The captain you trust is the one most likely to walk
Rotation is standard, rest is not
The report, published in November 2025, surveyed 367 captains on yachts from 20 metres to more than 120 metres. Sixty-three percent now work a time-for-time rotation, roughly equal weeks on and off, a package that a decade ago was reserved for the largest boats. The catch sits in the leave data. Only 28 percent fully switch off when ashore, while 31 percent work occasionally during the break, 15 percent regularly and 16 percent very frequently, with the remaining 10 percent answering other. Simon Ladbrooke, a captain consultant at Quay Crew, warns that 'many Captains never truly switch off.'
For an owner that paradox is expensive. Rotation already means paying two senior people to cover one chair, the accepted price of keeping an experienced master on the programme. If the off-rotation captain is still fielding calls and crew problems from ashore, the owner is buying rest that is not being taken, and the fatigue it was meant to prevent still builds. The report ties that pattern straight to retention and, at the sharp end, to safety.
The biggest line in your budget is moving
Crew is the largest single line in most yacht operating budgets, and the captain sets the ceiling the rest of the package is built under. The report puts monthly base pay at roughly 6,000 euros on a 20 to 24 metre yacht, rising above 25,000 euros on a 100 to 119 metre boat. The steepest move this cycle came in the 70 to 79 metre bracket, up 7 percent against the 2023 survey, and benefits climbed too, with more than half of captains now flying business class on long-haul, a 4 percent rise on 2023.
The softer finding is how those rises happen. Fifty-three percent of captains get some annual increase, but only 13 percent have it written into a contract. For an owner that means pay is reset year to year through negotiation rather than a fixed schedule, which favours the captain holding a rival offer. A 7 percent shift at 70 metres does not stay at 70 metres either, because the captain's number pulls the rest of the roster up with it.
The gap an owner can close cheaply
Satisfaction is holding rather than climbing. Thirty-seven percent of captains call themselves very satisfied, while about a quarter sit neutral or dissatisfied. The report links that discontent to pressures the captains named themselves, among them heavy yacht usage, tight budgets and owner expectations that outrun what the programme can deliver.
The fix is cheap set against the boat. A pay review fixed in the contract and real cover funded during leave, so the off weeks are genuinely off, together buy the one thing a placement fee cannot, the captain an owner already trusts. The report calls rotation a step forward only half finished, and the owner who finishes it keeps his master rather than paying to find another.
What is good, and what to watch
Strong points
- Rotation has genuinely become standard63 percent of captains now work time-for-time rotation, a package the report notes was reserved for the largest yachts a decade ago - real structural progress for retention, not just a talking point
- Pay and benefits are both moving upThe 70-79 metre bracket's 7 percent pay rise and a 4-point increase in business-class travel provision both show owners competing harder for senior talent than in the 2023 survey
- The report names its own weak spotQuay Crew's own consultant, Simon Ladbrooke, is on record warning that captains never truly switch off - the industry's own recruiter is flagging the problem rather than an outside critic, which lends the finding weight
What to watch
- Rotation without real rest is a half-measure62 percent of captains work during leave and only 28 percent fully disconnect, so the fatigue rotation was designed to prevent is still building in most cases - the report itself calls rotation 'a step forward only half finished'
- Pay rises are mostly discretionary, not contractualOnly 13 percent of captains have an annual increase written into their contract, which the report frames as favouring whichever captain is holding a rival offer over one who simply performs well
- Satisfaction is flat, not rising37 percent very satisfied against roughly a quarter neutral or dissatisfied shows the pay and benefit gains have not moved the needle on how captains actually feel about the job
- No independent named captain account beyond the report's own consultantSimon Ladbrooke, quoted in the report itself, is the only named voice found in the sources checked this run; no additional independent captain went on record for this story
Practical detail
| Captain base pay by size (2025/26) | Roughly EUR 6,000/month on a 20-24m yacht, rising above EUR 25,000/month on a 100-119m yacht, per Quay Crew's Superyacht Captain Salary and Leave Report 2025/26 |
|---|---|
| Fastest-moving bracket | 70-79 metre captain pay rose 7 percent against the 2023 survey, the steepest increase of any size band this cycle |
| Contractual pay reviews | 53 percent of captains get some annual increase, but only 13 percent have it written into their contract - meaning most pay rises are negotiated year to year rather than guaranteed |
| Leave that is not really leave | 62 percent of captains do some work during rotational leave; only 28 percent fully switch off, while 16 percent work very frequently during their weeks off, per the report's own breakdown |
| First-year attrition context | Industry-wide first-year crew attrition runs around 46 percent, with insufficient rotation cited as a primary driver - the backdrop against which this report's retention warning sits |
| What is not published | Quay Crew's full report is not public; its topline findings are summarised in its own blog and picked up by SuperyachtNews and The Triton, but the underlying by-size and by-region breakdowns require requesting the report directly from Quay Group |
Questions this story answers
What happened?
Quay Crew's Superyacht Captain Salary and Leave Report for 2025/26, drawn from 367 captains and published in November 2025, finds rotation is now standard yet most captains keep working on their weeks off. For an owner the story is not the salary but the churn behind it. A captain who never truly rests is the one most likely to leave, and his is the hardest seat on the boat to refill. Pay in the 70 to 79 metre bracket also rose 7 percent, so the cost line itself is moving.
What is good about it?
Rotation has genuinely become standard. 63 percent of captains now work time-for-time rotation, a package the report notes was reserved for the largest yachts a decade ago - real structural progress for retention, not just a talking point
What should an owner or buyer watch?
Rotation without real rest is a half-measure. 62 percent of captains work during leave and only 28 percent fully disconnect, so the fatigue rotation was designed to prevent is still building in most cases - the report itself calls rotation 'a step forward only half finished'
Who reported this?
Quay Crew / Quay Group - Superyacht Captain Salary and Leave Report 2025/26 (official publisher), SuperyachtNews, The Triton.
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