Personal service. Personal Commitment.

PERSONAL SERVICE, PERSONAL COMMITMENT.

Whatever the precious cargo you are shipping between regattas or simply around the world, having a single point of contact taking care of every aspect of the delivery makes for a better night’s sleep.

A racing team comprises many personnel, from skippers to grinders, sail trimmers to shore managers. But teams participating in worldwide races need a logistic teammate too. A specialist, who is always in the lead when it comes to coordination and planning.

Sander Speet is our Racing Yacht Specialist. His background is as a professional offshore racing helm and trimmer, with three maxi world championship titles to his name. This gives him a solid grounding in the industry from a client’s perspective when he was involved with loading and unloading race yachts from cargo vessels on a regular basis. From a logistics perspective, this experience allows Sevenstar to become an integrated member of each racing team. Speet still spends 20 percent of his time racing boats as diverse as Niklas Zennstrom’s new TP52 Ran and the J Class yachts Topaz and Svea. So how does this aspect of his work help him in his role at Sevenstar?

“It’s a big benefit because I’m right in the middle of the mix in the racing scene. It means you can get involved in the shipping process quite early on, making sure key people have the information they need at the right time, and so on. After sailing I can keep tabs on everything back here in the office in Amsterdam, and benefit from direct face-to-face contact with all the other race crews. It’s perfect for networking and collaboration.”

This element of Speet’s working life also enables Sevenstar to develop closer relationships with yacht clubs and race organizers. Talking to them at an early stage can bring a real benefit. With enough notice, we can schedule sailings to perfectly match the dates of a regatta. That can help us pick yachts up quickly to get them to their next event.

“We know race teams and owners often operate on tight schedules, without room for an error, so it’s great if we can coordinate vessel timings efficiently around the dates of each event.”

Today there’s almost no size limit to the yachts that can be shipped. Transporting the largest racing yachts like Rambler, the Wally 165 Better Place, and the Ran is routine and it’s not unusual to see big motor boats and superyachts loaded on Sevenstar ships. The operations team for these is the same as for race boats, so much larger sailing yachts than 100ft can be transported, even if they require very delicate handling. All Sevenstar loadmasters are in charge of the process as soon as the yacht is alongside the ship, making sure that slings and protection are in the right place, and that the boat balances safely when lifted by the crane. As soon as the slings are lifting the yacht it becomes our commitment.

Before a yacht can be loaded, a lot of action takes place behind the scenes. We gather as much technical information and data from the owner as possible. Our operations team analyses it and makes a detailed cradle, lifting, and deck plan.

“We also need to know whether or not the mast will be stepped. If it’s down, or if a spare rig is to be shipped with the vessel, we need to know the overhangs and which side of the boat it will be on. The overall picture is a pretty big jigsaw puzzle that we need to solve in advance.”

The loading plan considers the position of each yacht on the deck of the ship relative to each other and to the cranes. It also needs to look at how to put the yachts delicately onto their cradle, making sure they’re safe and seaworthy for the voyage.

There’s often a lot of extra equipment associated with shipping a racing yacht. For example, the cradle may have to be transported onward after the yacht is discharged. It’s also quite common for containers, spares, trailers, and so on to need transport. These are usually shipped at the same time as the yacht but can go ahead to allow a race boat’s shore team to get to work the moment the yacht is discharged and clears customs. Customs clearance is normally a smooth formality, but it’s a process that needs to be addressed in advance. Sevenstar Racing Yacht Logistics provides unique point-to-point transport solutions and offers a full-service approach. From yachts to masts, spares, containers, and ribs.

At Sevenstar we make your winning team complete with a teammate in bespoke transport solutions. With Sander, you will experience a great sense of security and safety as he understands your needs. He will guide you through the total shipment procedure and provide you with unique transport solutions for your racing team and offers you the opportunity to sail any regatta or Grand Prix event, anywhere in the world.

Sevenstar Racing Yacht Logistics. Making more racing possible.

Read the full article in Seahorse magazine: https://seahorsemagazine.com/190-content/april-2023/1304-personal-service-personal-commitment