Introducing Yotspot Connect – available now in the Apple store! With the restrictions of recent events easing, we're slowly being reintroduced back into contact with one another – albeit from a safe distance – to re-connect and catch up, in person! What better time for us as superyacht crew recruiters, to launch our FREE new app, Yotspot Connect, specially designed for crew and yachting professionals working in the luxury world of superyachts to find one another and do just that. Connect! Designed to help crew, scattered far and wide, stay connected and find friends.  You might have your first day off in a few weeks and find yourself wandering the streets of Antibes, pondering if anyone's around for a chat, coffee or catch up but how do you locate t...

The Superyacht Circuit from 1988 - 1993  We caught up with 52-year-old corporate tech exec Duncan Ward this week, Account Director for Oracle Software Sales team in the UK. By his own admission, he wasn't always a techno-nerd!   Duncan spent 5 years working on superyachts and whilst he absolutely loved every minute, he describes the industry back then "as being akin to the Wild West!!  It was the '80's and there just weren't the regulations!" How did you get your first yachting gig? I was 20. Living in the UK's south coastal yachting town Lymington.  A popular yachty haunt and my regular pub was (and still is!) The Chequers Inn and I'd hear friends swapping tales of working on yachts.  I'd always lov...

I grew up in a small village in the south of Germany surrounded by mountains and lakes.  My childhood revolved around hikes with family and friends where I learnt to appreciate the natural world around me.  For me, family is what has kept me grounded to this day, where my roots go deep into compassion and kindness towards others.  It is important to remember that life is a balance of give and take - between humans, animals and the environment. What is a balance to you?  To me a balance of friendship and family is an atmosphere that can not be compared. I mean, many of us work and live halfway across the world from the dear people we grew up with, so creating a family away from home keeps us close and mutual respect and sympathy towards each of us is formed. ...

Stepping up and donating £1000 at any other time would have been hard enough but when Yotspot HQ heard that ISWAN were raising funds to create a much-needed, dedicated online support hub for superyacht crew ... pandemic or no pandemic ... we knew we had to help! ISWAN need to raise £20,000 to build Yacht Crew Help – a new online toolkit specifically designed for superyacht crew.  So they can access help and support 24/7, when they're finding life hard and need someone to talk to.  The service will include a free direct line, with 24-hour emotional support, guidance and access to useful mental health and welfare resources from across the globe. The online hub will specifically: Signpost organisations and help available Cata...

Specialist Superyacht recruiter Faststream and industry-leading job board Yotspot have collaborated to survey over 1,200 Superyacht crew to gain a unique insight into the views, thoughts and feelings that these individuals have about the industry they work in. How do crew rate their mental health on-board and do they feel there is adequate support if there is an issue? Do they feel they are spending enough quality time with their friends and family? Do crew care about pensions or are they saving for the future in a different way? What matters most to crew at work? What are crew's future ambitions in their careers? You can find out by reading the #thesuperyachtsurvey2020 below: Click here to view the Superyacht Survey 2020   https://www.yotspot.com/docs/The%20Superyac...

Hi All. As a member of the sealife and yachting industry, I want to share with you a small thing it may change or help you in your job and future. As a Captain whenever I join a new vessel I feel the home atmosphere I feel the soul of the yacht. you can easily identify there is life in that place is not just a pc of Fiberglass floating and people are working on it. no no is not. Its a lot more than that.  Its memories / happiness / good time / travels / rough seas / calm waters  and more . So I think every seafarer and every crew member are on that life should look at it from a different angle. Don't see it as just a job and end of the month there is some money will be given to you and that's it. you really should enjoy it and live it as if it's your house. Nothing should...

Like many superyacht crew working onboard vessels at the time COVID-19 travel restrictions were implemented, the crew onboard MY Mirage were given the choice to either remain onboard, move into local crew apartments or return home to quarantine with family (wherever that may be!). One crew member, Stewardess and Massage Therapist, Elle Watton, having moved ashore with fellow crew, was able to get back on board and start unpacking last week, ready for what will hopefully be the new charter season - as yet still to be confirmed. Sitting in STP shipyard, Palma, onboard "MY Mirage", we caught up with Elle, as she comes to the end of her first year as superyacht crew. As a completely green newbie, who'd never even sailed before, Elle told me she's now absolu...

Hi, I am known as the juice chef, I was in the hospital not too long ago, I was worn out, stressed and drinking and (2014 - I added more stress, I became more of an emergency, remote relief chef for 50m+ vessels. This plus the new love of my life, I was spiralling down. I landed up meeting a person that has become a huge impact in my life, she showed me yoga and meditation (Me, I laughed - what yoga, juice, no smoking or drink, yeah right.) so we made a deal, if I did what she said, I would be off my anxiety if she helped structure my jobs and lifestyle with added water intake, juice, meditation and everything that was not me. Today I am a non-drinker, non-smoker - practice a zero drug policy ( including prescription and daily headache tables, in other words, no chemicals)I meditate at...

As for charters, with the inevitable restrictions on travel worldwide, spring bookings have taken a nosedive, with many either postponed or cancelled. Despite this there are charter firms keen to take advanced charter bookings, for those clients looking to escape as soon as the restrictions are lifted. With some requesting the ability to re-book or cancel in case of future travel bans, with some brokerage firms even offering 'cancellation no penalty' clauses. The hope is that as soon as travel bans are lifted, the global charter market will bounce back, with people wanting to escape on a yacht and spend time onboard in a safe, secure, isolated but beautiful environment – away from home. Looking for remote? As for the safer destinations, favourite options will proba...

Everywhere you turn the disruptive effects of COVID-19 are stark.  First and foremost, we hope you're safe, well and where you want to be! It's a bit of an understatement that the superyacht industry has a whole has been hit pretty hard by the COVID-19 outbreak, with yachts unable to move freely in Spain, France and Italy, and many yachts heading to the UK as a safe haven. With such stringent lockdowns, crew can't easily join yachts and vessels are stuck unable to leave port.  Whilst some owners are using their yachts as safe havens, it's tricky for rotational crews whose counterparts can't get flights out to the boats. COVID-19 has obviously affected an enormous number of crew; causing repatriation issues, crew unable to access government fina...