How Can We Encourage The Next Generation Of Young British Crew Into The Superyacht Industry?

Our Crew 2 Crew blog is back, written by Captain Jack Brown. This month, he turns to the British Superyacht Industry.

With the constant calls of not enough experienced crew in the industry, the questions remains. How can we encourage more young budding British superyacht crew to start their journey to be the future leaders in our industry?

Take A Positive – But Realistic – Stance

For a start, increasing positive awareness of our exciting industry needs to be a main focus.  Too many current green crew get their perspective of the industry from watching diabolical and unrealistic programs such as Below Deck or skewed Youtube channels showing all of the glamour and none of the hard work involved.  

We need to introduce the industry in schools and collages as a viable and long-term career path with achievable and usable qualifications, whether through job guidance, workshops, career fairs or professional talks.

What other ways can you imagine getting a positive perception out into the educational system?

The qualifications and different training routes should be made clear at a higher education level. This should allow students to make informed decisions of how they would like to progress and where they could end up in the industry before fully committing to it.

Sponsorships and cadetships should be encouraged. More management companies certainly could fund either basic training for prospective crew with commitment to them in the short term afterwards or full cadetship sponsorship the same as in the commercial sector with training and sea phases.  There are certainly now enough very large yachts with spare bunks to accommodate a cadet or two, allowing them to achieve their training elements and work alongside the permanent crew getting a full understanding of life and work on board.

If you are a yacht Captain, would you be keen to have a cadet on board to train for future commitment to your programme after they have qualified? 

Aside from sponsorships and cadetships, mentorship programs should be encouraged for all junior crew, teaching and training all departments with structured elements to make it easier for the experienced crew to follow with guidance how to mentor properly. I’m sure there are a lot of senior crew who would enjoy it, but don’t know where to start.  

There are already plenty of ‘influencers’ on social media showing the fun side of yachting. But perhaps some of the management companies could promote realistic, training orientated and helpful media compiled from their fleet’s crews with the goal of showing the real work involved and using it to encourage the right type of new crew into the industry.

Sharing of success stories from British crew who have advanced in their careers and climbed the ranks would be a great benefit to the enthusiastic potential crew.  Testimonials of growth and stories of the adventures experienced along the way should be promoted.  

Finally, an important foundation is giving clear and realistic information on the salaries, leave allowances, benefit packages, financial complexities, travel opportunities and transferable skills. This would give young crew a step up and a well rounded view of real life in such a high end industry which facilitates a lot of speculation and misinformation. 

What would you have wanted to know about when you first started out in the industry?

Crew 2 Crew blog is written by Jack Brown.

Throughout his career, he has acquired extensive experience in the superyacht industry, having worked on both private and charter yachts (50m-85m) across the globe, including the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, USA, and North West European waters.

His expertise extends to overseeing significant refits, exceptional navigational knowledge, articulating expectations clearly and concisely, demonstrating robust project management skills, emphasising safety as top priority and excelling in fast, creative problem solving.

Jack is committed to delivering an exceptional experience onboard, creating a relaxing environment with endless opportunities for fun and exploration, utilising the incredible advantages a superyacht has to give the owner.  He offers a safe, professionally run, hassle free environment onboard so that the owner can enjoy his asset to its fullest.

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