So, you can plan ahead and control the wind....
Caribbean Boat Charter
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So, you can plan ahead and control the wind....
Agreed.........
Back 40 years ago we would leave Government Cut or Key Biscayne by Stiltsville and ski the whole way to Bimini.. Back then it took about 1 hour in a 22' Aquasport, and if you got a calm day, the ocean was glass smooth...
Now tell us what it was like on a nice Tradewind day with a typical 18kt breeze blowing out of the NE.
The thing is, July-September when we get those beautiful flat calm days where you can ride a jet ski to the Bahamas is not Charter season down here or the Carib, the boats are in New England, the Mediterranean, or not working ready to be stashed up in hurricane holes or hauled out. Lots of insurance policies for significant size boats have a steep premium attached with being below Cape Hatteras June 1-Nov 1 and you have to have a Hurricane Plan. Around April most of the charter boats migrate out of here because the season is over.
Thanksgiving-Easter is Charter Season around here, ant the prevailing winds are NE.
Now tell us what it was like on a nice Tradewind day with a typical 18kt breeze blowing out of the NE.
The thing is, July-September when we get those beautiful flat calm days where you can ride a jet ski to the Bahamas is not Charter season down here or the Carib, the boats are in New England, the Mediterranean, or not working ready to be stashed up in hurricane holes or hauled out. Lots of insurance policies for significant size boats have a steep premium attached with being below Cape Hatteras June 1-Nov 1 and you have to have a Hurricane Plan. Around April most of the charter boats migrate out of here because the season is over.
Thanksgiving-Easter is Charter Season around here, ant the prevailing winds are NE.
And you are spot on with that observation....
Dav8or
Final Approach
Thanks for the response. It really did bug me how absolutly clean they were able to keep their boats. It is a fascinating world you live in. Those yachts look like a lot of fun... for the owners, assuming they actually have the money to pay for it all.
Captain is probably a pretty good gig too. Anything less and I'm not so sure...
Thanks for the response. It really did bug me how absolutly clean they were able to keep their boats. It is a fascinating world you live in. Those yachts look like a lot of fun... for the owners, assuming they actually have the money to pay for it all.
Pretty much all the jobs onboard can be great or awful, it all depends on the owner, the entire attitude of the vessel stems from there. Charter boats are a bit different, a good captain can make a good crew even when you have horrible charter parties because they are temporary. It's more like running a hotel than a household.
RotorAndWing
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Captains are a dime a dozen in the yacht world. Those guys bounce around from one boat to the next, no job stability there.
jhausch
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My dad was a corporate pilot. I worked on than ran boats from 92 until 99. Over that time period I ran 4 boats for 4 private owners (sequentially, not at the same time). Like a corporate or charter jet pilot, the job is as much about customer service as it is about driving something and the related safety.
As with any job, there all kinds of people, all kinds of bosses, and all kinds of gigs. The difference from the airplane to the boat, from a service point of view, is that you are with the guests/owners for the duration. Also, boat maintenance is much more hands-on for capt and crew, but most see it as part of the enjoyment (unless the boat's a real scow and the owner super-cheap)
Some jobs are great. Great owners, great pay, exactly the sort of job you want (i.e., travel if that is what you want or stability if that is what you want - some folks are always moving, others use them as floating condos and rarely move)
Some people stay with one owner for a long time. Other owners get into the fun, do it for a year or two, then move on. If you bank your money, while the jobs may not be "stable", it is not an "unstable" living.
Yes, there are a lot of folks with their masters license. Yes, you can find some real characters in the business because of the transient nature. However, your characterization of the folks that choose to make their living that way is unfairly generalized and negative, IMO.