A little bit about us...

Established in 2010, Pilgrim Sailing is operated by Paul & Clare Ley, who are passionate sailors and love sharing their beautiful yacht with you. Find out more about the Pilgrim Sailing story below.

Meet THE CREW

PAUL LEY

OWNER/OPERATOR

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Paul has been working in the marine industry for over 20 years and holds the following commercial maritime tickets (Master 5, MED 3 and RYA Yachtmaster with commercial endorsement). 

Paul has been the skipper of Pilgrim since 2010 and prior to that was the captain of a wide array of commercial and private, power and sail boats of different sizes including 5 years as a Royal Yachting Australia Instructor teaching Introduction to Sailing, Competent Crew and Day Skipper courses.

In his early career he qualified with the RAAF as a fitter and furthered his career down the track as a marine mechanic, fixing engines and other marine specifications. 

Prior to Pilgrim Sailing, Paul had previous experience in the tourism industry while working as a Dive Master out of Cairns in the late 1980’s.

Paul has lots of experience, thousands of sea miles under his belt and lots of stories to tell. He loves having a chat to our guests!

CLARE LEY

OWNER/OPERATOR

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Clare has done thousands of sea-miles as well. She combines her 20 year experience in the corporate world with her talent for entertaining, bringing out the fun and social aspect of a day's sailing.

Clare is a chartered accountant with over 20 years experience in the financial services industry in several roles including Senior Finance Manager and Project Manager at Ernst & Young, Investec Asset Management, AMP and Perpetual. 

Since 2010, Clare has been the Operations, Marketing & Finance Manager for Pilgrim Sailing managing all the behind the scenes bookings, administration, marketing and finances for the company.  And on board during charter as a first mate and managing all the catering and hospitality needs.

Clare is highly aware of the levels of professionalism and attention to detail needed for a successful event and will ensure your day runs like clockwork.

CLAYTON SCOTT

SKIPPER

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Clayton is a North Queensland boy with "salt water in his veins" and has called Magnetic Island home for the last 15 years. ⁠
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Prior to settling on Maggie, Clayton spent 5 years circumnavigating Australia on his yacht Buccaneer - an experienced sailor who has a love for the sea and of course Magnetic Island.⁠
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Many know Clayton from his days running his successful Fruit & Veggie Business in Edge Hill, Cairns, the iconic Arcadia Store here on the island with his partner Julie, as the ‘welcoming smile’ at Mitre 10 or as one of the islands dedicated Volunteer Rural firefighters.⁠
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Clayton always has a story to tell and is as passionate about Pilgrim as we are. ⁠
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Jump on board and swap a yarn with him......⁠

OUR FABULOUS DECKIES

GEORGIA SMITH

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Georgia joined the crew in February 2021, while she was studying marine biology at JCU.

Since then Georgia has pursued her career in marine biology on the Great Barrier Reef, initially working on the Crown of Thorns management program and more recently at Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Lucky for us, she has been around boats all her life. ⁠
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Not only that, she has grown up in the tourism industry with her parents running a very successful eco-tourism business in Darwin, @seadarwin. So she certainly knows how to make you feel comfortable on board!⁠

Make sure you ask her about her extensive knowledge of turtles!

CLEM Durel

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⁠Clem, our favourite French Backpacker! 🇫🇷⁠
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Clem  introduced herself to us in 2019, because she loved Pilgrim and wanted to come for a sail on her (even though she had never sailed before)! We took her on as crew for a few charters before she headed off to travel and pick carrots for her visa!⁠
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Early in 2020, just as the coronavirus hit, she sailed with us from Sydney to Magnetic Island and we self-isolated in the best possible way.⁠
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Once on Maggie, during the coronavirus lockdown, Clem helped Paul renovate & re-paint Pilgrim  and was invaluable during that time. Pilgrim is now super shiny! 😍⁠
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Clem was born in 1992, the same year as Pilgrim was launched! She grew up in the Loire Valley in France, and studied Events and Tourism before coming to Australia in February 2019, when it was love at first sight with Magnetic Island.⁠
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She also loves swimming, snorkelling and biking around Maggie.

BRIDIE LEWIS
Each and everyone of us is passionate about sharing the best experience with you.

WHAT MAKES PILGRIM SAILING DIFFERENT?

Picture
Credit: Andrea Francolini

OUR PROMISE AND OUR PARTNERS

WE LOVE LOCAL BUSINESSES

On board we are passionate about serving quality local produce.Here are a few of our favourite local or family run businesses:
  • Gallo Dairyland - our amazing cheese supplier from the Atherton Tablelands, near Cairns. They are a family run business who have been operating since 2007. 
   
  • Magnetic Island  Seafood - Local fisherman Rees has been fishing the local waters for many years and in our opinion supplies some of the best prawns in the area. He is also proudly tripolyphosphate free.  Mick distributes Rees's seafood on the Island and you'll find him at the Arcadia pub on a Friday afternoon.
 
  • Tamburlaine Organic Wines - a family run winery in the Hunter Valley, NSW. We appreciate they are not a QLD business, however we have been serving Tamburlaine on board for over five years and being organic they are perfectly aligned to our principles. Not to mention - we love it!!

  • Wondaree Macadamia Nuts on the Atherton Tablelands. Delicious Honey Roasted Macadamia nuts which are served on our cheese and antipasto platters.

  • Airdale Orchards in Ayr supplies the most delicious dried fruits - depending what's in season you'll find something on your platter and in our non-alcoholic cocktails too.
 

WE CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT AS MUCH AS WE CARE ABOUT OUR GUESTS....

We try in everything we do to respect the environment and protect it from the impact from our business

We promise to continue to consider the impact of our operation on the environment and strive to continue to reduce our impact and prevent pollution.

Our environmental practices are as follows:
  • Source and promote products sourced in a environmentally sensitive manner wherever possible, including:
    • Tamburlaine Organic Wines - Tamburlaine’s Contemporary Organic philosophy simply aims to produce wines of terroir while limiting environmental pollution and leaving the land in the best condition possible for the generations to follow. Also Tamburlaine Organic Wines are vegan friendly.
    • Townsville Brewery - locally brewed beer with no preservatives.
    • Pukara Estate - who has a true commitment to agriculture and sustainable farming practices.
    • Wondaree Macadamia Nuts - their macadamias are grown using a combination of cultural practices, organics, “integrated pest management” and bio-control schemes. 
    • Mungalli Creek Dairy - Mungalli is all about healthy vital soil, diverse pastures, happy cows, great tasting food and sustainability way into the future. Find out more about their biodynamic values and practices.
  • Eliminate the use of chemical sunscreens and educate guests on the impact of sunscreens on the reef. We use MooGoo sun care on all our charters. We also offer Moo Goo sunscreen to all guests on board as a tool to educate on the impacts of sunscreen on the reef. Find out more about the impact of chemical sunscreens on the reef.
  • Single use plastic water bottles have been banned  on board since the December 2020. We offer complimentary still and sparkling water on every charter.
  • 100% ban on plastic straws on board. We made a pledge with the Last Straw on the Great Barrier Reef
  • Sail wherever possible, minimising the use of the engine and hence diesel consumption and pollution.
  • Recycle our bottles and cans. 
    • Our beer bottles and cans are recycled via the envirobank.
    • Our wine bottles are recycled via the community recycling facilities.