10 ways to know if Yachting is the right career pathway for you

1. The thought of traveling to so many countries by boat excites you. One of the main reasons which drew me to yachting was the travel without the price tag.
   
2. You can be away from family and friends at home for months at a time.
   This time away from home can range anywhere from 3 months up to 1 year. It all depends on how much leave you are entitled to and how busy the boat’s program is.
   
3. You are a genuinely hard worker and you don’t mind working 14 sometimes more hours every day in the season.
   The truth is when you are onboard you work until the job is done- no complaints, no whinging you just need the ability to crack on and do your job. Yes you’ll be so tired you’ll want to cry, In fact, you probably will once or twice, and it might be that your hospital corner is not folding right and that may be all it takes to push you over the edge. But you get back up again have a laugh at yourself and know you’ll be ok. Honestly, yachting has pushed me in so many ways physically and mentally but I believe I’ve grown from it all and become more resilient. 
   
   Also, remember guests aren’t on board all the time and whilst each yacht differs most have a standard 8 – 5 working day Monday to Friday without guests on. Yes, you do get weekends, long weekends, and time off.
   
4. You can take orders with a smile despite how ridiculous they are. There are SO many jobs in yachting where you think what is the point of this or responding to an annoying guest request you need to be able to nod and smile “of course sir”. Speaking back to people in yachting is not acceptable at all.
   
5. You can deal with not having routines in your life, this falls down to exercise, eating, and any other rituals which you do. Your work hours on charter may differ, you get told when you are allowed to have lunch, coffee breaks, and dinner and everything is to the clock. You need to be flexible, remember yachting is fast-paced you could wake up in one country and then be in another one by night.
   
6. You can work with the most pedantic/anal people in the world. I’ve never known any other breed like yachties and I have 100% turned into one. You have an eye for detail like no other and before you know it you’ll be spotting those watermarks on surfaces in no time. 
7. You are ok with cleaning toilets, the site of foreign public har and god knows what other bodily fluids. It sounds horrible but if you know the worst you don’t expect anything else and aren’t led on with false ideas. Is it weird to say you get used to it?
   
8. You must be able to live with other people in the same small cabin. I loved my little cabin spaces onboard, often you develop a close relationship with your crew roomie. You know each other’s routines who wakes up first for showers, learn little tricks like leaving their reading light on if they aren’t home yet so they jump into bed without waking you, and you honestly just get used to sharing your personal space. Most of the time you will share a cabin with the same sex.
   
9. You can handle a bit of sea-sickness. You also get used to sea-sickness. You don’t necessarily ever get over seasickness. But you learn to deal with it and yachting actually involves far less time ‘sailing’ than you would think. The only time you will spend any length of time at sea is on a crossing from one country to another. The biggest of these will be from the Caribbean to the med and visa-versa (unless you get on a world cruising yacht). This you only do once a year and can last anywhere from 7 to 10 to 30 days depending on weather and the speed of the yacht. All other time will be spent in a marina or moored just offshore. Nice, sheltered, and calm. Plus seas sickness tablets are always available onboard.
   
10. You’re ok with getting outside your comfort zone! Yachting requires you to get outside your comfort zone from the beginning…  as if flying to a new country and dock walking isn’t scary enough. The feeling of joining a new boat and getting to know 27 other crew on the day is so intimidating, I still get nervous. But one thing I know for sure is it’s boosted my confidence in social situations, think yacht crew bbq’s on the dock with another 5 other boats that’s a whole lot of crew and a lot on mingling.  You will also be pushed outside your comfort zone as you progress, I’ll never forget the feeling when you have your first shift in service in front of the guests. There are boat cameras on you, you have to report every movement on the radio and keep an eye and often interact with the guests. You most certainly get used to the way boats operate.
    
    Are you thinking about getting into the industry? Feel free to send me an email hello@theseaworthystew.com
    
    Jess x
    The Seaworthy Stew