Jake 🇬🇧

I left my job as a landscape gardener which I did love but knew I wanted something more. Sailing just fell in front of me at the right time to start as a hobby and from then I started to hear about the opportunities in the industry and then, ‘Yacht Week’. 

I was a skipper for two years already before joining Yacht Week but it wasn’t until I joined that my skills and knowledge really took a step up. Suddenly you’re part of a team and very strong community which I can confidently say there isn’t any like it in the industry. Being part of the flotilla watching, listening, and learning from other skippers (who were incredibly knowledgeable) has definitely helped get me to where I am now. For that reason, I have been a new skipper in Yacht Week, to a lead and now been a Route Manager. I can thank the previous skippers before me for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to prove myself. 

Yacht Week has been an incredible learning experience, not just for personal growth as a skipper but also for progression within the industry. The contacts and life long friends you make are invaluable in making a difference to your future, hard work pays off and is always noticed. A good reference goes a hell of a long way and has helped me secure jobs in the Caribbean and private charters in the Mediterranean. Yacht Week skippers are considered at a pretty high standard by most charter companies in the med and Caribbean now and the reputation improves every year.