About Yachting

The Super yacht

Vessels in the yachting industry are growing at an alarming rate both in numbers and size. The terms “Mega yacht“,

“Super yacht” or “white boat” refer to the immense size, and the fact that they are pleasure craft. It was not long ago that a 100ft yacht was considered large, but today this is run of the mill for a Super yacht. There are private and charter yachts over 400ft long and still growing. If you were to start listing the top 200 yachts the world 200th yacht would still be 180 foot long.
What dos this mean to you? Quite simply there are literally thousands of yachts over 80ft needing professional crew to look after them.

How can I work on a yacht?

Most yachts are registered with countries that allow foreign crew to work on them e.g. a yacht which is owned by an American can register his yacht in Cayman Islands. This means you can work on an American owned yacht and be English or Australian and so on. The other advantage of this is you may not have to pay tax (This depends on which country you have residence in).

What positions are available on a yacht?

Deck

Captain- Basically runs and or manages the yacht for the owner. He is also usually the person who hires and fires.

Engineer- Looks after all the running parts of the vessel even down to the toaster.

Mate-The mate position can be broken into different hierarchy e.g. First mate, Second Mate and possibly even third. The mate’s job depends a lot on the size of the yacht. On a large yacht the first mate can end up doing a lot of paper work.

-Watch keeping
-safety
-Navigation
-Backing up the Captains roll

Boson- Is the next position under the mate. He supervises all work on deck and the responsibility of keeping the deck running smoothly.

Deck hand-Is the starting deck position. Deck hands jobs include

-Washing and polishing the yacht to it’s highest standard
-Painting, varnishing and lots of sanding ( all yachts are different some crew never paint and varnish and some do a lot )
-Watch keeping ( when the yacht is under way)
-General maintenance
-Tender driving

Interior

Chefs- Are required to cook for the guests and crew. Depending on the size of the yacht it is common to have a Sous Chef. The Chef position is sometimes very demanding.

Chief Steward/ess-looks after the interior of the yacht and the running of the interior crew. The job description of Chief Steward/ess depends on how many steward/ess she or he has to manage.

-Cleaning, washing Ironing, making beds, cleaning bath rooms
-Helping in the galley
-Serving food and beverage
-Help on deck usually during docking of the yacht
-Watch keeping

Steward/ess-looks after the interior of the yacht. This includes

-Cleaning, washing ironing, making beds, cleaning bath rooms
-Helping in the galley
-Serving food and beverage (sometimes)
-Help on deck usually during docking of the yacht
-Watch keeping

Then there are a few more unusual jobs which are more far and few between such as doctor, nurse, hair and beauty. Helicopter pilot, dive master or instructor. The possibilities are maybe endless, there are even some submarine crew and computer technicians.

Wages and conditions

One of the things most people love about yachting is the travel. It is not your normal tourist travel it can be much better than that. First of all you get to spend longer periods in some countries meaning that sometimes you can get to explore. The second is you go to places usually reserved for the rich. You will be at anchor or docked at some of the beautiful places in the world. And best of all you get paid to do it!

Vacation can be none to 8 weeks a year. Most yachts give 4 weeks. Some yachts pay for flights home every year but not always.
Accommodation is free because you live on the yacht.
Training is offered on some yachts. They may pay for -expensive MCA qualifications
-Uniforms are supplied
-Food is supplied
-There are no bills to pay

Wages

Salaries on yachts vary considerably. One yacht can pay triple another yacht for the same position. Things that effect wages are

-Size of yacht
-Power or Sail (sailing yachts sometimes pay a little less than power)
-Charter or Private ( charter yachts sometimes pay less due to tips some yachts average over 1000usd for a week charter crew member.)
-How much the yacht gets used. ( some yachts only move -once a year and others are always on the move)
-Qualifications are becoming the most important reason for pay increases in recent years. Yachts manning regulations require higher qualified crew to work on them. (There is becoming a shortage of qualified crew of late) driving some wages up. especially engineering.

The Salary's below are a very rough guide please visit Crew Agencies online for a better idea.

Captian
100ft to 150ft $6,500
110ft to 200ft+ $8,000 to $15,000plus

First Mate
145ft to 250ft $5,000 to $7,500+

Bosun
100ft to 150ft $2,500 to $5,000
150ft to 250ft+ $4,000 to $6,000

Chief Engineer
150ft+ $8,000+

Engineer 2nd
160ft to 200ft $4,500 to $7,000
200ft to 300ft+ $5,500 to $8,000+

Chef
150ft to 250ft $4,000 to $5,000+
100ft to 250ft $2,500 to $4,000+

What’s the catch?

There are some catches to yachting and they are serious one’s to consider before throwing your current lifestyle away

-Away from home. Yachts are more than full time jobs; you live on the yacht on average of 11months a year.
-You live in a small cabin usually with another crew member. (he or she could snore )
-Living at work! You are always at work, you are responsible for the yacht and the yacht image and presentation 24hrs a day
-Living with your co-workers
-Missing your friends and family
-Not going to important life events e.g. weddings, birthdays
Seasickness

These are just few of the disadvantages to yachting it‘s not all glam and travel you have to be realistic about it and really think about what you want out of life.

A commonly asked question is:

"What do you do all day. You must get though a lot of books!"

This is a totally naive conception. if you think that this is what you are heading for then think again. Lots of work+ long hours. Work hard play hard is often the motto.