Other - Yacht work personal experiences
Sponsored by:
MY TIME ON THE WATER
Listed below are brief details of some of my experiences working on water. I have tried to give as many tips as I can to help you find work. Some details may have changed since I was there but I have recently been down to Antibes and hope the information is of use to you!
Summer '91- I headed to Antibes, South of France, having given up a secure job in the city to seek adventure overseas. Having caught a flight to Nice I landed late at night and knew I had to find transport to Antibes.
Tip No.1: Easyjet one-way flights are cheap and the Rail Station (Nice St Augustin) is a short walk from the airport. Don't do what I did & booked a cheap late flight, arriving after the last train and bus service to Antibes and had to fork out a huge amount for a taxi! Try to book an early flight so you can use the rest of the day to find accommodation and orientate yourself.
Tip No.2: It is also possible to get to Antibes from Paris via the TGV train, but Easyjet is very competitive! As of 3rd May Go fly to Nice as well!
I headed for the youth hostel which is situated about a mile from Antibes on the road to Cap d'Antibes. After 1 night there I acquired some local knowledge and headed for Biot (1 stop on the train from Antibes). There are 3 main campsites in Biot. Ideal Camping is the cheapest (turn left as you exit the station and walk for around 200m), Camping La Brague is next (opposite the station) and Camping du Pylone is 150m down the road directly opposite the station. Be warned, the last two sites do not like workers staying on them so don't let them know you are looking for work! I had many a day sneaking out of the site with my CV hidden under my beach towel on the way to Antibes to look for work.
There are also 2 dormatory style hostels in Antibes itself. The Tourist Office will give you details of these and other accomodation in Antibes itself. If you are on a budget then
Tip No.3: Take your cheap tent etc, the minimum of clothing, but ensure you have at least one smart pair of shorts/trousers, T-shirt and dock-siders for interviews & walking the docks. (Take a few copies of your CV with you as it is expensive to copy them there.)
Walking the docks? you ask, what is he on about? To find work on the many sailing and motor yachts in the numerous marinas along the coast, you have to do 3 things:
1. Go to the crew agencies and register on their books. These agencies will charge you to join and have long standing relationships with many of the yachts down there. They have thousands of applicants visiting each summer so get to Antibes in May/June to get the best jobs.
2. Even easier is to register your CV with www.yachtchefs.com and apply through our website for any jobs listed. This service is FREE remember!!!!! I am building relationships with the many agencies and boats down there to enable you to access more opportunities.
3. To make yourself known to captains of yachts, you will need to walk the docks every morning, stopping at all the yachts and asking if they are looking for crew.
Tip No.4: Try to ask for the captain and not just anyone you see on deck. Quite often the crew will not know if any jobs are going, especially if it is their job that might be coming up! This is the hardest part of looking for work but is vital if you are to be seen by the various boats and to show to them you want a job and are prepared to walk a long way to get it. Many boats look for day workers to work onboard for a day or a few days only and this pays well and cash in hand. The kind of jobs I did day working were washing cars, washing down the boats, varnishing and sanding work and other general jobs. Sometimes day work turns into full time work so stick at it! I walked up to the biggest yacht in Antibes, asked for the captain and gave him my CV saying I would do anything, was a hard worker and wanted a chance to prove myself. I got a job as a steward and had the best summer of my life working for a Saudi Prince on his $30m yacht!
4. You are knackered now and have spent time visiting the agencies, walking the docks in Antibes, Cannes (Port Canto and Old Port), Golfe Juan, Port Galice, Monaco (2 ports), Nice, St Tropez, St Remo (in Italy) etc and just want to sit down and have a beer. That's the last and most enjoyable way of looking for work, NETWORKING Get to one of the yachtie bars in Antibes (the Gaffe, Lincoln, Blue Lady, the Hop Store etc), order a large beer and start talking to people. Many bars are regular drinking holes for captains and crew so once people get to know you they will often tell you about jobs going on their boats. The bars also have notice boards where jobs are listed and where you can always place an advert for work wanted!
The above is a brief summary of how to get started. There are many books available which will give you more details and are extremely valuable in assisting you further. Click here to order a copy which are all sold through Amazon at discounted prices to you. I used 'The Good Cooks Guide to Working Worldwide and 'Work your way around the World' to help me get started.
So where was I, oh yes, arrived in Antibes, moved to campsite in Biot (Tip No.5: bought a tent for £15 from the local Carrefour Hypermarket). 'The Office' is a place I can't recommend enough to anyone going to Antibes. It is a company that is very friendly, helpful and used by captains, yacht owners, crew and job seekers to have post delivered, use their fax, computers, internet etc. They know everyone basically! They helped me get my first cooking job on an 80ft motor yacht in '96 and beat the other agencies to it! There are various agencies in Antibes and neighbouring ports.
If you visit them please tell them that it was through my website that you got to find out about their services and working on boats. I am not on commission unfortunately, but would like feedback from them on how many people came from my website.
Having also worked ski seasons I can say that the two are very similar. The work is hard, the hours long but you do get a chance to unwind and party. The job types, pay etc are listed on this site but to summarise, if you work on a busy charter yacht you will be exhausted by long hours and not much chance to explore the exotic locations you may visit. You do get paid well, there will be time to explore at some point in between charters or when your owner is not on board so don't be put off. It is a chance in a lifetime and should be taken! If looking for a cheffing job be aware that the bigger yachts are looking for very highly qualified chefs for their charter guests and owners but the smaller yachts will look for experienced cooks/chefs and more all round workers.
May 2004- UPDATE- I have returned from a short trip to Antibes and there are hundreds of people looking for work. The agencies are inundated with CVs and there are queues outside all of them with applicants looking for work. There are various internet cafes and a new hostel in the centre of Antibes called the Workstation who have dorm style accommodation and internet access.
Winter '91- Great time on the megayacht but had made friends with yachties, I worked on a motor yacht or 'stink pot' and wanted to work on a sailing boat. There is a friendly rivalry between yachties and stink pots and many a boozy evening was spent listening to the arguments between the two factions! I was offered a dream opportunity. Leave the megayacht and work as delivery crew on an 86ft sailing yacht headed for Antigua and then onto Miami. Couldn't say no, even though I wasn't being paid to deliver the yacht, it was a chance in a million. Delivery crew will usually get their return flight home paid for. So I said goodbye to the megayacht and jumped onboard the sailing yacht. But the yacht's owner was in trouble financially and we were chained to the dock and were going no-where, no more delivery!
Tip No.6: It's important that you find out as much about the boat, owner, skipper and crew before you take a job. Luckily the skipper was a friend and he let me stay onboard for a couple of weeks for no charge.
I just had to get to Antigua, so flew back to the UK and 2 days later was on a plane for the Caribbean. (The wages on yachts are usually tax free so you really can save a good part of your monthly wage). I knew I had to head for Nelson's Dockyard and Falmouth to find work (the books helped here!). What I also knew was that you can not enter Antigua to look for work so I had a 2 week return ticket and enough cash to keep me going. Amazingly within 3 hours of arriving at Nelson's Dockyard I had bumped into a couple I had become friends with in Antibes and they offered me a job as deckhand/steward on the 62ft charter yacht they were working on. What a break! I ended up going to St Maarten, the US & British Virgin Islands and also learned to scuba dive out there for only $200. US Dollars that is! You too can get work out there either by going through agencies, doing what I did or doing a crossing from the Med to the Caribbean.
Tip No.7: It is a hell of a lot cheaper and more pleasant to learn to scuba dive when you are working on yachts than in the UK. My first dive was over a wreck in crystal clear blue water in the US Virgin Is. Try to do this if you get to the Caribbean or if working in Antibes. It is a worthwhile investment!
June '96- Headed to Antibes, having gained more hands on experience in pub and hotel management since my first summer and winter yacht season and went in search of yacht work again. I was lucky enough to land myself a position as chef/steward/deckhand on a motor yacht. The role involved catering for 3 Austrian millionnaire owners and their guests. As a cook on a yacht you soon learn that planning and prep work are essential if you are to succeed. I also learnt that not all yachts come with the right equipment. Usually you would use a gimbled stove at sea but the designers of this motoryacht had in their wisdom decided on a non-gimbled halogen hob. My role also involved the cleaning of the cabins and communal areas, serving the meals as well as deckhand work such as mooring duties when in port, washing down the boat, raising and lowering the boat's tender and jet ski. Usually a boat of this size would have a cook, stewardess and captain but I ended up doing all of the above working with only the skipper.
I was lucky enough to have owners who were interested in discovering new cuisine, so I introduced them to a variety of dishes from traditional English to Thai cooking. You have to plan your menus carefully, as you do not know what produce you can buy when on a trip and so you will have to coordinate with the skipper to ensure you have the catering and buying of supplies fully covered. I would liaise with him to ensure I always had 3/4 days supplies onboard. Because of the growth in business along the South Coast of France, Corsica and Sardinia you are always going to be able to stock up with supplies if you are cruising around the well known ports and yacht centres. The fish market in St Tropez was my favourite early morning destination whenever we were in St Tropez.
Whether you are cooking for crew, charter guests or the owners it is important to know what you can get locally and what will need to be ordered. I was lucky and had no budget but in general you will have to plan, cost and deliver the catering on board within a set budget.
If you have worked a ski season cooking, then you will be used to weekly shopping and budgeting and this is excellent experience for yachts. The only difference is that you can't run down to the local supermarket if you forget to buy something when anchored in a small bay off Corsica!
Happy sailing, motoring and cooking!!!!!!!
Efrem Leigh
We recommend the website Yachtchefs.com: online agency for jobs on yachts! Visit www.yachtchefs.com for more info!
|
