Short Summary
Who am I?
I am Chris, I am a RYA Ocean Yachtmaster skipper, commercially endorsed.
After a couple of years sailing for yacht deliveries companies, or skippering charters in the Med or the Caribbean, I decided to provide the same dedicated service to a small flotilla of sail boats, with groups or individuals onboard, at a very attractive rate.
My project
The main object is to provide very affordable skippered sailing holidays for generation Y (20 to 35 year-old).
This segment of the yacht charter market has been ignored for years, but thanks to new concepts and actors in the industry, it is possible to offer a first sailing experience to more people, who thought they couldn't afford it.
What used to appear as an expensive, complicated, elderly holiday can now turn into an affordable, easy and fun way of traveling and visiting new places.
Epic Sail provides a private skippered yacht for young adults (20 to 35) along with :
- Luxury yachts (40 to 50ft) for guests comfort and enjoyment. Epic Sail provides breakfast and lunch everyday and free BYO at no charge.
- Professional skippers who will show the guests how to sail, and know all the secret spots to discover the visited coasts from the sea.
- Special deals on activities such as para sailing, jet skiing, scuba diving/ snorkeling.
The small flotilla(3 to 5 yachts) is stopping every night in a different location, island or mainland village marina, for dinner and night activities.
This summer was based in Lycia coast in Turkey, next winter is Sint-Maarten/Anguilla/St Barths in the Caribbean.
What We Need & What You Get
Epic Sail started this summer, with word of mouth only, and now I try to expand the visibility of Epic Sail. I currently have a Facebook page and a basic website for the summer destination. The website needs now a complete redesign to show winter and summer destinations, with a secured payment system.
The draft of the new website design is ready but the final development is costly and needs to be done very quickly to display destinations and bookings for the winter season.
Also, to provide the lowest prices, I need to pre-book the boats as early as 6 months before departure, to get the best deals and a large choice. It needs an important cash-flow but it can cut the retail price to 50%, which makes this sailing trip affordable to much more people.
How will the funds raised be used?
All the profits made during this summer were already reinvested in marketing (Google adwords, Facebook Pages campaigns, participation in a travel show), and covered the costs of our website.
Now I need to upgrade the website (complete redesign, with multi destination options), the booking system, and the online payment options.
It is an important investment (£10000), and needs to be done now, as I have reached the limits of the current website capacity, and online payment system.
To be able to provide the cheapest prices, I need to pre-book the yachts 6 months in advance, to get access to the best deals.
Deposits must be paid to secure the boats for the following season, and we are looking for the missing cash-flow (£5000) to pre-book our flotilla. In case there is any excess of donations I will set up a second flotilla for this winter and summer 2014 (Thailand and Greece).
What sort of perks can you expect?
I can provide fair rewards to my contributors, closely matching the range of their contribution, up to a 50% discount for a 2-person 7-day sailing trip anywhere.
Check the perks!
Other Ways You Can Help
If you can’t contribute, get the word out about my website (when it's updated...) and Facebook page!
www.epic-sail.com
https://www.facebook.com/Epicsail
