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Originally Posted by Icelander
Is there a reason he is not qualified to serve as the captain of a ship?
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Yes; he never did. Even when it was his own ship (on just one voyage), he hired in those skills.
One of the translations calls him "Es-Sindibad of the Sea" rather than "...the Sailor", and I almost wish I could have done the same.
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I thought that by the later tales, Sinbad was in charge of the ship and had Navigation, Leadership, Tactics (Naval) and Shiphandling...
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Not in any of the translations I found. They're full of professional captains suddenly discovering that the ship has gone astray (and no naval combat at all).
Some time, I may do a character sheet for Hollywood Sinbad, who has Sailor! at 15+. But that's not this guy.
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Imean, the Caliph trusts him to deliver expensive gifts over the terrible, terrible oceans of this reality.
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In the alternate version of the Seventh Voyage, but yes.
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Why would he trust this to someone who can't even navigate, gather a crew or command a ship? And who only has Seamanship (to default from) at the lowest possible level for a professional sailor?
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Savoir-Faire, Charisma, and even more importantly, insane levels of Luck and Serendipity. They're much more important under the relevant assumptions and narrative conventions. Manual and technical work is stuff for the hirelings.
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Also, isn't the character like a legendary teller of tales, who at this point in his life ?
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Habitual, perhaps, and he gets some use from that (very respectable) 13 in the stories, but he only becomes a legend after he tells his stories to Sinbad the Porter and his other guests - at which point, he's got the advantage of amazingly good material.
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What skills to you use to build a raft?
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Survival (Island/Beach), plus Knot-Tying.
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And I'm sure he needs Scrounging.
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I take that as "acquiring stuff for free in human society" - and Sinbad rarely or never does that. (He makes friends and trades stuff.) When he needs to get hold of raw materials, it's always in some kind of wilderness; that's Survival.