Getting a job on a yacht

As some of you might have seen from another one of my posts, I am in Fort Lauderdale right now. I am taking the STCW95 course next week because I would like to find work in the yachting industry (as a deckhand to start). If you have any advice for me or better yet some leads or contacts, I would appreciate it.

An acquaintance of mine did this for a year. While it's a good way to build experience, it apparently can be a pretty thankless job. Your time is never your ow (he said), and depending on the personality of the owner or captain, your life can be not so much fun. My friend stuck it out for a year and then quit as he'd had enough of the gofer status of a crewmember. He is now the captain of a county car ferry here in Washington.

There is a trade publication for yacht captains and crew called "Dockwalk".

It is geared more toward*"superyachts", but it should have some useful contact info in it.* I picked up the Sept. 2011 issue when I was in Ft. Lauderdale in August. It has an interesting article on the salary ranges of the various positions on a yacht (including deckhands). They do have a website.****KJ**

Thanks KJ, looked at the magazine online.

been ther done that as capt,run the boat,keep the boat clean,baby sit,make the drinks,pick up at the ir port,and dont forget to walk the dog?

Here's some food for thought.* I was a line handler this weekend on a*new Leopard Catamaran being delivered from Cape Town, South Africa*to La Paz, Mexico.* The captain on the right has been working for Leopard for 6 years and does about 3 delivery's a year.* This one was budgeted for 80 days.**The women*gets paid $900.00 US plus she gets a return ticket and daily expenses.* When she finishes this delivery, she's heading to St. Maartens in the Caribbean to work for a few years on Super yachts.* She says with her* experiance, that*by walking the docks she'll get a job.* The guy in the middle,*gets nothing other than daily expenses.* He*is doing this to get the sea miles to put toward getting his Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate.* After that and more sea time he wants to be a skipper on a large yacht.* The*pay is about 10K/foot/year.**


-- Edited by Larry M on Sunday 6th of November 2011 07:33:16 AM

Old Stone wrote:
One of the main reasons if the salary levels they can adjust by being foreign (obvioulsy much lower).

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Salary levels have absolutely nothing to do with the reasons for foreign flagging a large yacht. American flagged boats usually pay much less as a matter of fact.

The crews make more money than they could ever dream about making in the USA or any other country. Holidays and travel is paid, room and board is provided, there are no "involuntary" expenses, on top of that, for most of them it is tax free.

Most of them make more in Euros than their land based colleagues in the US can dream about making in dollars. A crew can reasonably expect multiple thousands each in tips for a week or two charter.


-- Edited by RickB on Sunday 6th of November 2011 09:05:36 AM

I sent to you a PM, I work at one of the big yards on Marina Mile in Fort lauderdale, maybe I can help.

Old Stone wrote:
Well then whoever wrote the article (maybe in Boat US) must not have consulted you.

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Not having read that article all I can say for certain is that they did not consult me. If they gave lower wages as a reason the owner of a large yacht would flag foreign they constructed that little gem all by themselves.

As one of those who knows exactly what crews make on comparable yachts because my company transfers those funds to crewmember bank accounts I can assure you that lower crew wages for foreign crew is not part of the equation.

Here are a few web sites you may want to look at:

http://www.crewfile.com/

http://www.crewbay.co.uk/

http://www.floatplan.com/crew.htm

http://www.findacrew.net/

http://www.cruiser.co.za/crewfinder.asp

These should get you started. There are probably a lot more with a Google search.

Keith wrote:
Here are a few web sites you may want to look at:

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If that was for Fotoman it won't help him much. The center of the universe of yacht crew agencies stretches along 17th St. in Fort Lauderdale. There are probably more yacht jobs filled at Waxies and Smallwoods than all those links combined. Several of those are scams at best and the others are for free rides anyway.

All he has to do is walk the length of 17th St and visit every crew agent then spend some time "dockwalking" and chatting at LMC or the yards on the Dania Cut. With no yacht crew experience his best chance to to introduce himself by dayworking on boats in the yards and now is the best time to do that because they are here for refits before the Caribbean season begins. He will meet a bunch of newbies at the BST course and they will probably already have some ideas to share since a lot of them will be staying in crew houses ... network network network.

Hanging around the yachtie bars is the next best bet, go to Waxies in the evening, that is where the crew hangout. Read the ads on Dockwalk online, get the Triton and read their ads. Spend some time reading the ads at Smallwoods and see how other people compose their CVs and what the competition has to offer. Network network network.


-- Edited by RickB on Monday 7th of November 2011 08:30:26 PM

Thanks RickB, that's pretty mich what I was planning to do this week.