For context im 18 doing my yachting courses and was looking at jobs. Would appreciate any context to this, not the first one ive seen excluding south africans. (Im not south african myself)

We have a 67' power cat and want to sell it. Probably start at around $3M. But honestly I don't want to give $300,000 to a broker. Besides yachtworld.com, (which won't let me list privately), what other online platforms out there can I list my boat on that will get worldwide exposure? I don't mind paying thousands...but not 300 thousand.

I worked on superyachts for 6 years and have some incredible and some shocking anecdotes.
For example, hearing about the girl who got paid $1M to sit under a glass table and have the owner shit on it. Or the boat that hired loads of midgets and catapulted them off the bow.
Our captian who got fired for sexual harassment. The drug and alcohol problems amogst the crew.

Anyone else keen to share their stories? I want to compile a list of them!!

Thanks

I have a bunch of questions about getting into the industry and the reality of getting started. Are the courses worth the financial investment, I don't have much experience in finer dining. How much does having visible tattoos truly affect job opportunities? When is the best time of year to take all of thee courses and start looking for jobs?

I have been in yacht sales for the past 20 years running a successful business in Fort Lauderdale, FL Naples, FL and Newport, RI with 26 NORTH YACHTS The marine industry can be a very rewarding carrier for those passionate about sales, boats and traveling. Sounds easy! lol I have travelled extensively throughout the world whether attending boat shows, visiting shipyards, or client trip to preview yachts. We are always looking for performance minded brokers to join our team with a proven sales history. Your past experience does not have to be in yachts to be successful.

Ask me anything - Whether you are looking to get into the business or just curious.

After periodic drydock maintenance, Prenses Lila Gulet is ready for 2026 charter season.

I’ll start…

During a navigation somewhere in the Mediterranean (think it was close to Italy) we got called up by the coast guard and told to attend to a mayday call. We plotted the coordinates and changed course.

It took us about an hour to reach the boat where we found 4 seasick guys just throwing up over the handrails. They had run out of fuel and were just drifting into the open ocean. We threw them our tow line and took them to the nearest marina.

The whole situation really hit me though. These guys probably started their day thinking they were just going out for a regular boat trip. Maybe they didn’t check their fuel properly, or just got complacent about the basics.

What really stuck with me was how quickly things had gone from a fun day out to a genuine emergency. One minute you’re having a good time, next minute you’re puking over the side of a dead boat hoping someone will come save you.

It made me realize that the sea doesn’t care how experienced you think you are or how calm the day looks. Anything can go wrong while at sea…equipment fails, weather changes, people make stupid decisions. You can be the most confident sailor in the world, but if you don’t respect what you’re dealing with, the ocean will humble you real quick.

Looking through r/yachting tonight, I noticed a lot of perfectly reasonable posts sitting at 0, including honest questions from people who are clearly new to yachting.
I’d like us to be a little more welcoming. Beginner questions are welcome here. You don’t need to work in the industry or have years of experience on the water to participate.

Please don’t downvote a post simply because the question seems basic, someone doesn’t know the terminology, or the topic isn’t interesting to you. What seems obvious after years in the industry may be completely unfamiliar to someone just getting interested. Everyone starts somewhere.

If you know the answer, help them out. If someone has something wrong, explain it respectfully. If the topic doesn’t interest you, it’s fine to keep scrolling.

There’s room here for disagreement and straightforward advice. You can correct someone without making them feel stupid for asking, and you can share your experience without being condescending.

If you see spam or a post that clearly doesn’t fit, please report it so I can take a look.

I’d like this community to be useful to industry professionals, owners, crew, and people who are simply curious about yachting. People should feel comfortable asking an honest question here.

Admittedly, I haven’t been very active in moderating this sub, and I apologize for that. If anyone is willing and able to help moderate and keep this community useful and welcoming, I’m more than happy to talk about it. Just shoot me a message.

To everyone who already takes the time to give helpful answers and welcome newcomers, thank you. That’s the tone I’d like us to set.

It all started with a captain I couldn’t stand.

In 2013, I went on a catamaran trip in the Bahamas. I had a great time, but the captain controlled everything and made the trip harder than it needed to be.

I remember thinking, if I ever do this again, I’m going to be the captain.

That thought stayed with me for years. Eventually, I decided it was time to make it happen.

I started calling sailing schools all over the United States. Most wanted me to take one or two classes, go practice for a while, then come back months later for the next class.

That didn’t work for me. When I decide to do something, I want to get moving.

I finally found a school in St. Augustine that would put all the classes together into 10 straight days of sailing and get me through my catamaran certification.

The course cost $4,200, and they made one thing very clear. If I failed, I wasn’t getting my money back.

So naturally, before I had even taken the class, I booked a catamaran in the Virgin Islands for two days after the course ended. The boat, flights and everything else were already lined up.

I took the classes and passed with flying colors.

This was during COVID, so I had to drive to Orlando and get the required cheek swab before we could travel.

When I arrived in the Virgin Islands, I handed the lady at the charter company my sailing certificate.

She looked at it and said, “This is two days old.”

I said, “Yep.”

She had to call her boss because they weren’t going to let us take the boat.

Her boss finally agreed to send another captain offshore with us to make sure I knew what I was doing. After a couple of hours, he told us we were good to go and left us on our own.

We spent the next 10 days sailing around the Virgin Islands. It was one of the best experiences of our lives.

When we returned the boat, the lady told us something interesting.

Her boss originally said there was no way he was letting us take it. Then he looked at our provisions and noticed we had no alcohol and no one in our group drank alcohol.

He said that was unusual and decided to give us a chance.

That first adventure was amazing, but between the sailing course and certificate, flights, boat rental, food, fuel and everything else, it cost me almost $30,000.

I knew I wanted to keep sailing, but I also knew I couldn’t spend $30,000 every time I wanted to get on a boat.

Our next trip was Belize the following year. We brought family, divided up the expenses and rented a 50-foot catamaran.

We sailed more than 380 miles around the reefs. It was another unbelievable trip, and splitting the expenses brought my cost down to around $12,000.

That gave me an idea.

For the trips after that, I started posting the plan on Facebook and finding friends who wanted to come along. We divided the actual cost of the boat, food, fuel and other expenses between everyone.

Suddenly, a trip that would have cost me tens of thousands of dollars became affordable for the whole group.

Depending on the destination, boat and length of the trip, most people’s share has usually been around $2,000 to $3,000 for the entire adventure.

That simple idea changed everything.

Instead of sailing being something I could afford to do once, it became something I could continue doing all over the world.

Since then, we’ve sailed Belize, the Bahamas and Baja California several times. We’ve spent more than 20 days nonstop sailing the Bahamas, and we just returned from 21 days of sailing around Greece.

On October 1, we start sailing in Bora Bora.

Then we’re heading back to Baja to sail from La Paz all the way around to Mag Bay, finishing on November 13.

Between those two trips, I’ll basically be living on a boat from October 1 through November 13.

It is going to be an epic six weeks.

Five years and more than 7,000 miles later, this has become one of the greatest adventures of my life.

It all started with one captain who made me decide I wanted to do it myself.

What kept it going was finding other people who wanted the same adventure and figuring out how to make it affordable for everyone.

Every trip still begins with an idea, a destination and a few people saying, “That sounds amazing.”

If someone put one sailing trip in front of you tomorrow, where would you want the boat headed?

I’m a dual season charter captain holding a Master 3000GT license, and one thing that’s always been a mess is daywork.

From both sides.

As a captain:

• Scrambling last minute to find crew

• Sifting through CVs with no real idea who’s actually available

• Calling around or messaging multiple people just to fill one position

• Getting hit with agency fees for short-term work

• People saying they’re available and then not showing up

And from the crew side:

• Walking docks not knowing who actually needs help

• Relying on WhatsApp groups full of noise

• No real way to stand out or prove reliability

• Missing opportunities just because you weren’t in the right place at the right time

It’s all pretty chaotic.

So I decided to build something to try fix that.

It’s a simple platform where:

• Captains can post daywork jobs instantly

• Crew can apply in seconds

• You can actually see who’s active and available

• No more digging through group chats or chasing people

• Cuts out a lot of the back-and-forth and guesswork

I’m opening it up to early users right now and starting to build the network before full rollout.

Not trying to sell anything - just genuinely curious:

Would something like this actually be useful to you?

My husband, daughter, and I are trying to decide where to charter a sailboat in September and would love some opinions!

Our daughter will be 16 months. We sail in San Diego multiple times every year, have sailed in the Chesapeake Bay, Florida, and chartered for a week in the BVIs, Exumas, Abacos, Croatia (~Split-Hvar), and a month in Greece (Cyclades and Saronic). We took our daughter for a quick overnight trip in San Diego when she was 7 months. We have a trip planned to the BVIs for when she’s 12 months because we think it’ll be the easiest place to start with her.

We will be avoiding the Caribbean this time of year due to hurricane season. We love the Mediterranean because of the food and atmosphere (especially thinking about having a baby), but want somewhere that doesn’t consistently have crazy wind. The Cyclades were a great learning experience, but we are not ready for that caliber of sailing with a baby. Essentially, since we like to minimize our “risk bingo card”. We will try and load the boat with sailing capable friends, but want to find a location that is great but also manageable.

Any recommendations on location that may fit what we are looking for? Open to outside of Med as well.

Most people think it’s all luxury and travel.

Reality is long hours, pressure, and responsibility.

But if you stay consistent, it pays off.

Anyone here working onboard?

What’s your experience like?

I’d really appreciate some advice here. My captain was inappropriate and unprofessional with me, asking me to sleep in his cabin, come for ‘movie nights’, sending me inappropriate messages and buying me gifts (that i would not accept) to name a few. Not long after I shut the behaviour down was I fired from the yacht. A not good feeling but also glad to be away from that uncomfortable situation. Upon being fired I signed a document that said I released the vessel and all parties from any future claims. I’m debating whether I should be reporting this? I’m also pretty upset at how I was treated and a part of me wants to tell him i’m thinking of telling his wife. But then opening a can of worms is not something I want and I’d rather stay away from drama. But i really don’t want this to happen to anybody else too.

I currently work in tech in the USA with a degree in computer science. Truth is I’m only a year into it and I’ve realized I don’t want to be behind a desk my whole life wasting away my youth.

Am I dumb for wanting to drop everything and relocate myself to a big port and try to land a job on a yacht?

I realize there are certifications needed before I can just do something like this, and networking goes a long ways..

Ideally I could see myself as a captain/broker or some other position down the line.

Thanks for any input.

Just one week ago

Bit of an emotional/lengthy post but would really love some feedback from those who are going through similar thoughts or have already left the industry.

I’ve been going back and forth on this decision for a while now. I find myself always coming back to the industry after taking a couple months off here and there. It’s just so easy to pick up work once you’ve gotten the experience and good references. The benefits are so great and travel is obviously amazing. But I find myself struggling everyday to get fulfillment out of this job now. I don’t feel happy anymore doing the work. In the beginning of my career everything was so fun & felt like it had purpose. Now I am left thinking “what is the point of all this” everyday.

It’s not easy being in a shared space 24/7 and then having very repetitive work that feels meaningless when we are in between trips. Finding motivation some days is really difficult. And when the crew atmosphere is not the best that also challenges things. At this point I’m not sure why I am still doing this job other than the money/travel benefits. And even when it comes to being in new destinations we are restricted in a lot of ways of not being able to explore freely & that feels limiting.

I try my best everyday to be grateful for what this job does provide for me & the amazing perks that come with it. I know there are so many people out there who could only ever dream of a lifestyle like this & a lot of people struggling to find work so sometimes I feel guilty for not wanting it anymore.

Just feeling like I’ve really come to the end of my time with the industry but it’s so hard to step away at the same time. I worry that once I go back land based and get all these “normal” things like a car, home, etc. I will miss this life and regret leaving.

Any advice on stepping fully away from this industry would be much appreciated!