Company portrait
Sailing-Classics - authentic sailing with comfort & service
I think it was in 1998 when I first visited the 'Voiles de Saint-Tropez' as a tourist and saw an incredibly beautiful ship, the J-class yacht Endeavour... I was so enraptured that I would have given absolutely anything to be allowed to sail on this ship. But such mega yachts were and are usually only rented out completely as a whole ship (full charter).
The idea of organising sailing trips on large, real sailing yachts for individual bookers or as cabin charters then haunted my mind for years. In 2005 I had a change of career and the opportunity to do something completely new. It was clear to me that this would have to do with sailing and with this concept, because sailing has fascinated and occupied me since my childhood...
With many sketches and ideas I went to Klaus Röder (Carpe Diem Yacht Design). He later confessed to me that he found the idea quite crazy. Nevertheless, he drew me a beautiful hull, that of the first yacht KAIRÓS. He also drew the hulls of CHRONOS and RHEA. With my construction description I finally ended up at a Turkish shipyard in Bodrum and a very young naval architect named Ayberk as project manager, who later went into business for himself and finished the KAIRÓS.
Before that, the Swabian had the great fortune to meet an upright northern light. Barbara promised quite naively to help me and still manages sales, marketing and PR of Sailing-Classics.
However, the start in 2007 was more than bumpy. We had rig damage in the Caribbean and then in 2009 the KAIRÓS hit a reef off Corsica. We still managed, partly because many customers - some I didn't even know - left their deposits and said: "You fix it and we'll come back...". And Ayberk fixed it. The insurance company also paid at some point. And from the new start in 2010, things went steadily uphill, with many guests coming back again and again!
In 2012 we succeeded in finding further investors, founding the new Sailing-Classics CV and starting the construction of the CHRONOS. Today after commissioning the RHEA we have over 60 employees (some part-time) and Mariusz, our oldest employee, rightly says: "We share many stories..."
But ships are very capital-intensive and the operation and logistics in the many cruising areas are very complex. Also the marketing of such a niche product is consulting-intensive and costly. So there is still a lot to improve. But even after ten years, the enthusiasm of our guests and the commitment of our crews keep us sailing..
Andreas Steidle-Sailer