Bridge Lunch

August 30, 2010

An unspoken topic: death on board

'The commercial industry has guidelines on what to do, but we have none.'

Belongs to The Triton. Uploaded on 08/02/2010 - 11:26am.

August 2, 2010

Captains: Medical issues won't KO good crew

Instead of disqualifying captains and crew from working on yachts because of their health issues, captains prefer to be prepared to handle any medical situations.

June 25, 2010

Yacht owners still under way

Yacht owners may have hit a bit of an economic snag over the past two years, but they are still using their yachts.

May 28, 2010

Earning your captain's license should be hard

Being a captain on a megayacht is tough, but actually getting the license can prove even tougher. It takes instructional courses, paperwork, time at sea, time away from work and money.

Belongs to The Triton. Uploaded on May 6, 2010 - 12:50am.

April 30, 2010

Explaining your job to your boss

As captains go about their jobs, the boss may forget why he writes that check every month. So this month, we ask megayacht captains, just what do you do all day?

Belongs to The Triton. Uploaded on March 23, 2010 - 12:25am.

March 22, 2010

Green Crew: Would you hire them on your yacht?

With job-seeking crew on every dock, captains have options when hiring. They can choose their deckhand from a pile of two-page resumes documenting certifications and sea time or choose an industrious dayworker who has never felt waves underfoot.

February 22, 2010

Safety ashore is captain's responsibility

In the waning days of January, Eng. Pawel "Pav" Kwiatowske of M/Y Charisma, the 153-foot (47m) Feadship, disappeared. He was last seen leaving Willy T's bar in the yacht's tender. His crew mates reported him missing the next morning. We don't know what happened to Mr. Kwiatowske, whose body was found a few days later washed ashore at St. Johns. His captain and crew mates could not talk before deadline because of a police investigation. (Click here for the police statements.)

Belongs to The Triton. Uploaded on February 3, 2010 - 8:30pm.

January 25, 2010

Telling owner 'no' hard, even when safety is an issue

Over the Thanksgiving holiday in late November, an owner reportedly hit an outcropping of rocks in the Bahamas, ejecting three people from the tender and sending them all to the hospital.

Belongs to The Triton. Uploaded on December 23, 2009 - 4:01pm.

December 28, 2009

Captains hiring rely on network, word of mouth

It’s difficult not to think about jobs and job searches when the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show is in town. So when it was over – and before everyone left town again – we asked 10 captains gathered for our monthly luncheon how they go about hiring.

November 23, 2009

Captains can help industry as it rebounds

There was a lot of talk at the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show about repeat showings, qualified buyers and even offers (lowball as they were). So it almost feels like – dare I write it – the tide is turning for yachting.

October 26, 2009

Inexperienced crew typically are harder to manage

A conversation about crew management can take any number of different tracks. You could discuss how much time it takes, the techniques that work (and don’t), even training or coaching methods. Ours didn’t start on any of those tracks. It got derailed when one captain at our monthly lunch brought up first mates.

Belongs to The Triton. Uploaded on October 25, 2009 - 3:31pm.

October 1, 2009

Obtaining your license is part of the job

Obtaining and maintaining a license is just part of life as a yacht captain, agreed the captains gathered on both sides of the Atlantic for our monthly From the Bridge luncheon. As in our survey this month these captains acknowledged that, sure, no law requires the skipper to have a license to drive a private recreational vessel. But they also said any captain would find it much harder to land a job without one.

September 28, 2009

Bridge Oct. 2009: Obtaining your license is part of the job

Obtaining and maintaining a license is just part of life as a yacht captain, agreed the captains gathered on both sides of the Atlantic for our monthly From the Bridge luncheon.As in our survey this month [see story and stats beginning on page C1], these captains acknowledged that, sure, no law requires the skipper to have a license to drive a private recreational vessel. But they also said any captain would find it much harder to land a job without one.

August 26, 2009

Bridge Sept. 2009: No pay cuts, but no bonuses, either

Faced with financial demands on all sides, wise yacht owners know better than to nickel and dime captain and crew salaries if they want to maintain their investment, captains on both sides of the Atlantic said last month. While captains have not taken pay cuts – nor would they, as a rule – they did note that raises and bonuses have been put on hold, hopefully for better times.

July 22, 2009

Bridge Aug. 2009: Steering our industry to better times

A few short years ago, crew enjoyed a crest in the yachting industry driven by a strong economy and bustling growth.Now, not so much. But if the current state of the industry can be seen as a trough, then higher times are ahead.With that in mind, we gathered seven captains to talk about how best to steer the industry out of this low point. What weak spots need to be fixed? What good parts need to be protected? And how do we have a little control over the state of the industry in the months and years ahead?

June 24, 2009

Bridge July 2009: APA sufficient if it’s calculated properly first

As the summer charter season ramps up, we figured it would be a good time to talk about the business of chartering – from the megayacht captain’s perspective.

May 22, 2009

Bridge June 2009: What to do when crew run afoul of the law

It happens. Crew get in trouble ashore. Sometimes it’s physical, like a bar fight; sometimes it’s legal, like possession of drugs. Usually, though, it causes delays or worse for the yacht, her captain and the rest of the crew.

April 29, 2009

Bridge May 2009: What is the best place to take a yacht?

We’re not sure about you, but we are pretty tired of talking about the economy and the depressing job situation. So at our captains’ roundtable discussion this month, we talked about yachting, specifically the best places to take a yacht. "Someplace new," one captain began.

March 25, 2009

Bridge April 2009: Captains offer crew tips to find next job

As crew meet with placement agents, pore over online job postings and walk the docks, who better to offer them some tips for landing a job than the ones who actually do the hiring? So we asked nine megayacht captains gathered for this month’s captains’ luncheon to offer job-searching crew their best advice on what to do and what not to do to get that next job.

February 23, 2009

Bridge March 2009: Captains say economy causing instability, not gloom and doom

The Western world’s economic situation has many stories to tell, and they aren’t all doom and gloom. Take The Triton’s monthly captain’s lunch, for example. Of the eight men gathered who earn their living operating someone else’s megayacht, one had a full-time job with a boss.

January 21, 2009

Bridge: Feb 2009: Pay the bills; get owner to pay you back

The topic of getting in debt with the boss has come up quite a bit lately. Lawyers talked about it at our monthly networking event, friends talked about it over my dinner table. So we decided to ask captains how often it happens. To be clear, we’re not talking about being owed salary. Yacht crew, like most employees, work first, get paid afterward.

December 25, 2008

Bridge Jan. 09: Do you like to steer away from harbor pilots?

Over the past few years, harbor pilots have played a bigger role for megayachts cruising the United States East Coast. For some captains and owners, that role has gotten so big that they have changed itineraries to avoid what they see as an inconvenient and unnecessary expense. But other captains have never taken a pilot nor do they quite believe the regulations apply to private yachts.

November 24, 2008

Bridge Dec 2008: Safety drills do get done, but do they get done, but do they get done well?

This month’s discussion topic comes courtesy of a captain who is worried. I bumped into him at the Ft. Lauderdale boat show and he wanted to know why we don’t write more about safety, a topic he considered the most important in the industry. And he spent the next 15 minutes telling me why.

October 29, 2008

Bridge Nov. 2008: Experienced captains share tips about managing a refit

One of the most challenging parts of being a megayacht captain – and the part no school trains you for – is managing a refit. So in this time of refits, we decided to ask the nine captains assembled for our monthly roundtable discussion how they handle refits. Who decides what work gets done? How do you juggle the timing of myriad vendors? And how much of the nitty-gritty does the boss really want to know?

Belongs to The Triton. Uploaded on January 10, 2010 - 4:12am.

September 23, 2008

Bridge Oct. 2008: When personal matters become personnel matters

It’s a common to hear captains say that managing crew is a lot like parenting. The lament usually gets a chuckle and conjures up images of unruly children. But as any parent knows, the responsibility isn’t quite so funny, nor childish. The hard part of guiding people – whether they be children or employees – is figuring out how much not to do so those under your charge can take flight on their own.