Looking for Summer Crewing Experience

Do you have your STCW-95 Basic completed yet? That is the first thing you will need on 95% of the boats you will have an opportunity to work, so get that done. You say you are from York, so I'm assuming you're on the European side of the Atlantic which is good, because most of the opportunity in that time period will be in the Med. There are more crew agencies and websites than you can shake a stick at, but the one that has served me best has been findacrew.net . It is a kinda pay site (you list and search for free, but to get direct contact information requires "premium membership") and I have no affiliation except as a user. I have gotten 80% of my work in the last 7 years from there. Crew agencies may be able to help you out as well since you're at an entry level, most of them are free to sign up with, so you might as well. It's a competitive industry and the economy is down with a lot of boats stacked right now. You'll be competing against people with considerably more experience and aren't looking for a "summer job". Figure out what of value you are going to bring to the table and be able to sell that. Yachts are always under crewed so everybody has to be able to pull their weight. When I'm hiring, I'm looking for someone that can do their job and assist or fill in on another, so show me where else you can help me out.

As a seasonal hire, that can work in or against your favor, and as relatively new, it'll probably take at least a couple of weeks before you become an asset to operations, and that's if you don't screw up and cause an expensive or injurious accident. I've got to put time, effort and training into you, not to mention the cost of repairs behind you, and I'm not going to see any long term benefit to my investment. If I need a seasonal worker, I'm better off hiring from the vast pool of unemployed experienced deckies. I hire greenhorns for raw talent and personality for longer term positions where I get a return on my investment.

Good luck

If you are eligible for a Coxswains ticket, that would be good to pick up. Some of the insurance companies are requiring them for crew to operate tenders now. The same place that offers that will possibly try to sell you on a Yachtmaster course. I'm split on that for someone with no experience, but if you are looking at the industry for the long term, it may behoove you to get one. Study and learn the material, just never confuse the certificate with actually having the qualifications to be captain. The negative to having the certificate is it raises the standard of competency you will be held to and level of liability you incur for any mistakes you make while actually learning the craft. "Sorry, I didn't know..." no longer gets you out of a jackpot. You are expected to know what you're doing, and not knowing in and of itself is negligence.

My advice is typically never take a license you aren't ready to fulfill all the obligations of.

If you have the stomach and desire for what comes with it, "Medical Person In Charge" has a decent value to it and adds important stuff into your knowledge base.

A friend did the Woods Hole Summer Cruise and just stayed on for a while, went all the way to the Falkland Islands.

http://www.mbl.edu/

You are more likely to find those positions through your school than the yacht industry. You could also look at liveaboard diveboats like Aggressor Fleet and Peter Hughes, but typically they hire dive instructors to double as deck crew, and the pay is low. Research organizations don't typically charter yachts, they charter work boats. One of the big suppliers of workboats to the oceanographic research sector is Edison Choest (pronounced shwest), but they don't typically look for seasonal people, they want full time crew. You might get to talk to Laney Choest and find out some of the programs they have have chartering them and apply to the programs. You might also consider applying to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Most people chartering yachts are not interested in doing oceanographic research, although having a dive instructor rating may have some value there.