Hell of a day! super yacht crisis - no crew!

[lenseman]

I went through there in the 1960's everthing was done at "the double" whilst on Whale Island. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

HMS Phoenix was the fire training area and we also did Damage Control when the results were measured by how deep the intake of water was at the end of the training exercise.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

jfm, obviously, you have more experience of this than I /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[mjf]

Re: Hell of a day! super yacht crisis - no crew!

As others have noted there are good and bad owners.

I know several 'skippers' who have had very good owners and leave the running of the yacht to them whilst they party.

Charterers can be a problem as sometimes they have no real 'knowledge' of what they hire and can be a pushy...


The maritime industry generally is in man power crisis mode - this has been the case of many years with the traditional maritime nations not employing the numbers that were formally 'at sea'. This has meant not only shortages of good experience in the fleet but similar ashore as the field from which to select shore staff with sea expeience is much smaller.


Seems to me rather than go through the typical MN training (if you can find a company recuiting) there is a huge opportunity to get experience and qualfications in the super yacht industry and enjoy yourself at the same time.
Certainly beats sailing around the globe in a tanker or containership with little or no shore leave and certainly lack of hot totty!

 

[Neddie_Seagoon]

Re: Hell of a day! super yacht crisis - no crew!

Our company used to run a 40M boat, captain & 6 crew (full-time). The ultimate deciding factor in getting rid of the boat was the hassle of the Captain, who seemed to run the boat well, kept charterers happy etc., but could not understand that the owners really didn't want to be involved in the minutiae of owning a boat, that was why we employed a professional full time skipper, to not be troubled about every little £1K of expenditure etc. The business ultimately decided that it was easier to sell and charter when required than to find a skipper who could manage the boat budget without troubling the owners. He was (and is) a well respected superyacht skipper, and we were not tight on budget, the boat was very well respected, maintained regardless of cost and we had some very high class repeat charterers, but FFS he would trouble me or my colleagues with decisions costing £500 in the running of a multi-million ship. I'm sure there must be captains to whom one can give the keys and the cheque book and say here y'go, get on with it.... but they seemed few and far between. Perhaps most owners value more a skipper who can find the best totty to walk up the gangway.

 

[mjf]

Re: Hell of a day! super yacht crisis - no crew!

Yes - same is true on commercial ships.

Some Masters get on with it - stay on budget and 'manage' their ship to owners and charterers complete satisfaction.

This used to the majority.

Now, it’s the other way around. Maybe due to the higher level of legislation, but my feeling its lack of experience / proper training.

That said there is more pressure now to perform which I guess causes peeps to cover their arse.

The profession is held in poor regard - not helped when a BA flight crew manage to land a 777 without engines at LHR and the world salutes them. Poor master tries to save his ship from shinking / prevents pollution / saves lives etc and gets placed in jail.

 

[Nick_Pam]

Re: Hell of a day! super yacht crisis - no crew!

[ QUOTE ]
Our company used to run a 40M boat, captain & 6 crew (full-time). The ultimate deciding factor in getting rid of the boat was the hassle of the Captain, who seemed to run the boat well, kept charterers happy etc., but could not understand that the owners really didn't want to be involved in the minutiae of owning a boat, that was why we employed a professional full time skipper, to not be troubled about every little £1K of expenditure etc. The business ultimately decided that it was easier to sell and charter when required than to find a skipper who could manage the boat budget without troubling the owners. He was (and is) a well respected superyacht skipper, and we were not tight on budget, the boat was very well respected, maintained regardless of cost and we had some very high class repeat charterers, but FFS he would trouble me or my colleagues with decisions costing £500 in the running of a multi-million ship. I'm sure there must be captains to whom one can give the keys and the cheque book and say here y'go, get on with it.... but they seemed few and far between. Perhaps most owners value more a skipper who can find the best totty to walk up the gangway.

[/ QUOTE ]

So as someone with years experience of operating to $150 million budgets, how do I find someone who wants a boat manager first and foremost, and an experienced amateur skipper second, willing to provide a contract of employment (with a proviso for successful qualifications) so that I can resign my naff job in IT and change career?? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Neddie_Seagoon]

Re: Hell of a day! super yacht crisis - no crew!

If I knew that I wouldn't be an IT Director!

Seriously, you need track record for someone to give you the keys to a £10M+ boat & crew, and the only way you get that is through commercial shipping & migrating into the hospitality business, or starting small - get a job skippering and maintaining a 20M boat with one attractive crew/chef/hostess, and grow up from there I guess. I wouldn't hire a skipper without the track record to show that they can please the charterers, hang on to the crew, keep the boat in good nick and ensure that it is where it's wanted when it's wanted. I guess someone looking for a two man crew for a 70 footer would be more flexible and open minded.

 

[jfm]

Re: Hell of a day! super yacht crisis - no crew!

[ QUOTE ]
If I knew that I wouldn't be an IT Director!

Seriously, you need track record for someone to give you the keys to a £10M+ boat & crew, and the only way you get that is through commercial shipping & migrating into the hospitality business, or starting small - get a job skippering and maintaining a 20M boat with one attractive crew/chef/hostess, and grow up from there I guess. I wouldn't hire a skipper without the track record to show that they can please the charterers, hang on to the crew, keep the boat in good nick and ensure that it is where it's wanted when it's wanted. I guess someone looking for a two man crew for a 70 footer would be more flexible and open minded.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd second all that. Most superyacht skippers do your second alternative (start small) rather than the first (migrate from merchant navy). Quite a lot of stewardesses (that's the preferred term these days, not hostess) migrate from hospitality industry (eg hotels) but it is perfectly feasible to start on boats and just take all the courses (STCW95, silver service, food, etc), and many do just that esp these days where crew are in high demand. I'd also agree that the crew must please the charterers: crew can make or break a charter and some charter contracts stipulate that if so and so are not on the crew list the charter is cancelled.

 

[mjf]

Re: Hell of a day! super yacht crisis - no crew!

Yep - agree little migration from commercial to super yachts.

The best positions are word of mouth it seems.

The industry, ie shipping, is a small world and even with the increased numbers of 'super yachts' about this part of the world is even smaller......

 

[Nick_Pam]

Re: Hell of a day! super yacht crisis - no crew!

[ QUOTE ]
If I knew that I wouldn't be an IT Director!

Seriously, you need track record for someone to give you the keys to a £10M+ boat & crew, and the only way you get that is through commercial shipping & migrating into the hospitality business, or starting small - get a job skippering and maintaining a 20M boat with one attractive crew/chef/hostess, and grow up from there I guess. I wouldn't hire a skipper without the track record to show that they can please the charterers, hang on to the crew, keep the boat in good nick and ensure that it is where it's wanted when it's wanted. I guess someone looking for a two man crew for a 70 footer would be more flexible and open minded.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was firmly tongue in cheek here, although, given the demands that are seemingly placed on skippers (i.e. that of "yacht manager") one would question, given the obvious need for strong experience at sea, if an experienced amateur (40,000 sea miles or so) with strong customer care skills, human resource and finance management and a good looking partner might be a good bet for someone!!

70-80ft would be fine by me......don't want to be Abramovich's driver just yet!! Just can't find the courage to pack in the job and go back to sea-school....maybe one day they will offer me a package I can't refuse...

In the meantime, we'll both have to remain IT Directors /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif