YES! I want to work on
a superyacht! I want to travel the world and see new things! It sounds AWESOME!
Living on a boat, a luxury one at that, sailing from port to
port, hanging out with friends, eating food prepared by a chef and being paid
to be there sounds like the biggest hole in one job you could ever land. It is
a great job to be fair but you have to understand that you will not be sipping
cocktails on the sundeck or sweating it out in the on board gym. You will be
washing, drying, polishing and detailing most of the time. When you are not
busy doing those things you will be serving the guests, whether you are taking
them out on tender and jet ski rides or giving them dinner. Working on yachts
means working long hours. Working hard for long hours.
 |
| Nantucket, Summer 2012 |
Yachting is the very definition of OTT, for both owners and
their crew. Owners will always think that their boat is the biggest and most
expensive, they love to sit on deck and gossip about the other boats around
them. Most of them will pretend to know more than they actually do. They say
things like, “I hear that boat only
has furniture by Armani Casa, well we have
Pucci towels and three sets of Baccarat crystal.” It is sad. The funny thing is
most owners are pretty normal at home, they eat normal food off normal plates
and drink out of normal glasses. They shower in their normal showers and dry
themselves with normal towels. They make their own tea and coffee, probably
wash their own cup afterwards too because they only have the one housekeeper.
But as soon as they come within range of their yacht they change into what
their definition of a wealthy person is.
Maybe it is the cold towel that is presented to them on
arrival. I don’t know. But give it a few seconds and they will be ordering
skinny soy lattes to be brought to the Bridge Deck that they can sip on (more
like look at, guests barely finish things, they just like holding them) whilst
their luggage is being unpacked and all the clothes are being folded and put
away, re-pressed if necessary. Thoughtfully you present them with cashmere
throws because it is a bit breezy out, these get used for all of five minutes
and then they decide to move indoors to the Sky Lounge leaving a trail of
blankets and cups behind them. As soon as you have cleared the decks you get
asked to prepare six different pots of tea because they have just read in a
magazine that tea is very good for you. Have you heard of green smoothies? Yes?
Can you make us one? Can we have a cheese plate, but only white cheese? Can I
have a sparkling water? Have you seen my phone? What is the internet code?
Could I get another latte? Can you take the dogs for a walk? Could you ask the
chef to come out? Seriously. Yesterday you were taking your own chicken out the
freezer to defrost and today you are asking to see your chef. Acting rich, it
is a guest’s favourite thing.
It isn’t just the guests who are a bit anal, it is the crew
too. That cushion isn’t straight, did you make that coffee with one and a quarter spoons of sugar, you know
that is how she likes it? Boys, there are fingerprints on the stainless around
the gangway, are there enough towels on the sundeck? I noticed some dust has
settled on the portside windowsill, are they eating off the Tiffany or the
Hermes this evening? Chef would you like martini glasses for the ceviche? The
dayhead has been used, please clean it. It has been 15 minutes I should check
on them.
If you feel you are able to put up with guest quirks and
hardcore crew then you also need to consider what sort of path you would like
to follow within yachting. There are no hard and fast rules that say, ‘Boys
outside, girls inside’ it just sort of ends up that way. Saying that, my best
friend (who is a girl) is a deckhand, I have worked with a female engineer and
male stewards are very common. If you enjoy working outside, driving jetskis
and washing the big boat (of course) then you should consider a job on deck. If
you prefer to maintain the interior and tend to the guests then look into
becoming a steward/ess. Similarly if engines are your thing go down the
engineering route.
The main piece of advice I like to give new / prospective
crew is that you should not enter this industry with the view to only complete
one season. Working in an industry as high profile as yachting demands
professionalism. If you are just hanging about for a gap year it is unlikely
that you will have the same attitude and work ethic as a person who is climbing
the ladder to be Captain. You need to understand that you will have access to
very wealthy and often famous people and they expect a certain level of service
and attention to detail. If you show any
sort of slack, especially in your first year, you will be eaten alive by your
fellow crew members. As I said earlier, we all take ourselves way too
seriously.
It is absolutely not my intention to put you off yachting at
all, at the end of the day it is a fantastic way to travel and meet new people
and that is why we all decided to join the industry. None of us ever thought, ‘Wow!
You mean I get to make beds?!’ We do it because we love boats, we love the sea
and we hate the thought of being stagnant.
Tweet / comment if you have any questions.
No comments:
Post a Comment