Precision Operations- Sailing and Heli Skiing

Being the founder and CEO of Total Heliski brings it perks, I can’t deny.

They usually occur in the winter, however, a few weeks ago, I was fortunate to be invited by a Total Heliski client to sail with him and his Australian pro-crew, on his yacht in the Rolex Maxi Yacht Regatta held in Porto Cuervo, Sardinia, Italy.

At 67 feet, we were the ‘mini-maxi’ class, i.e. I was surprised that there was an even bigger class of 100 foot and over. The Regatta, which is the official World Championship consists of the best of 5 races held over the course of a week.

We were operating with a professional crew of approx. 8 leading Australian sailors. With the likes of the ‘Wild Oats’ team (Sydney to Hobart winners for 5 years now), and world renowned round the world race sailor Gordon Maguire as our ‘tactician’, we were definitely skilled up to the hilt.

Over the course of the week, conditions varied from too much wind to race, to almost none. As every sailor knows, the success of the boat depends on a combination of boat design, tactical skill of the team, and the team work of the crew on board.

We placed approx. half way in our boat class, which was actually a great achievement, since we are a cruiser-racer boat and therefore we can’t really compete against the pure-built race boats which win yacht races like the ‘Sydney to Hobart’.

What I observed at the regatta, was quite interestingly, a very strong correlation to the way a premier heli operation is run. Like sailing, a heliski operation needs to run like clockwork, and it’s only as strong as it’s weakest team member. The owners must carefully weigh up safety, conditions, client enjoyment, and staff satisfaction to ensure their operation is running at both optimal efficiency and most importantly maximising customer satisfaction. In Sardinia, like with my heli ski operators, it was a pleasure to be witness to a team of professionals, who care so much about their client’s enjoyment, whilst making sure that the activity is conducted to the highest levels of performance and safety, all the while, without any concern needed by the client except to enjoy themselves.

Over the course of the week, conditions varied from too much wind to race, to almost none. As every sailor knows, the success of the boat depends on a combination of boat design, tactical skill of the team, and the team work of the crew on board.

We placed approx. half way in our boat class, which was actually a great achievement, since we are a cruiser-racer boat and therefore we can’t really compete against the pure-built race boats which win yacht races like the ‘Sydney to Hobart’.

What I observed at the regatta, was quite interestingly, a very strong correlation to the way a premier heli operation is run. Like sailing, a heliski operation needs to run like clockwork, and it’s only as strong as it’s weakest team member. The owners must carefully weigh up safety, conditions, client enjoyment, and staff satisfaction to ensure their operation is running at both optimal efficiency and most importantly maximising customer satisfaction. In Sardinia, like with my heliski operators, it was a pleasure to be witness to a team of professionals, who care so much about their client’s enjoyment, whilst making sure that the activity is conducted to the highest levels of performance and safety, all the while, without any concern needed by the client except to enjoy themselves.