Advice please from anyone working on super yachts or similar?

[SamanthaTabs]

The question is what is the best way to find paid crew positions? Excuse my ignorance on this subject, is it better to troll through the crew finder websites or simply be (for example) in Mallorca or similar spot at the beginning of a season to do the dock walk?

Person in question is my 19 year old daughter. She's got her Stcw's, powerboat 2, comp. crew and VHF license. Has worked as 2nd stewardess on a super yacht. Dutch passport. Fluent in 3 languages, English/Portuguese/Dutch and gets by fairly easily in German and Spanish.

We're also wondering if having day skip would be an advantage?

Many thanks in advance for any help

Samantha

 

[capnsensible]

Hiya!

From what we have seen from our lads and lasses passing through here:

Well qualified for Interior.

Dockwalk to pick up daywork to begin with relies a lot on luck. But, getting into agencies and repeat calling every few days often gets you in.

Worth searching all the crew agency web sites over the winter.

When the Med season starts though, you have to be on site, Mallorca, Antibes or whatever and be very flexible at first.

As I mentioned, this is all based on people we know, not firsthand. STCW 95 plus languages though is a great start!

Good luck, C and M!!

 

[xyachtdave]

I'd hang around the Chichester Harbour area - there's a bloke down there with an Anderson 22 Superyacht!

 

[SamanthaTabs]

Thanks Cap'n and Mrs. S, you'll probably see her soon around the marina as she really wants to do the day skip. Probably Antibes or Mallorca after that.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Agencies can help, but the only sure fire way is being in Antibes etc and walking the dock. She'll soon know the places where the crews hang out and they will know who is hiring. She needs to be smart and drugs free and polite etc etc. if she's there early season and with those qualifications I will eat my hat if she doesn't get a job. I don't believe Day Skipper would help that much, but it is always worth getting qualifications so if she can do it between now and March when the season starts then why not? With any luck she will be well paid but she will also learn the truth about being at the beck and call of the super rich. On the right boat with the right crew it can be a fantastic life, but it also has it's dark side. Choose your boat carefully if you have a chance to choose! Our daughter was down there working for a while. PM me if you want your daughter to have a chat. I have also worked in Antibes and have some contacts, but I'm not promising anything!

 

[Stingo]

Google with bring up many crew agencies. Most, but not all, of the yachts insist that the crew have no tattoos or body art.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Google with bring up many crew agencies. Most, but not all, of the yachts insist that the crew have no tattoos or body art.

Good point. I forgot to mention that.

 

[Stingo]

One more thing, IMHO, a Silver Service course and/or a course on cooking and presenting posh fodder would be far more use than a dazed kipper certificate.

 

[guernseyman]

Day Skipper is a bare minimum; she should do a Yachtmaster.
The more qualifications the better, at least it shows how keen you are.
A First Aid qualification?
Testimonials from people she has crewed for would be useful.

She should have copies of a proper CV to pass around.
Hard facts will go further than wishful thinking.

 

[SamanthaTabs]

Thanks all, she's looking into various options. Genuine references are in hand, cv ditto. Got the first aid certificate.

Will pm you tomorrow Cap'n, thank you.

Almost wish I was just 19 with a sailing passion and the world at my feet..may live vicariously through my daughter for a while

 

[westernman]

The question is what is the best way to find paid crew positions? Excuse my ignorance on this subject, is it better to troll through the crew finder websites or simply be (for example) in Mallorca or similar spot at the beginning of a season to do the dock walk?

Person in question is my 19 year old daughter. She's got her Stcw's, powerboat 2, comp. crew and VHF license. Has worked as 2nd stewardess on a super yacht. Dutch passport. Fluent in 3 languages, English/Portuguese/Dutch and gets by fairly easily in German and Spanish.

We're also wondering if having day skip would be an advantage?

Many thanks in advance for any help

Samantha

There was a program about this on French TV!

Apparently there is an English run place for training Superyacht crew - almost nothing to do with seamanship etc, but how to look after the owners and their guests. The course is quite long and expensive (quite a few 1000s of Euros). But the people who complete the course are sought after and they seem to have a 100% employment rate at the end of the course.

If I remember right this place is in Antibes.

A lot of French crew with 'better' qualifications were moaning that they were not being employed because the graduates of this English school were taking all the good jobs.

 

[john_morris_uk]

There was a program about this on French TV!

Apparently there is an English run place for training Superyacht crew - almost nothing to do with seamanship etc, but how to look after the owners and their guests. The course is quite long and expensive (quite a few 1000s of Euros). But the people who complete the course are sought after and they seem to have a 100% employment rate at the end of the course.

If I remember right this place is in Antibes.

A lot of French crew with 'better' qualifications were moaning that they were not being employed because the graduates of this English school were taking all the good jobs.

I strongly suspect that it was the place that I have some connections with. Courses are not cheap but they know the industry very well.

I agree with the Silver Service and chef course if you want to work below decks.

Just remember that deck hands seem to spend 90% of their time washing down and cleaning…

PS I am amused that the English influence in the S of France is so strong that they even have an English version of Yellow Pages printed and distributed.

 

[mjcoon]

Almost wish I was just 19 with a sailing passion and the world at my feet..may live vicariously through my daughter for a while

"Almost"? Let us know if she can be encouraged to write a blog...

Mike.

 

[bbg]

"Almost"? Let us know if she can be encouraged to write a blog...

Mike.

A blog on being super yacht crew would very likely get one fired and never rehired, if the identity of the blogger was ever revealed. Most people (rich or not) like their privacy and would not take kindly to having details of their lives published on the net. IMHO.

 

[dylanwinter]

working on a superyacht crew would have been my idea of hell when I was 19....

like working in a hotel - but with no escape

D

 

[capnsensible]

A few tips here:

http://rogernorton.net/blog/2013/work-on-super-yachts-advice-on-everything-you-need-to-know/

 

[guernseyman]

My advice was vicarious, based on my middle son's experience - hitch-hiked to the Canaries, taken on as crew on a large sailing yacht for the ARC Rally to the West Indies, then bosun on Velsheda, now captain on a 125 foot sailing yacht. He spent the winter before this updating his qualifications - RYA Commercial Endorsement, First Aid, Scuba Diving, etc.

 

[dslittle]

Thanks all, she's looking into various options. Genuine references are in hand, cv ditto. Got the first aid certificate.

Will pm you tomorrow Cap'n, thank you.

Almost wish I was just 19 with a sailing passion and the world at my feet..may live vicariously through my daughter for a while

Took my boy sailing when he was 16. Best thing I ever did. He got his YM by 21 and is currently working in Sydney. The best thing that he did was get a job with a Charter Company and work his way up to Flot Leader. That is where he made all of his contacts (and got some experience). Oh to be young again...

 

[robyonfrome]

My daughter is based on Super Yacht Callisto, you can google it, its amazing, and before that one of Romans boats, she got her position through an agency which her friend had recommended, she had no boating qualifications, she had to do a weeks safety course before she could submit her CV. She has just completed a world cruse visiting places you can only dream about, she was extremely lucky.

 

[simon barefoot]

Got a few friends who have crewed superyachts. For them it was purely a case of knowing the right people and right place right time. In their case being on a really old classic when they asked about opportunities.