All bareboat companies require potential yacht charter skippers to supply a sailing resume, outlining your sailing or powerboat experience. Once you have placed a hold on the yacht you'd like to charter, we will send you all the paperwork required to complete your reservation.
This paperwork includes the company's sailing resume and is the single most important part of your paperwork. Unless approved to bareboat, your charter plans cannot proceed. Once your sailing resume has been approved, your 50% deposit payment can then be processed and your charter confirmed.
Each company has their own resume form and all are required (by their insurance companies) to get a new resume
each time you charter. They do not keep resumes on file after you leave, so
be sure to keep a copy for the next time you charter and update it with the pertinent info.
Note: If you know what boat you'd like to charter, I can email you a copy of the appropriate resume so you will know exactly what info is required. Just send us a
message with the link to that particular yacht, and we'll send you the appropriate resume.
The person reviewing your resume is usually the operations manager. They are looking for sufficient experience handling a yacht of
similar size and displacement as the yacht you wish to charter. If the majority of your sailing experience has been aboard a 16' Hobie Cat or a 32' monohull on Lake Michigan, and you'd like to charter a 44' catamaran ... you will likely be required to hire an instructional captain for at least a day or two and perhaps longer.
Some (but not all) companies require first time charter guests to do a quick sail around the harbour with a check-out skipper to verify that your sailing resume and your practical skills match.
Your check out cruise is not the daunting task that some would have you believe. Your skipper simply needs to verify that you know the rules of the road, are able to read a nautical chart and that you have sufficient yacht handling skills to safely operate the boat you've contracted to charter. Provided you are comfortable with your abilities and have sufficient sailing experience (as detailed in your resume), there should be no trouble at all.
I have been asked; "What will happen if I stretch the truth a little on my sailing resume?"
A good yacht briefer (or even a poor one) will know within five minutes of beginning your briefing whether or not you know your way around a boat and have sufficient knowledge to handle it. It's not something you can easily fake.
The charter company has the right to cancel your contract should they believe your boat handling skills are deficient or they may require you to
hire a captain for all or part of your vacation. Just be truthful and accurate about your experience, as your sailing resume will be provided to the insurance company in the unlikely event of an accident.
If you are determined to stretch the truth on your sailing resume in order to be allowed to charter ... and *IF* you are able to hoodwink the briefer, it may come back to haunt you. Insurance company investigators are usually really good at their jobs!
