Is this for you?

This is the chapter where I try to talk some of you out of it. Most people who fly home after six weeks knew something before they boarded and chose not to look at it. Look now, while it costs you nothing.

The only test that matters

The myth first. You do not need yacht experience to get your first yacht job. Nobody has ever asked me where I studied, and I have never asked a green candidate either. Here is what I look at, in order.

• You are at the boat at 07:30 when you said 07:30.
• Your polo is clean and your phone is in your pocket.
• Your CV is two pages, with your certificates and their dates on it.
• You ask before you touch anything on my deck.

That is the whole test on day one. Almost nobody fails it deliberately. They fail because they treated a day of dockwork as a favour instead of a two day interview.

What land work gives you is a habit, not a title. Hospitality gives you service under pressure. A trade gives you hands and a way of taking a problem apart. Sport gives you the ability to be tired and still civil. Any of those beat a degree in this room.

Three green hires who surprised me. A plumber, who read a system in a bilge better than crew with two seasons behind them. A hotel receptionist, who remembered names and fixed guest problems before anyone asked. A rugby player, who had been coached hard for years and took correction as information rather than an insult. All three were asked back.

Who does well, and who leaves early

The people who last come from hospitality, restaurants, hotels and events. From trades: plumbers, electricians, carpenters, mechanics, all of them scarce on the engineering side. From water and sport: divers, surfers, sailors, lifeguards, anyone comfortable in open sea and fit enough to be tired for four days running. Most of all, from people who can share a small cabin with a stranger and take an instruction without negotiating it.

The ones who leave early are easier to list. I have watched every one of these.

• People who need weekends. There are no weekends. Your days off land where the boat's schedule allows, which can mean a Tuesday in October.
• People who cannot be told. You will be corrected in front of others, often about something small, often by someone your own age.
• People who came for the parties. They are the first names I forget and the first contracts I do not renew.
• People who cannot swim. Be straight with yourself. There is water survival in your safety training, and half the deck job assumes you are easy in open water with guests in it.

That is not a character judgement. It is a fit problem, and fit problems are cheaper to solve on land.

Age, gender, passport: straight answers

Age. Most green crew I hire are in their twenties. Over thirty and green is harder, and it is not closed. What gets you through that door is a trade or a real hospitality record, not enthusiasm. As of 2026 the ENG1 medical runs two years, one year if you are between 16 and 18, and that medical is the real floor.

Gender. Male stews exist and I have hired them. Female deckhands too. The interior is still mostly women and the deck still mostly men, and pretending otherwise helps nobody about to spend money on courses. If you are the minority in your department, expect an extra question at interview, then expect it to stop mattering by week two.

Passport. Your nationality does not decide whether you can do the job. It decides where you may stand while you look for it, and what the paperwork costs. As of 2026 a South African needs a Schengen visa to train or walk docks in Europe, plus a full United States visa, since there is no visa waiver route. EU and UK holders move around the Med with less friction. Chapter 06 has the facts. This is not legal advice. Check the official page before you book.

From the bridge: I have turned crew away for being late twice in one week of daywork. I have never turned anyone away for being 34, or male in the interior, or holding a passport that means extra paperwork.

One more thing before you start applying. Whatever sits on your public profiles, an agency will find it and so will I. Chapter 07 says what to do about it.