A desire to remove regulatory uncertainty in the employment of skippers
The origin of Capt'n Boat nestles in the personal experience of Emeric Leveau-Vallier, its founder. After working as an offshore racing project manager for Louis Burton and freelancing for Safetics, the sailor's checklist, the business school graduate graduated as a Yachtmaster in 2016. "I realised that nobody gives the same information about what you can do with a Yachtmaster or a Captain 200. 70% of the work is done by a skipper who doesn't have the right degree," says the creator of Capt 'n Boat. He starts a work on regulations and approaches the specialized law firm Stream for an estimate for a regulatory analysis mission. The project corresponding to many requests from its clients, the firm finally partners for the launch of the Capt'n Boat platform.
"This support gave me the legitimacy I needed. We then transformed this regulatory work into an algorithm to only offer skippers missions that they have the right to do and to the owners of the sailors with the right diplomas" sums up Emeric Leveau-Vallier.
An adapted skipper's insurance
The second sticking point according to the contractor was insurance. "Skipper's professional liability insurance is compulsory and at the time only the German Schomacker Hamburger still offered it in Europe, at low cost but with poor coverage. It took 2 years of work, as no insurance company wanted to go back to a profession with too many grey areas and not profitable. In the end, we set up a contract with AXA which covers 100% of the skipper's benefits, with a Pro skipper's liability insurance, a multi-risk damage insurance up to 1M euros avoiding the need to justify the skipper's responsibility in the accident and a business interruption insurance" says the founder of Capt'n Boat.
A need for professionals
Launched in December 2019, Capt'n Boat thought it would first reach individual boaters. 50,000 business volume in 2020, despite a rental market disrupted by the Covid-19, the entrepreneur realized the needs of professional charterers. "This allows everyone to be in the nails, the hirer and the lessor, avoiding making the client pay his skipper from hand to hand" sums up Emeric Leveau Vallier. With 1097 skippers registered in 1 year, he is delighted with this first year in a difficult context. "The majority of the tenants were enthusiasts who didn't need skippers. Novices in need of crew often postponed their charter. Despite this, we were able to meet all the demands, mostly at the last minute."
Broaden the offer
By 2021, the site, which employs 6 people, will continue to diversify. Technical developments will enable the management of skippers' enrolment. For the 2021 season, the platform will offer other on-board jobs (hostess, cook, etc.). A mobile application is currently being designed.
Capable of managing the French, British Crown, Spanish, Greek, Italian and Croatian flags, Capt'n Boat, 50% of whose registered skippers are international, has a growing international market.
