Captain Ben Marshall decided at the beginning of 2020 to challenge himself in a new field within the yachting industry and jump from his role as a superyacht Captain of 25 years to an on shore yacht agent on a small Greek island, Corfu. We at A1 have really enjoyed having him join our team, we have learned a lot from him, utilized his cruising knowledge and are certain there is a very exciting future for him with us.
Ben wrote his top thoughts and comments on his experience of switching roles, during the challenging season of 2020 no less.
Switching sides…………
- What a crazy year to change from Captaincy to Agency, I realised that there was a lot of bureaucracy in Greece but this year was obviously a little different with the rules changing on a weekly basis due to Covid and Corfu being a popular spot to enter Greece made things very interesting.
- The provisioning orders were also challenging this year as at the start of the season a lot of top end products were not difficult to get, they were non existent.
- I was not aware of the logistics involved of procuring spares as once again this year being stranger than normal and no one having anything in stock.
- The quality of the organic products available in Corfu and especially the oils, herbs, vegetables, fish and cheeses.
- The unbelievable quality of the Greek wines which just gets better by the year.
- The quality of the restaurants in Corfu is amazing.
- The standard of the Corfiot engineering shops and support technicians was also very impressive.
- The warmth of the Greek and Corfiot people never ceases to amaze me and their willingness to find a solution to any problem that might be encountered.
