ONBOARD Magazine summer 2023

not necessarily come from the network
members who are culturally different from
you.”
Look at the corporate world and you’ll
see companies having an actual “diversity
quota”. People working in roles such as
“Chief Diversity Officer” where they’re
literally dedicated to finding different and
diverse people to join their teams – so
clearly there’s a huge need and a benefit
to this whole aspect of the work force.
Google “diversity in superyachting” and
you’ll be able to find several rather similar
articles regurgitating the same info, dating
back over the past few years, and yet still,
nothing has changed. Absolutely nothing.
Everything I’ve found bangs on about the lack
of diversity in the industry (true story), yes,
we know the industry is often accused of
being racist, sexist, ageist, sizeist, etc… but
nobody wants to talk about when diversity
hires actually go right! And the tangible
benefits they can bring to a crew.
Surely that’s what people need to hear to
be convinced? So here I am, challenging
the narrative. Again … !
I spoke to a stew, Katy Alting, who hasn’t
had an easy time of joining the yacht industry
due to (she feels), her size and the fact
she’s a person of colour. She told me, “I
love this topic and I feel everyone is too
scared to talk about it. As a person of
colour as well as being a size 14/16 (double
whammy!) I feel I get passed on for a lot
of jobs. [Captains] just looking at my CV
photo and not even getting to know me!”
“I’m sharing a room at the moment with
a bigger girl who has just walked off her
boat last week. The first thing the chief
stew said to her was ‘you’re too big for
our uniform’ and that she was under the
impression from her CV photo that she
was thin and that was one of the factors
in hiring her. The next two days were full
of teasing and telling her to go on a diet
etc etc.”
Can you imagine the impact that has on
a girl of 20, her first impression of the
yachting industry from someone she should
be looking up to being an attack on her
appearance? And worse, the chief stew
herself who openly bullied her until she
left – how indoctrinated has she become
that she believes this sort of behaviour
is ok? Is she ok? Probably not. I suspect
she’s hungry. However, I said I wasn’t going
to bang on about the negatives – so it’s
fabulous this young lady has found herself
sharing with Katy, whose positive outlook
and “never give up” attitude is an inspiration
to everyone. In fact, Katy’s approach this
season has even drawn attention to the
fact she’s not the average crew member,
she finishes her cover letter intro telling
you to hire her, with (and I LOVE this),
“that pop of colour you never knew you
needed ;)”.
Like it or not, yachting does have a “look”.
Right now we’re in the midst of a crew
shortage so can we as an industry afford
to be so picky? When every job you see
advertised at junior level demands “at least
a season’s experience” and on top of that
they have to look a certain way, no wonder
there aren’t enough crew to go around.
The more your network includes individuals
from different cultural backgrounds, the more
you will be creatively stimulated by different ideas
and perspectives.
Captain Scott Waterfield dropped me a line
from somewhere in the Pacific to say, “I’ve
had great success with diversity hires. It’s
taken some work with changing owners’
viewpoints. But when you know you’ve got
the perfect fit it’s worth the effort. Once
owners start to get the ultimate experience
they are seeking, they are way more willing
to look beyond the standard blue-eyed blondhaired
yachting profile.
In the past I’ve been very fortunate to have
worked with some very talented people
including: an Israeli couple - deck/engo +
cook/stew who was lightly tattooed and
an ex-smoker on a boat that had nicotine
testing because they were vehemently
anti-smoking. An American/Aussie couple
who were both heavily tattooed for a very
‘sensitive’ owner. I’ve had a black gay
Antiguan male chef who was outrageous
but amazing at his job because of the love
Yachting takes you to all these amazing places
and cultures, yet there are probably only five
prominent nationalities within the crew world; British,
South African, Australia, NZ and US.
you could feel he put into his cooking! I’ve
taken on ‘hitch-hiker’ crew as unpaid delivery
crew that have then stayed for 2 years
and become permanent paid crew past my
tenure on the boat. And, various crews from
random countries such as Lithuania, North
Macedonia and Brazil. All of these people
have been amazing crew and in post-work
life have become good friends.”
I asked Scott how he’s gone about talking
his employers into thinking outside of the
traditional yachting box, and hiring different
people. He said, “Ultimately I’ve found that
it’s all about really understanding the
owners’ true expectations and making
the effort to work around any perceived
prejudice in order get the perfect fit.”
He makes it sound easy – and really it
should be. If someone can do the job, then
that’s enough right? Hmm, you would think
so, but does this really happen?
In recent years we have at least seen more
females in traditionally male deck roles,
although I’d love to see more in the engine
room. Regardless, it’s good to see more
and more women breaking that glass ceiling,
and also the group’s set up to help each
other achieve more.
What about people from different cultural
backgrounds? I had a great chat with
Captain Christopher Bruce who had lots
of interesting thoughts to share. He pointed
out that “yachting takes you to all these
amazing places and cultures, yet there are
probably only five prominent nationalities
ONBOARD | SUMMER 2023 | 39