Yachting Like It Is

Just what is the ‘right’ sort of experience to help in getting a job or advancing one’s career?  Experience is a subject which keeps coming up these days, as crew accept that qualifications alone are simply not enough to ensure they stay ahead of the game and stand the best chance of getting the best [...]

Life as a crewmember aboard a yacht is a unique occupation and despite the fact that a yacht is designed for bobbing around the oceans, it offers great protection against the harshest conditions many face. 

Turn on the news and you hear the banks have no money to lend because the money they lent for property [...]

Is it me?  Or does it seem that there so many crew agents sprouting up, we will soon have one each.   Imagine that, each with our own private agent. Every time I open a magazine or view a yachting website there seem to be another 200 new crew agencies, each offering what all the [...]

This week I received a message on my Dockwalk.com account, it invited me to get into contact wih a saucy sounding lady I think called Mary.  Before I had a chance to think that I should perhaps have reconsidered that provocative photo I use on my profile, I found out that another Dockwalk.com member had [...]

Over the last few weeks I have been in touch with a number of, how can I best describe them, ‘hopeful newbies’ to the yachting industry.   They have come to Lauderdale to find fame and fortune.   Most are rather better  prepared than Dick Whittington was and none are under any illusion that 17th St [...]

Probably the most often asked question I hear these days is; “…do you know anything about a boat called ………”.  It comes about as a result of crew members hearing on the grapevine that there are issues on board a yacht;  high crew turnover, difficult owner, poor crew accommodation or a thousand others.

Lets face  it [...]

Greener Yachting is Possible

Some times it is fair to say the environmental debate is a little too complicated for most.  It must be, because not enough is being done by ‘normal’ folk in defence of the environment.  In the yacht industry ‘Green’ still means someone who has not done a  season and [...]

To say there seems to be ’some uncertainty’ about how the yachting industry is going to weather the global economic crisis is a bit like saying Victoria’s Secret has some moderately attractive models, a rather large understatement. Traditionally boatshows are seen as a weather vane for the market sentiment which is in turn seen as [...]

Ft Lauderdale – In case you're lost

There is little to say about Fort Lauderdale that has not been said already.  ‘Oft refered to as Yachting’s capital it has a boatshow that is so good the bottled water alone is only affordable by the very wealthy.  It has a mythical place known only as Behindlester’s [...]

Legal Joint

Sometimes it is difficult to step back from your own situation and be objective. The scenery we see every day becomes the norm and we get used to it, complacent even. Describe to the layman what we do for a living as yacht crew; the sights, the people and they will be amazed [...]