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Typical day on a Superyacht

We thought we’d show you what a typical day onboard a superyacht looks like, if you’re in between charters. Obviously the way each yacht is run differs from one to the next, but just to give you an idea of what the day includes, how many hours you’ll be working and the sort of thing you’ll be doing, this is what the interior/ deck crew might typically be doing in between guests, to get the boat cleaned up and ready for the next charter.

7am – Rise and Shine

Get up, wash, get your crew uniform on (Off-Guest Uniform in-between charter) and have breakfast in the crew mess.

Drop your laundry in the laundry room, separate lights and whites from darks and pop your uniform in the laundry for the daily wash.  Fresh uniform will be delivered to your cabin later.

745am – On most boats the flag goes up at 8am, so you’ll often find crew having a “toolbox talk” to go through the plans and objectives for the day and sometimes the week ahead.  The deck guys and gals get together on the exterior and the interior guys and gals get together on the interior, talk about what needs to get done during the day and who’s doing what.

8am – Flag goes up.

Deckhands will detail and clean the enclosed foredeck.

Things like the anchor chains, which shed rust when they’re dropped, these need cleaning up.

When waves splash up, salt water leaves a residue and staining all over the enclosed foredeck.  Everything has been designed to be waterproof so the deck hands use cleaners and hoses to give everything a serious clean and rinse off so it’s absolutely spotless.

12 – lunchtime for deck crew, the chef will have prepared something for lunch so crew can have a half hour break, get something to eat etc.

1230 – back to work, it’s going to be an afternoon of washing.

Sun deck – when you’re washing the sundeck, it makes sense to start at the top and work your way down, so start with the mast.

It takes time to wash the mast because you have to keep tying up to different points to make sure you’re safe and tied on securely when you’re working up there. Before you go up, remember to fill out a permit to work at height because you’re going aloft, go downstairs to sign the paperwork and head to the bridge to make sure everything’s off, from the radar to the horns.

Get your harness and helmet on and check you’re clipped in securely.

Carry as little as possible whilst you’re up there, you don’t want to carry a bucket which you might drop, so generally take a spray bottle of soap water and a mitt, do as much as you can by hand and then use a hose and brush on a pole to get to the rest.

Tie up to different points all around the mast and move around slowly.

Work around the stacks on the top, where exhaust fumes come out and round to the front of the dome to get all the muck the birds leave behind!

Get the majority of the dirt off and rinse off with a hose before moving on.

You’ll need a harness and helmet to wash the brow of the boat too.

4pm – Once the sundeck is all washed, work your way down to the bridge.

5pm – now you get a little break.

5.30pm – you might need to check that all the toys are in good working order for when your next charter guests arrive.  So get the hydrofoil lift and jet ski’s out to try out.

You’ll get to eat together in the evening, have a bit of a break before the evening duties commence, but that’s another blog!