Pierce FL to Annapolis
Beneteau 45’ St Thomas to Tampa, via Nassau
Beneteau 55’ Charleston to Ft Lauderdale
2021
Ocean 48’ Charleston to Boston
Lagoon 42 FLL to Fernandino beach 3 days
Island Packet 38 St Augustine to Beaufort NC 4 days
Beneteau Oceanis 48’ St Thomas USVI to Charleston, SC
Beneteau Oceanis 55’ Charleston to Connecticut
CY Cantius 60’ Charleston to Ft Lauderdale



Time spent as Yacht Skipper for Charter:
2019
FP 40’ 8 days USVI
2020
FP 40’ 7 days, Puerto Rico to St Lucia
FP 44’ 16 days USVI/BVI
FP 44’ 9 days USVI
FP 40’ 5 days USVI
FP 47’ 2 days USVI
Beneteau Oceanis 45’ 7 days
FP 50’ 7 days
FP 50’ 8 days
FP 44’ 2 days
Lagoon 45’ 8 days
2021
FP 47’ 15 days
FP 47’ 15 days




Qualifications

● USCG 100 ton
● RYA Yachtmaster Offshore & RYA ICC, RYA Dinghy level 3
● STCW 95 II/1
● MSc 'Hydrographic Surveying' (deep specialization in: GPS, navigation, oceanography)
● ABYC Standards qualified
● Qualified Boat Surveyor (Chapman)
● Royal Navy ship’s Commanding Officer
● Ships Communication Officer
● Ocean Navigation Certificate
● First Aid & CPR
● VHF Radio Operators Ticket
● ‘UEL’ - Unit Expedition Leader
● Leadership Instructor
● FireFighting at Sea
● Sea Survival Course
● Ships (armed) Protection
● Ships Damage Control


Experience

● U.K. Royal Navy: 20yrs Surface Warfare Officer (Warship driver) Sub specialist Hydrographic Surveyor (deep specialist in the use of the Nautical Chart)
Commanding Officer/Executive Officer/Navigation Officer with decades of global seamanship and small boat operations around the world
●RYA Yachtmaster: Experienced in planning, equipping, leading and instructing sail training expeditions in the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar.
●Instructor in: Leadership/Navigation/Meteorology/Oceanography/Sailing and Power Boat to the Royal Navy.
●St Barts Yacht Sales, Charleston. Hired as Sailboat expert to broker new and used Beneteau's as well as all other makes of sail and power boats. Instructing new owners in sailing, navigation, maritime regulations and sailing etiquette.
● Delivering on east coast and to Caribbean for: Privately owned vessels, Moorings, Sunsail, Dream Yacht Charters, St Barts Yachts.
●Over 45,000nm of documented offshore miles delivering yachts to Caribbean, Bermuda, Bahamas, up and down the east coast and Mexico.

Safety Equipment & Communications:

EPIRB
I also carry my own satellite communications when offshore, which allows:
1) Text conversation to/from land to a group of email addresses or phone numbers
2) Offshore Weather forecasts download
3) It also sends a position update at set intervals. This keeps you, your family & friends in touch with where we are, and through text conversation.


Conclusion:

Every delivery is different, and I am always available to discuss your delivery or training needs. Some people need their boat sailed across the harbor, some require delivery over thousands of miles, some people are looking to get used to a boat they have just bought, and to get to grips with the Rule of The Road, etiquette and logistical world that boaters live in!

Owners/friends are welcome to attend as crew
Rates and terms dependent on the requirement

I’m a non-smoker, no drinking (at sea) policy

Drop me a line and I can send you my full resume and we can set up a video conversation and start discussing what we can do

[reedsimonds]

Hi, I PMd you a few weeks ago but never heard anything. I assumed you were busy offshore. If you're still available, we are considering hiring a skipper to help take our boat from Maine to Hampton, VA in the next couple of weeks.

If you're available and interested, let me know.

Thanks.

[BostonSailer]

Rupert captained our old girl from Charleston to Boston with my wife and I as crew. I can recommend him as a thorough, thoughtful, calm and experienced captain. Great sense of humor, loaded with stories and a decent pastie baker.

When we arrived in Boston, Rupert had documented 35 needed repairs on the boat and had undertook some of them himself while underway. When we arrived after six days offshore, Africa was a better boat and we were better crew.

In the four years since our voyage from Charleston, I've often remembered him as an example of what a captain is and how one should behave underway. That, and his stories of tipping penguins.

Chris and Janet
SV Africa

[rupertfb]

Hi 'Reed Simmons'
I apologize profusely for missing a PM......I've just contacted you via PM, and you can find my contact details either there or in the personal contact info on this site

Lets have a chat!

Rupert
Delivery Skipper
Charleston, SC

[reedsimonds]

Hi Chris and Janet,

Thanks for this info. Great-to-know stuff. We are (finally) sailing south for the winter and need to consider enlisting some assistance before the weather windows close. We appreciate hearing the endorsement. Of course, penguin tipping stories can't be heard just anywhere so this is an added plus..

Thanks again.

Andy and Leslie

s/v Kairos

[reedsimonds]

Hi Rupert,

Not to worry. I just sent you another pm. I did not get yours but I just sent my contact info.

Thanks.

~Andy

s/v Kairos

[Davebusse]

We are looking at purchasing a Leopard 45 Catamaran in Panama and bringing it up to the Pacific North West (Vancouver Canada). Trying to compare costs and timing fir this move. I would be crew. Depending when we make the move my wife might crew as well. We are undetermined on timing of the move. Thoughts and interest. My understanding is it is an ugly passage up the coast.

[Cloroxbottle]

Hello,

I just sent you a PM to see if you could deliver a boat for us this May, Maryland to Florida.

[CHIEFRAY]

Looking for someone to Captain my boat from Heathsville VA to New Bern NC. within the next couple of weeks.

[Vorsichtglas]

Hi there. I am in the hunt for a delivery Skipper France - Auckland, New Zealand. Do you cover this route too? Can get crew but for this distance really want a master at the helm. Yacht would be a 45-52' monohull.

[rupertfb]

Good Day Vorsichtglas - thank you for the message
This is not a route that I know and, despite wanting some day to explore those waters some day, I think you should hire someone that is an expert specifically for this route. A skipper should be knowledgeable in the local weather, stop off points, oceanography etc
Good luck, and have a great sail!
Rupert Forester-Bennett
Delivery Skipper and Boat Surveyor
Charleston, SC, USA

[Rumrace]

I think secretly we all want to hire you for a week just to hang out.

[Snore]

Originally Posted by Vorsichtglas

Hi there. I am in the hunt for a delivery Skipper France - Auckland, New Zealand. Do you cover this route too? Can get crew but for this distance really want a master at the helm. Yacht would be a 45-52' monohull.

Check out boatman. I know he has done these legs before including down to the South Pacific.

If he is busy, depending on the vessel, I may be interested. Please check my website and PM me.

[Messing About]

Originally Posted by Rumrace

I think secretly we all want to hire you for a week just to hang out.

Mind reader.

I was also wondering how the price of a week or two sailing school compares to the price of private 1:1 instruction from a Skipper of this caliber.

[rupertfb]

Messing about: I am sending you a PM

Rupert Forester-Bennett
Skipper/Surveyor