Captain/Mate needed immediately

Josh

For a guy just over half my age - you have a great resume and lots of seatime experience and good references.

I doubt you'll have to worry too much about having a promising career in the industry in the future.

Yes theres plenty of Bad drivers, pilots and skippers in this world, luckily the Darwinian theory of evolution helps thin em out a little occasionally with a large licking of help from mother nature when she has her dander up!

The more bad ones out there - the easier it is for a bright young buck like yourself to shine tho - so it ain't all bad!

Don't knock a commercial skipper position - I know a few commercial skippers could buy n sell a few of the mega yacht owners twice over after a lifetime (or 2) at sea, commercial fishing etc...

The experience to be gained is great - in fact I'd go so far as to say that lack of some substantial commercial industry experience, I might consider to be a blemish on a captains record - always handy to know your skipper knows what the other users of the ocean are doing and likely to do, when it comes to operating their vessels....and WHY (i.e for commercial reasons) gained thru hands on experience.

Commercial skippers put on a LOT of hours seatime in a short period, and hence are sometimes a great source of intel on things engineering with regard to new systems and their shortcommings (or benefits).

I've a lot of respect for commercial skippers - having worked and fished with a great many over the years.

Yes - they can be a rough crew at times - but like every other user if the ocean they live and die by the decisions they make - based upon knowlege and experience. If they werent good, Darwins Natural Selection, would likely have probably eliminated them from the seafarers gene pool already.

It wouldn't hurt a few mega yacht owners to spend a day or 3 at sea with an old salt from the conmmercial fishing industry background.

Least they'd get a dose of reality in term sof what to expect maybe....when they go hiring a skipper for their yachts.

As a pilot, do you have to kow tow to the mega rich passengers on your plane? Does wealth give thenm an unfettered right to access the cockpit if they are a paying passenger or charterer of your bird?

I guess maybe I'm from the old school...some yacht owners would be lucky if I didn't have em keel hauled for attitudinal readjustement training!

The Skippers the law at sea, and the size of the owners Checkboook doesn't over ride that responsibility to the safety of the passengers crew and vessel for the skipper.

Sure - bytch about blocked drain, but if I'm the skipper - it gets fixed when I **** well say, if 'other priorities' take precedence in the ssafe running of the vessel.

Only last week we had a commercial skipper here charged with Manslaughter, for a collision with a recreational fishing boat in which a 5 year old boy was killed.

The skipper was apparently at the helm but distraced from maintaining an adequate watch (internationa martime law responsibility) , by "other" state legal responsibilities associated with measuring and sorting his catch!

i.e a catch 22 situation. Either risk losing your boat (worth $1 Million), your comercial fishing license (worth $3 Million) and everything else you own (Home etc whos mortgage is secured against the value of the comercial license at the bank) thru a catch infringement, for having berried females lobsters or undersize or whatever aboard, at the same time as the skipper is also supposed to be at the helm maintaining an adequate watch.

Yes thats a task a deckhand CAN perform, but it's a big risk to take, (particularly if traing a new young deckhand as you only get 3 infrigements in a lifetime before you forfeit that license.

One mistake can cost you everything...so the skippers take no risks and measure sex and sort everything of the days catch themselves - often in th eprocess being distraced from their duties at the helm on the way back to port.

It's a no win - they can't be ibn 2 places and doing 2 things at the same time.

As a result, a 5 year old boy dies and a 63 year old skipper with a lifetimes experience at sea is up on manslaughter charges.

To my way of thinking, for example, if a blocked drain underway doesn't threaten the immediate safety of the passengers crew or vessel, then it's a distraction from the primary responsibility of skippering the vessel.

It can be dealt with when appropriate, when berthed and maintaining systems critical to the vessel or anciliary systems put there for peoples comfort & pleasure IMHO regardles of how high a priority it might be on a Phyllis Dillers bad hair do day list of honeydoos!.

Least thats how I would see it...


Cheers!

I didn't intend to knock the commercial captains. I have the utmost respect for them, in fact some of the best yacht skippers I know are ex mud boat captains. Anyone who can get out to a rig and off-load in eight to ten foot seas gets the big brass b@lls award.
My point was simply that if a captain doesn't want to deal with all of the "white boat BS" he may be better off going commercial. Trust me when I say I have had plenty of days when I wanted to jump ship and go run a coastal tug just to escape the yachting scene, but still I'm here. I guess I must love my job or something bizarre like that.

as a ex-commercial guy(supply boats, crew boats, harbor tugs)...turned yacht pimp(hahaha)....i will tell everyone that yachts are where it is at, at least if you are a good people person with a good attitude. i agree with trouty about the experience you get in the commercial world. for example, on a harbor tug, you may work a 12 hour day(or more,yes i know it's illegal but don't think it doesn't happen!) and do 10 jobs(dockings & sailings) during that time. well that is 10 times in a day that you are in hard core boat handling situations. you may work the ship for an hour or two, and literally be maneuvering the whole time. multiply this out day after day, week after week, add in all of your own docking and light boat, and before you know it a commercial guy with about a year of experience has more boat handling experience than a yacht pimp with 10 years !!!

as far as trouty's take on the blocked drain, man you are WAY OFF!!! here is the bottom line. a 70' hatteras is not a 24/7 job. as a captain on a private yacht you get paid **** good $$$$ to take care of the owners multi-million dollar investment. there are a fricken million peacocks out there who can take the boat from point a to point b. on a boat of that size it is your job as the captain to take care of these issues and i believe the guys point is that if he can not even take care of something so simple, what does that say?? a few months back we were literally compounding and waxing our whole boat. it was looking like a different boat when my boss lady complained to me about the sliding hatch on the second deck(the one she could see from her seat on the back deck) having "spots" on it. it got on my every last nerve, because we had been so busy doing real work. you know what??? i took 5 minutes of my time, and cleaned it, and she was very happy!! some stupid little crap?? yes very much so, but you know what??....they spend a lot of $$$ on myself and our crew and if the least i can do to make her happy is clean a hatch that is in her view, then great....i'm cleaning it!!!

from what i have learned so far about the whole yachting scene is that the best captains(same as commercial) are the ones that leave their ego on the dock. who gives a crap if you are the "CAPTAIN"?? if the toilet is dirty then clean the **** thing! also what about pride?? does anyone have that anymore?? if nothing else i would have the cess-pool on the top deck cleaned up because i have more pride than to leave a cess-pool, caused by a simple clogged drain, on the top deck for a week. PRIDE....such a tough thing to grasp for so many captains. actually most have it, but it is in the wrong place. in other words, a captain will be PROUD that he is a captain, and he is in charge of the boat, and that is it. how about some pride in how your boat looks, what you have personally done to improve it, how clean you keep it, how happy you keep your owners, man i could go on and on!!

anyways....god bless those peacocks!! it is because of one(the previous capt.) that i ended up with my job over a year ago now. let the old bitter %@%$# whine and complain all they want. i say to all of them, it's called a can do attitude. try it sometime and everyone will be happy!!!

Bob Scott

Intro: distant jungle drums...

beating of the chest... "Aaaayeeeaaayeeaaayeeaa!!!"

The owners are totally different when they are strapped in the back of the Hawker. Gear up - shut up!! Sterile cockpit below 10,000 feet. Line guys empty the potty. The mechanic fixes the squawk and we just fly the **** thing!

yebbutt

Yes - the owners paying the tab so if there are no safety issues involved - then it gets fixed at the owners behest when they ask in a can do manner - with a smile.

Can't argue with that - thats just common courtesy to an employer, any employer...but it has to come with the caveate, that it gets done when the essential safety aspects are out the way sufficiently to allow it to be done.

Yes- if it's berthed a week and it isn't done - then theres a problem with the captain for sure - but maybe I didnt read Dbltimes question properly the first time...

I've had to do my share of the dirty or risky jobs...

The most recent was jumpin over to cut away ropes fouled around both props, (and no i wasn't driving!).

Nothin wrong with that - anyone could do it......except - no one else WOULD do it!
(Mighta had something to do wth the company we were keeping at the time!)


Theres skippers n skippers - and I've seen a lotta peacocks in my time, thankfully I learned from enough commercial guys to know how to get the job done - not just talk about it!

Cheers!

Dear Sir,
I came across your add and would like to discuss this further with you, if the position is still available. I am currently in France. I have had quite a lot of experience as a captain, and the bigger boat situation is not important to me as long as the package is right. I have attached my cv for you with all my contact details. Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards Stuart Carter

Filled

Bill tells me the position has been filled

End of thread...

Captain/ Mate Available

Captain/Mate/Crew Available for extended cruising, temp, deliveries, etc.
Experienced Boater/Sailor
USCG Licensed Captain (100 Ton) and Aux. Sailing Endorsement
Also Able Seaman-Unlimited (with STCW)
Looking for Permanent or Temporary Employment
Also available for transits on or between Great Lakes, Gulf or Atlantic or Pacific coasts, Caribbean, Mediterranean, or Anywhere.
Call Lou at 847-392-6938

Lou Muno Please request Resume
4032 Terramere Ave
Arlington Heights, IL 60004

comments to comments

Very true, there are deckhands who would make good Skippers, There are skippers that would make good captains, but there is also Skippers and Captains that would not even make good Deckhands. Posted by Capt Garry.