Charter yachts are privately owned yachts rented (chartered) out to guests. The norm is to leave behind a tip/gratuity after a charter. This is normally split equally between all the crew members and is paid either in cash after the guests depart, or paid directly into your bank account. Tips are not to be expected, it is up to the discretion of the guests chartering the yacht.

This will depend on the position in which you are employed. If you are hired as a dayworker on board, you will be paid in cash, either daily or weekly. If you find a permanent position on board, you will generally be paid once a month and the money will be paid directly into your bank account.

Hard work and extremely long hours. It is not a holiday and it is a very disciplined industry. Your time is not your own, and your days evolve around the guests’ needs. Yachts expect a level of service, hard work and professionalism higher than anything you have ever encountered. You will start at the bottom of the career ladder. Extremely high maintenance and demanding guests (but some are wonderful and down to earth!). Lots of personal sacrifice. Flexibility. Meeting great people and celebrities. Great traveling and lots of cash!

As with all careers, everyone starts at the bottom of the ladder. The typical first job is to do the menial physical cleaning tasks. Walking the docks in search of that all-important first chance is frustrating, hard work in itself but tenacity and the ability to handle disappointment will be rewarded. This experience alone is a great eye-opener for young South Africans. They can expect to be recommended for other work, which will lead to the ultimate of being signed on as a crew member. In other words, the way you handle your first job will get you the next one. It is important to remember that the Super Yacht industry is a relatively small industry, and a good reputation is extremely important. Word-of-mouth can help or destroy you, and only you are responsible for that! Once you have found a permanent job on board, you will be hired as an entry-level Deck Hand or Steward/ess. Your expected salary as a permanent crew member is normally within vicinity of $/€ 2000 per month, with living expenses, normally toiletries, medical insurance, accommodation, food, uniforms included. If employed on a charter vessel, tips could double or triple your basic monthly salary. Many yachts even provide their crew with a plane ticket home once a year! However, none of this happens without determined effort, a great attitude and work ethic, tenacity, networking and the ability to live up to the very high social standards required in one of the most status conscious industries in the world. South Africans are generally very popular crew members, due to the fact that they have a “can-do” attitude, good manners and never says: “it is not my job”. Captains look for a qualified self-starter and someone with the necessary common sense, initiative and responsibility to be left alone to complete the job at hand.

• Your valid and applicable Training Certificates
• Up to date and concise CV
• Written Reference Letters from previous employers
• Your SYT or Steward/ess Training Manual (this is an excellent self-promotion tool!)
• For Chefs: Photos of your food presentation, sample menus
• A great attitude, professionalism, neatly dressed and a big smile on your face

The best way to support yourself whilst looking for a job, is through dayworking and dockwalking. This means you promote yourself at different yachts by doing temporary work on board. They employ you in a temporary capacity, doing anything from sanding, varnishing, painting the engine room, detailing cabins, assisting as a waitress/dishwasher at large cocktail parties, detailing the galley after a busy season, etc. Daywork often leads to permanent employment, or leads to other yachts looking for crew. No need to mention that you must be the ultimate professional whilst doing daywork, because the crew will be watching you and judging your performance and people skills. Most crew in the industry find their permanent employment through networking themselves by doing daywork. The average dayworker salary is $10 – $15 an hour and you can sustain yourself this way whilst looking for permanent employment. If you impress the yachts where you do daywork, the word will get out and you will quickly find yourself being hired as a permanent crew member, either on that yacht, or on their friend’s yacht. Captains are understandably reluctant to take on anyone until they have had a chance to assess them and every aspirant crewmember starts by doing shore-based hourly paid daywork. After a week or two, a sound work ethic and good networking skills will ensure that one becomes known as a desirable candidate and a position as a signed-on crewmember is the result. Networking, dayworking and dockwalking also develops a global perspective, improves your experience, self-confidence and a network of friends and contacts which will stand you in good stead for future international job opportunities.

Having invested in the required training expected of Super Yacht crew, you have already shown your commitment to your new career. The right training is essential. This industry is no longer the Hidden Gem it was 10 years ago. Crew members from all over the world are now trying to get hired on these amazing vessels and regardless of whether they are interior, exterior or in the engine room, competition is fierce. This means the best man or woman will always get the job. The bar of professionalism and training is constantly being raised and crew need to know that unless they give 100%, they will not succeed in getting employment. Training, presentation, professionalism, a positive attitude and hard work will see you get on board, anything less will not. The other important factor is networking! One needs to get out there and meet other crew and Captains, as always, we at SYSA will be on hand to assist our crew as much as we can. We have a vast number of crew on board yachts at this time, and with many more to come in the future; as a result we too will be networking our top candidates, in other words: our crew that excelled during their training. We are often contacted by crew and captains overseas, asking for possible candidates to fill positions on board – and we only provide them the CVs of candidates who excelled during training.

Most “Yacht Meccas” like Fort Lauderdale, Palma de Mallorca and Antibes have crew houses. These are similar to Backpackers, and provide crew with affordable accommodation until they find a job. This is extremely handy, because a lot of crew hear of daywork or permanent job opportunities whilst staying in crew houses. Many captains post positions on notice boards at the crew houses – so be sure to check the boards every day. Most crew houses have Internet facilities, kitchenettes, etc. and are located centrally and provide a cheap, safe and affordable option to crew whilst looking for a job. Our students are provided with a list of crew houses over the world during their SYT (Deck Hand), Steward/ess and 2 Day Chef courses.

It is crucial to have the correct visas for the countries that you will visit. We can advise you on the visas and application requirements to prepare you for your trip and employment on yachts. This information is discussed in detail in our Deck Hand (SYT), Steward/ess and 2 Day Chef courses. Having the correct visa also serves as a selling tool when you go for interviews with Captains. They will not employ you if you do not have the correct visas. SYSA is a training facility, not a placement or travel agency. We discuss visas in depth in all our training courses. We advise you on all the requirements, correct documents, applying for the correct visas, where to go, how to go about getting visas once employed on yachts, we put you in touch with visa experts, but remember: NO MATTER how well you prepare yourself for a visa application or a visa appointment, THERE IS NEVER a guarantee that you will get a visa. This is solely up to the Consulate you are applying at.

Let’s be straight: This is something very difficult to do. The reason for this: Regardless of how much money invested into starting this career, you need to look at it from a Captain’s perspective. In France, and USA to a degree, each year, at the beginning of each new season, crew flock in their droves to find employment on yachts. Most of them are inexperienced, but have the minimum qualifications needed to join a yacht. This means that the Captains have the opportunity to meet the crew face to face and even give them a short probation burst on board. Hiring a novice (even if you have the correct Maritime Training Certificates) who is still in South Africa just makes no sense, when compared to the other alternative – it is that simple. This is where daywork and networking comes in. It is a fact that the crew on the “Stink Pots”, as they are referred to by the sailing community, can be quite uptight, but once you are on board, it is a good idea to meet the crew on other yachts and get friendly with them. The idea behind this: should a position open up on another yacht, you would be in a great position to put yourself forward for that position, or if you had a friend, family member or girlfriend looking for work, you could pass the yacht’s details and job description onto him/her. THIS is networking. It is also essential that you behave and act as a professional deck hand or steward/ess. The yachting community is tiny and word spreads like wild fire.