Have you ever come back from a sailing holiday in the Med dreaming of becoming a charter skipper so that you could stay and sail there all summer? Trevor Wright made that dream come true.
Trevor has owned boats since 1983, cruising and racing on the East Coast. “My partner Pam didn't like sailing in the cold North Sea, after getting hypothermia one race weekend,” he said. And so they started chartering yachts in warmer climates.
Eventually Trevor decided that as he was doing most of his sailing abroad, he might as well have his own boat there, so he sold his SJ320 club racer and bought a Bavaria 37, in charter management with Kiriacoulis in Greece.
After two years of sailing Spectre in Greece for six weeks every year, “I had a good knowledge of the area,” he said. And the idea of spending whole summers out there was increasingly attractive.
“Then somebody came along and offered to buy my business. I was in the fortunate position that I could afford to take a risk, and see if there was a viable opportunity there.
“I did some research - I had been doing research from holidays for years. So with some of the money I got from selling the business, I bought the yacht out of charter management, to start my own charter business. The plan was always at the back of my mind!” he admitted.
Trevor chose to base Spectre Charters at Kalamata because there weren't any other charter companies there, and the area is still unspoiled.
“Kalamata is one of the few places you can go in the world where there is beautiful warm blue sea and you may see only one or two other yachts in a day. On a busy day in high season, you go into an anchorage and there may be three or four yachts there. But most of the time you can have bays and anchorages to yourself.
“Kalamata Marina has a beautiful setting, surrounded by eating places and bars and has excellent facilities. Food and wine in this area are very cheap. You can still go out and have a two course meal and wine for ten or 12 Euros.”
Trevor launched Spectre Charters in 2005, and says business is steadily increasing.
“There is certainly a niche in the market for people who haven't got confidence to skipper a yacht themselves but want to have sailing holidays in Greece. Most people I have had on board say they are coming back, and some of them do, fortunately!” he laughed.
Most of his bookings come either through word of mouth or via his website.
The vast majority are from the UK, but he has had Swiss, Italians, Canadians and even Greeks aboard as well.
Trevor is a qualified Commercial Yachtmaster, and he gets a lot of satisfaction from sharing his skills.
“I enjoy it when I have had complete novices on board, and by the end of the week they are quite capable of sailing the boat to windward and bringing it alongside a jetty.”
Most of the time he is on board as skipper, but he does accept bare boat bookings from people who have sailed with him before “or have the right certificates.”
And when he is not skippering his own boat, Trevor manages a number of charter yachts for other owners and sometimes skippers other yachts. “Sometimes we sail in a small flotilla if it is a large group of people.”
But idyllic as it all sounds, it is not an endless holiday, Trevor says.
“I have had the odd stressful day. I was chartering a Greek owned Bavaria 41. The people were due to arrive at 1330 and at 1300 the yacht still wasn't back in the marina from the previous charter - but we got it sorted in the end.”
One of the difficulties he faces is “staying in communication when you are out sailing all the time. People want to contact you, but the mobile phone always goes at inconvenient times - when you are gybing the spinnaker or coming alongside the fuel pontoon. Now I have got the telephone manned seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” he said
He would like to persuade more people to consider early season holidays.
“Greece is very beautiful in April and May. The majority of people don't want to think about taking holidays until the end of May. It is hard to convince people that they are missing out on some of the best times in Greece,” he said.
Trevor has had no problems with keeping the boat well maintained.
“That is one of the good things about skippering all the time. When people go off sightseeing, I get all the little jobs done. Most of the maintenance I manage to do myself. The only problem I had last year was the water pump packed up. I took it off and put in a taxi, and sent it back to the engineer in Kalamata. He got it at six and by two the next day it had come back by taxi remachined, was refitted and I was on my way again.
“The local tradespeople are good. Most Greeks are very friendly.”
Trevor hasn't regretted his career move. “No, most certainly not!” In fact he is thinking about ordering another boat to expand the business. He enjoys the life so much that he spends his own “busman's holidays” aboard his yacht with family and friends.
Spectre Charters cost from £1,200 low season to £1,700 high season for a week including boat and skipper, but excluding flights. Return tickets to Athens are about £90 return, to Kalamata £180 return, said Trevor. New train and motorway links to Kalamata are cutting the transfer time from Athens.
“The south west Peloponnese is about to have a large investment from the Greek tourist authority and the area is going to become more on the tourist map in the future. So come now before it is spoiled!” he urged.
Best parts of the job:
- Having people who are complete novices and seeing the joy on their faces when they can actually sail the boat and steer a straight course.
- Sailing for a living, in the sunshine in a beautiful area.
- Getting to meet lots of wonderful people. I haven't had one bad client yet.
Not so much fun:
- Cleaning the yacht in 40 degrees of heat.
- Dealing with some of the port officials.
- Having to come back home in November to stormy England.
For more information visit www.spectrecharters.com
