Category: Pocket Superyacht Blog

You can’t deny it, “Invisible Crew” is a catchy name for a company. Hear it once and you won’t forget it anymore. Once in a while it concerns crew: “What do you mean? Do you want us to be invisible on a -30m yacht?” Of course not! On the contrary, I would (almost) say… The idea is that we match you with the owner, program, yacht that will experience your presence as… non intrusive. Or, better said, as part of the program. It is not at all about being as quiet as possible and hiding out of sight as much as possible. The crew adds the bright colours to the holiday on board. Like that waiter you know. The one who clearly remembers your face, if not your name, and always presents the menu and the food with a certain flair that is part of his personality. Because we use personality tests as part of our detailed selection process, we know that many -not all- of our most successful crew members have an extraverted element to their personality. They are not invisible at all! However, they do know how to do the hardest part of running a Pocket Superyacht, which […]

Yacht crew are adventurous, brave people per definition. Otherwise they would never think of packing their bags to go and work in a foreign country on a ship that sails the high seas, manned by people they don’t know and have various nationalities. Therefore security, certainty, predictability don’t have the highest ranking on their list of needs. At the same time, most crew contracts -even long term- aren’t very different from a freelance contract. Rarely are pension schemes or unemployment benefits offered, and when they are -as I have witnessed- they are rarely of interest for yacht crew. So apart from their month to month pay, there is very little tying them down or stopping them from leaving. With very basic to non-existing severance packages, there is also very little to stop employers and owners from letting crew go. The only leverage that seems to be used in both directions is reputation. Some yachts / owners have managed to build a bad reputation. Many crew have done the same for themselves unfortunately. And as I will repeat further in this article: There are some crew out there who are truly excellent on the job, but really blunder when it comes […]

As a successful Med season is wrapping up we are starting to prepare for the winter. This will be very varied for us. We have clients starting an active charter season in the Caribbean. We will travel to Granada to assist the new team with the startup of the new charter season in line with the experienced owner’s expectations. Introducing the crew to our code of practice and setting up a detailed maintenance plan. Two others yachts have extensive maintenance works organised which we will project manage in Palma with our oreferred and trusted suppliers. These are technicians who know our client’s yachts and thus are familiar with its technical history. This contributes to the consistency in quality of the works and warranty. We have also organised for a few other yachts to be laid up for a dormant winter in Croatia and Greece. Perhaps the most exciting news is that 2 of our clients are expecting their brand new yachts to be commissioned in December and January! One is a Leopard 50 that will charter out of the Bahamas. The other one is a Lagoon Seventy8 that will operate between the Med and the Caribbean. It has been awesome […]