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| Best Practices: Staff |
Captain Crunch
Michael Verdon
03/01/2007
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When Tom Sharp hired a professional captain for his new 62-foot Pershing, an
Italian express yacht, he was impressed by the veteran skipper’s accomplished
nautical pedigree. “He had a lot of experience and had captained a number of big
boats, so I figured I was in good hands,” says Sharp, an Atlanta businessman.
But on the yacht’s maiden voyage in May 2005 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to
Harbour Island in the Bahamas, Sharp’s new captain declined the services of
local pilots who routinely guide yachts through the shallow and often unmarked
waters. “He was cocky and figured he could do it all by himself,” Sharp says.
The captain struck a reef and damaged the yacht.
The ensuing six-figure
repair bill prompted Sharp to dismiss that captain and search for a new one.
Sharp contacted several crew agencies for a shortlist of candidates, and
eventually interviewed about 10. “Some were too quiet and some were too loud,”
he says. “I could see right away that I would butt heads with the verbose ones.”
In January 2006, Sharp met with Shane Ray, 31, who was seeking his first
captain’s job. “He’s the perfect fit. He’s young, serious about his work and
wants this to be an avocation rather than just a year off from a corporate job,”
Sharp says. “I’ve never seen him take a drink on the boat, but he’s a fun guy
with guests, and can adapt to different situations. I trust him
implicitly.”
"The reality is that we have more truly unqualified licensed captains than we’ve ever had before." |
Although Sharp’s circuitous search for a suitable captain ended
in success, the difficulties he encountered along the way are, for many owners
of watercraft, all too common. With millions of dollars invested in a yacht, and
the safety of passengers at stake, a yacht owner’s top priority is the search
for a skilled, reliable crew and its leader. Yet, in a tight labor market where
desirable crewmembers are increasingly hard to find, yacht owners often fail to
fully understand the types of training, credentials and experience that truly
define the exceptional candidate. Furthermore, even if they know what to look
for in a candidate, they do not know how to go about locating one.
“It can be
tough finding the right crew,” says Amy Williams, president of Crew Unlimited, a
Fort Lauderdale maritime staffing agency. “But if an owner goes through a
logical search, and uses the right channels, like an agency, to match crews to
their yachts, then it certainly can be a very achievable goal. We do it every
day.”
Sailor Shortage
The recent explosive growth in yacht production has caused
a shortage of qualified crewmembers. According to Worth’s sister magazine,
ShowBoats International, 777 yachts of more than 80 feet will be under
construction in 2007. ShowBoats’ Annual Order Book estimates that 6,993
crewmembers will be needed to man these yachts. Some analysts estimate the
shortages could amount to thousands of employees. “There are already 10,000
yachts over 80 feet now on the water,” says Mark Fry, president of International
Yachtmaster Training, a Fort Lauderdale–based school for yacht captains, with
subsidiaries in 23 countries. “Doing the math, you’ll see when next year’s
builds are complete, you’ll need approximately another 6,200 captains, mates,
engineers, stewardesses and deckhands. The shortage is across the board.”
The dearth, says A.J. Anderson, managing director of Wright Maritime, a Fort
Lauderdale yacht management firm and a yacht owner himself, is not only one of
head count, but also of quality. “We had very professional crews 25 years ago,
but naturally there were fewer of them. Everybody’s talking about how
professional they are now, but the reality is that we have more truly
unqualified licensed captains than we’ve ever had before.”
Anderson says some
accreditation programs deliver certification with a minimal amount of sea time.
The UK Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) certifies the majority of yachts and
crew around the world, in part because owners enjoy tax incentives for
registering their vessels in British protectorates such as the Grand Caymans
(where 87 percent of yachts over 80 feet are registered), but also because the
MCA actually specifies crew and charter requirements for more commercial yachts
than private vessels.
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