Yacht crew

When you are at sea, everyone on board has some responsibility and assignment. A successful sailing largely depends on how coherent and organized the crew is. When you charter a boat, don’t forget you are also a crew member, and not just a passive bystander.

Depending on your experience and preferences, we give you the option of bareboat, skippered or fully crewed charter.

How many crew member will you hire depends not only on your preferences, but on the boat size as well. Mega yachts are chartered fully crewed while on smaller boats guests usually hire only skipper and/or hostess. When choosing the boat, keep in mind that skipper and hostess sleep on board and there must be enough berths for everyone. Larger motor yachts have separate crew quarters, but this is often not the case with smaller models.

Captain

Captain is the highest ranked officer on board. As there are different categories of vessels, so there are different categories of captains, but one thing never changes – captain is the highest commander of the crew. If you hire a boat with the crew always keep in mind that captain has the last saying in all ship matters.

His job is to drive the yacht, take care of the necessary paperwork and make sure things on board run smoothly. You discuss the route with him, but in case of bed weather or any other danger you must always, without a question, obey the captain.

All assignments on board are divided among the crew, but the captain never does any manual labour (cleaning, repairs…). He navigates the yacht and advises on itinerary and you can also come to him if you have any questions.

A captain must possess an adequate licence, depending on type and size of the vessel and sailing area, as well as officer’s certificate which he acquires through professional education.

Skipper

Skipper is in charge of driving the boat, but if there are no other crew members on board, his jobs also includes maintaining the boat, making all necessary smaller repairs during the sail, taking care of the paperwork in marinas, transferring the vessek from one marina to the other between the charters and other. He can also give you various useful advice, point out some interesting places for you to visit or things to do, answer most of your questions and show you a thing or two about navigating a boat.

He is in charge of driving the boat and taking care of your safety.

He often cleans the boat and does other similar chores to ensure proper functioning of the vessel, even though it is not his primarly job. Overall safety and pleasurable sailing mostly depend on good organisation, assigning duties and good relationship between the guests as well as between the guests and the skipper. Since you’ll be spending at least a week together at the sea, it is important that you compromise and show respect for each other.
Most guests get along great with their skippers and often ask for him/her when they come back next year.

When you hire a skipper, remember that you have to save a berth for him and provide his food. Skipper spends most of the time on board and always has a plenty to do, so he doesn’t have much time to cook meals for himself, so you should take care of this – regardless if you are eating on board or dinning out.

If you want your privacy, the skipper doesn’t always have to eat with you. Sometimes he can eat after you, or go to a different restaurant. With skipper you won’t have and trouble finding a common ground, a that is one of the main conditions for pleasant and joyful sail.

Hostess

Primary duties of a hostess are taking care of the cleanliness and tidiness inside of the boat, and, if there is no chef, she is also in charge of preparing meals.

Since there is always lots of work to be done around the boat to keep everything in order, every task must be properly delegated between the crew. So, the tasks of the hostess are vary depending of whether she is the alone on board or with other crew members.
If you hire only a hostess, she is in charge of keeping the boat tidy, cooking and groceries shopping, making breakfast… In this case, your duty is to navigate the boat and take care of the security of everyone on board as well as the boat itself.

If there is a skipper with the hostess on board, the two of them will take care of most things that must be done. Generally, we could split their tasks: he is managing the exterior, and she is in charge of interior, but that is little blunt. She will help him to anchor in marinas as well as with some minor repairs on the deck (if necessary).

If the hostess is a member of full crew, she is usually not in charge of groceries shopping or any other physical work.
She cleans, tidies up the place, sets the table, serves the food... She is also here to answer all of your questions and help you with an advice. She is constantly communicating with the guests and you can ask her if you have any kind of a problem. Hostess are, in the most cases, educated and well informed with the recent events, so they can help you, answer on your questions, and explain lots of things regarding the local rules and traditions.

Your duty is to assure her the place to sleep and provide food.

Cook

Cook is a crew member on larger yachts and it’s quite clear what his job is. He prepares meals and takes care of food and beverage provisioning.

The cook prepares the meals according to your wishes (if he can get all necessary ingredients), but he can also serve you meals of his choice. You can agree on everything and guests very rarely (if ever) complain about the food.

He is also in charge of providing the yacht with groceries, so make sure you tell him everything you want to have on board. it is very unlikely you will run out of something, but if you do, please show understanding, especially if you are at sea, away from the shops.

A good cook is an important part of the crew. A good meal is definite to make everyone feel better, and it is a fact that one thinks better and has more fun on a full stomach. All cooks who work on yachts are educated professionals who are very good at their job. If you are open for new ideas, don’t hesitate to try some of our traditional meals – we’re sure you won’t be disappointed. Of course, ask the cook what the ingredients are before he starts preparing it, in case there are some groceries you don’t like or to which you are allergic.

Also, don’t forget to tell the cook or the hostess if there is some food you are allergic to, to avoid any health risks.

Food supply

Most guests who charter large yachts want to hire a cook also. On the other hand, some want to cook for themselves, so they take care of provisioning groceries themselves. However, those guests who hire a cook must tell him want they like to eat and drink. You can tell your preferences to us (your charter agent) and we’ll inform the crew about it, or you can go food shopping with one of the crew members before you set off. Beside some basic groceries, the crew never buys supplies before you state your likes and dislikes.

Don’t forget that food and drinks on board are not included in the charter price. At the end of your holiday a crew will set you a bill which you pay directly to them. Of course, there is an all inclusive option when you pay a certain amount in advance and all food and drinks on board are already included in price.

Sailor

On larger yachts, sailor is a principal crew member. Since the captain is in charge of navigating the ship and taking care of the paperwork, the sailor is the one who takes care of physical work. He is in charge of cleaning the deck, making minor repairs, maintaining the boat in good condition, helping with the docking, filling the fuel…
Besides these, the sailor is here also to help the captain with navigation and carry out his orders, and he is responsible for the appearance of the yacht as well as proper functioning of the equipment.

If there is no security guard on board, the sailor is responsible for this segment as well, although the entire crew looks after the safety of the boat and the passengers.

So, the sailor is the one to whom you’ll turn to if you come across any problem with the yacht, even though this is unlikely to happen.

Security guard

Security guard is not always a principal part of the crew, so if you want to hire him also, you need to make a special request. It's pretty clear what his job is - to attend to the security of the boat, guests and the crew.
That is especially important when you are anchoring in marinas where there are lots of people and it's possible that someone tries to enter the yacht (mostly because of curiosity and without any bad intentions).

Even though these cases are very rare, some guests don’t feel comfortable and secure without a security guard.
And although such fear is irrational for most of them, for celebrities and very rich individuals, it is good to have a security around to take care of their families and property.

The chance of someone trespassing on your yacht is very small, because there is always someone of the crew on board, but if you can't relax and want to feel totally safe, we recommend you to hire a security guard.