May/June 2010 - Yacht Essentials

My first freelance gig was chief stew for a dinner party.
By the end of the night of caviar and copious amounts of
red wine, I was reminded how much fun it was to facilitate
a good time for the owners and their guests. Maybe
I could enjoy this stew thing?
Another week had me in the galley as crew chef for 12,
and I loved the fact that I didn’t smell of cleaning solution
and got to play with vegetables all day. Maybe I’d
go the crew chef route….
So, I was getting stew and cook work, but what about
the deckie-bosun-mate-captain route? The deck jobs
weren’t coming up, or I was too old (or too female) for an
entry-level position, or they were paying too little for a
sailing deck/stew. “Stay open to anything,” I told myself.
“But don’t expect to be everything on board.”
Don’t try to be a Jack of
All Trades. Focus in order
to find a job.
LESSON #4:
Trying to compete with 20 year olds is not
attractive in any sense. If a boat is looking
for a hot young thing, age and experience
don’t matter.
“You’ll meet with the first officer,” the agent said. “Then,
if you make the cut, I mean, if you’re the right fit for the
boat, you’ll meet the captain, then the owner, and he
will make the final decision. They want a fit, bubbly stew.
Just make sure to look nice.”
I started to tell her that, although I can easily run five
miles and am holding up well for my three decades out
in the sun, I am no leggy, 19-year-old model. “No, they
are looking for someone a little more mature. Did I mention
that you should look really nice for the interview?”
I wondered how many girls they had gone through that
they were digging into the “over 30” demographic for
this notorious party boat. No amount of experience on
boats would get me a job on this floating frat party unless
the measurements were right. When I met the (young,
pretty, busty) girls onboard, I was sure the “interview”
would be ending shortly.
I’m OK with not being hot stew material. Some younger girls
might see mandatory partying and clubbing with the owner
as a job perk. I see it as an interruption to my sleep schedule.
In the end, I wasn’t the right look, um, I mean “fit.”
LESSON #5:
Choosing your friends/coworkers/family-to-be
for months or years at a time can be difficult
when all you have to base your decision on is an
hour-long meeting. If you get a good vibe from
the crew you meet and they like the other crew,
you’re probably set, at least for a while.
It was nearing the post-captain’s class two-week mark
when I stepped on M/Y Fit. “It’s more like a home than
a yacht, you know?” the chief stew said, as she led me
down into the spacious crew area covered with pictures
and funny notes on whiteboards.
“We just shove all the dishes into the machine.
We don’t scrape,” she said. “The dishwasher
can take it.” I’m in the do-not-prewashbefore-dishwashing
camp, so this was yet another
affirmation that I’d found my boat. That, the cozy
crew mess, and the fact that every crewmember I met
acted like an old friend welcoming me home.
I went with the happy butterflies in my gut and accepted.
These days, I feel as content as Goldilocks did when she
settled into Baby Bear’s bed after stuffing her mouth with
porridge and busting a chair. I know the honeymoon
can’t last forever in this ever-shifting subculture of yachts,
crew, and varied ambitions, but I’m hoping to stave off
the arrival of the three bears (a.k.a. burnout) for as long
as possible…and save up some dough, which, unless she
went through their drawers, is something that Goldilocks
chick never got a chance to do. Take that landlubber!
www.YachtEssentials.com 65