Category: Pocket Superyacht Blog

Throughout the whole yachting industry jobs for professional yacht crew couples are highly coveted. Pocket Superyachts have always been my main interest within the industry. Therefore I found it confusing when other crew were telling me it is so hard to find a couple’s position. Of course the yachting industry has many different layers and faces, as I described in my blog: Pocket Superyachts and the yachting industry. For owners of yachts between 50ft to 100ft who require someone to look after the technical side of the yacht, have it safely navigated and expect high standards of hospitality, professional yacht crew couples are the best option. Job description: Jack of all trades, master of none. Few jobs in the world are as versatile as looking after a Pocket Superyacht. A while ago, another Pocket Superyacht captain and I were jokingly confessing how we felt addressed by the expression “Jack of all trades, master of none”. However, I believe you have to be to do the job. The job description is pretty much endless. You have to understand meteorology, pumps, rigging, insurance, guest management, diesel engines, first aid, hydraulics, law, electrics, how to do dishes, how to manage budgets,… It goes […]

It’s a beautiful winter day in Mallorca as I write this article. Exactly a year ago we were contracted for the professional yacht delivery of a brand new Sunseeker 75 from Port Adriano Mallorca to Tribunj in Croatia. The sea was still settling after a Mistral when we left. The air was chilly but the sun was out. The wheel house was comfy and there was coffee. Our professional yacht delivery service starts weeks, sometimes months, before we cast off. It is always Invisible Crew’s goal to provide a complete service that requires the minimum involvement from the client. This is a great responsibility so we do everything we can to put the owner’s mind fully at ease. We start by making a passage plan, taking the yacht’s specifications into account. Delivering a motor yacht with a 300nm range across the Mediterranean requires precise planning. We contacted all the fuel stations days before departure to book our time slot. We inform the client of a realistic time-frame and how we aim to avoid delays. Clear agreements on situations of force-majeur eliminate discussions and surprises afterwards. We present a team with complementing skills. On last year’s delivery, we were a team of three. Deck / […]

“The owner-crew relationship is the stuff for sociologists. The time they spend together can be intense (even in the most positive way).”  Our experience has taught us how to set up the ideal Pocket Superyacht Crew Interview. We provide our clients with as much info as possible about the candidate. We use our experience, specialised software and have developed our own candidate presentation profile. The USP Profile allows our clients to gain a truthful and complete impression of our candidates. Even before taking the time to interview them. The USP includes the candidates presentation video, work history, skills summary, personality description and answers to 8 important interview questions. Captains and Chief Stews have applauded this approach. It makes their recruitment process easier and faster. They avoid wasting time on the kind of interviews where it is apparent within minutes that the candidate is not suitable or may not even be interested. The owners of the Pocket Superyachts we manage have been impressed by the way we present our candidates. In most cases they require yacht crew couples. Our clients know that we are selecting excellence for them. They understand that this takes time. Our process is time efficient, not necessarily fast. It goes with […]

Will Humanoid Robots, be the Future Pocket Superyacht Crew? Anyone who hasn’t seen the video of Sophia the Hubo should have a look at it here. Geeky engineers like David Hanson from Hanson robots are becoming increasingly good at creating very human-like robots or Hubo’s. They may well be the future pocket superyacht crew as being human has its upsides as well as its downsides. 5 ways Hubo Crew could possibly steal our jobs: With this evolution pending there are a few things we need to watch out for. Programmable: These robots are fast learners. Once all the info is programmed they only need a chip inserted and off they go. They will recite perfect welcome speeches, cabin- and safety briefings, they will remember all the guests names, for years to come. Working long hours: Surely the battery life will be amazing.  They will keep going and smiling until they are out of juice. At that point they’ll just go dead and another humanoid will replace their battery. No drama, no complaints. Provisioning budget = 0,0€: I don’t foresee this to be a major advantage but still, they don’t need to eat. Surely they don’t get hangry either. This could save lives at […]

As the 2016 summer season is ending, we give crew 8 reasons NOT to jump ship. The season is now truly coming to an end. While many crew are now ending their seasonal contract, a great number of others, on a permanent contract, are now contemplating their next step. But are the about to step on somebody’s toe or on thin ice for no reason at all? 1. Patience is a virtue. A while ago I received an email from a relatively young deckhand which led me to write this article. He had finally scored a job and was describing how perfect everything was on board. In fact it was so perfect that the vessel had an excellent retention rate. To my astonishment, that was exactly his problem! He figured that since everybody stayed so long it would take a very long time to grow through the ranks. So this guy wanted to tick the boxes in his record book and rush to the bridge to take the helm. I’m worried that he is steering towards a short lived success. 2.Things are fine the way they are. Personal growth is not defined by the tangible environment that surrounds us or by […]