So, this started off as an email to my friend Miguel in South Africa who I felt needed a bit of a kick up his gluteus minimus, he's been wanting to get into the yachting industry so, being a seasoned PROFESSIONAL, I thought it only fair that I share my wealth of knowledge with him... and then I thought, why be selfish, share it with the rest of the world too, so here it is Miguel, some tips and useful advice for someone who needs a gentle SHOVE in the right direction.... whether you want it or not.
1. Try get your hands on as much money as you can to do all the right courses... beg, borrow, steal. You WILL make it back (and more) in the first month, without a doubt, so don't stress about it. Talk to Daddy Dearest, tell him you'll even pay him interest and throw in a Lamborghini, cos you'll just be LOADED like that.
2. Decide, do you want to work on a motor yacht... or a sailing yacht. I think that a chartered sailing yacht is right down your alley, it's more active, exciting, you get to be outdoors more, you get to go to cooler places and it's a bit more relaxed and less stuffy than the floating fortresses, and with the chartering you'll more than double your 2000euro minimum salary with tips.
So, to work on a sailing yacht, I'd suggest you do as many courses as you can, deckhand, skipper, power boat level 2, competent crew etc. The sailing yachts want someone who is practical and can sail, they don't want to have to teach someone from scratch so STCW isn't really enough. If you can, try get onto a sailing yacht in Durban, even a small one and get some hours and a reference letter, even if you're not getting paid it will help you SO much and set you apart from all the other guys, I really recommend doing that. You can do all the courses in Cape Town, or Durban, just google it, there are SO many. If you don't have the money or the time you can get away with just doing the STCW and ENG 1, but then you'll head more down the motor yacht route and you'll be competing with the other 10 000 guys who've done exactly the same thing (very risky).
3. Once you've booked your courses, book your ENG1 Medical. There's a doctor in Durban that does it, Dr Dungan, +27 31 261 8291. Then book your flight, Etihad is super cheap... www.etihad.com, I got mine for R2300 (click on it NOW). I would suggest coming around mid April, so many people got here too early and just ended up wasting their money. Then you're going to phone Martin at The Crew House in Antibes +33 9777 53069 and book your first week of accommodation, it's the cheapest place, it's really central and it's so much fun, you'll love it. Book it as soon as you can, it fills up really fast and you don't want to have to sleep at the train station. You must fly into Nice Airport, walk outside and go to the lady selling tickets... "Bonjour, Antibes, s'il vous plaît", it's 9 euros and she'll show you where to go. They'll drop you just above the train station, walk over the bridge, down the stairs, head straight down the road and take a right at Avenue Saint Roch, you'll be able to hear the Crew House before you see it. Make sure you have 50 euros on you cos they won't let you check in without that money for the deposit. I forgot to mention, passport... very NB, obviously. If you want, apply for a Seaman's Book with the MCA, you get discounts on flights and a 40kg luggage allowance.
4. Before you leave, register online with all the agencies, it'll save you so much time. Just fill in what you can, you can keep updating it as you get more certificates etc. Here are a few of the main ones... luxyachts, bluewater, YCO, crew unlimited, camper and nicholson's, jf recruting. Very NB is your CV... and a sexy CV photo, it's shallow but it's the main thing they look at, so make sure it's a really good one.
Curriculum Vitae
Miguel sexy-mother-fucker Caetano
Deckhand/Sex Worker
Make that bit at the top look good, put a strip of colour, with your photo on the right, don't go overboard but try make it look different cos they get hundreds of them that all look the same, so if yours is even slightly different they're gonna notice it.
Personal details:
nationality (very NB that you mention your portugese passport, often when they just see "South Africa" they don't bother reading any further cos there are always VISA problems), telephone, skype name, email, date of birth, language, marital status, drivers licence, health (write excellent, non-smoker, no tattoos.. important), ENG1 Medical, availability: put a date.
Objective: what you're looking for, deckhand, charter, blabla, make it short
Personal Profile: this is really important, don't write anything cheesy, besides your profile pic this is the next most important thing, just tell them how AWESOME you are without sounding too arrogant, they want to know what kind of person you are and if you're going to get on with the rest of the crew. Often it's the crew that'll look at the CVs and they choose someone who sounds like a cool person so try make a good impression.
Education: be brief, they don't really care too much about this, just high school and your university degree.
Licences/certificates STCW, powerboat, deckhand etc
Work experience (hospitality etc, really fluff it up, write stuff about having to organise things and be accountable and use initiative etc, you know the story)
Interests: put water sports, haha and anything else that makes you sound like an interesting, fun person. Don't put "travelling", that irritates them and they'll think you're just coming along for a joy ride (which you are, but they don't need to know that)
References, put at least three
VOILA that's your CV, send it to me once you've done it and i'll help you with it, there's a very specific format you have to stick to.
Really important, set up an offshore account with Lloyd's TSB before you come, it doesn't cost anything and saves you SO much trouble, you do NOT want to have to try and set up an account with these impatient bloody frogs, make sure you do this well before you fly out, it takes a while to get the cards sent to you etc. Email David, he's really nice and will come to your house to set it up for you: David.Bartlett@lloydstsb.co.za. It's best to have an offshore, so the tax man can't find you, haha.
What else, bring enough money to last you 2 weeks, you can live really cheaply once you're here and with just one day's day work you'll be able to pay another whole weeks rent.
So just GET here, go dockwalking STRAIGHT away and find yourself daywork, just anything to add to your CV and NETWORK, you'll enjoy this bit. Flirt with every pretty girl you can see, because she's probably a stewardess and is friends with the deckhand who speaks to the captain and can recommend you for a job. Hang out at the blue lady and buy drinks for people who look important. Print yourself a little business card with your name, your number, your photo and your position (deckhand, available for daywork or other random titivations with miscallenoeus pretty girls)
Or, alternatively, you just skip all of that and you come work on my boat because the deckhand is probably quiting, his girlfriend has him by the balls and won't let him work next year as we'll have a seven month contract and be travelling all over the med. It's not a definite but it's likely that will happen, if the boat sells. So do your courses and go work on anything that floats, even if it is a smelly old fishing boat at the waterfront.
Can't wait for you to get here and to show you all the ropes, so to speak. Lord I'm funny. There is SO much fun to be had so choose cake, or alternatively, stay in Joburg and choose death. Personally, I'd choose cake, although everyone likes a bit of death every now and then.
Now MIGUEL, I've taken a LONG time to write all this out and I will be very cross if you don't get yourself organised. So, bury your face in CAKE and become a yachtie. Cake cake cake. We know how you love cake...
The end... you're welcome.
