Week 2 On Anchor

Welcome back!

In my last post I was anchored between the 2 sheltered islands of Il St Marguerite. The next day, things changed and the weather took a turn for the worst, as you will see......

Monday 14th Sept

Weather became worse and forced us to move again, but not before leaving the safety of the islands and encountering the Med at it's finest!!

After leaving the channel, we entered into open sea, which became progressively more rough. The boat, which is designed for cruising, was being hammered by the swells, which came over the bow!

I remember looking down the starboard walkway and seeing a mountain of water coming towards me....not the best view in the world, but exciting nonetheless.

I decided to film our voyage through the waves, so you could see what it was like, although it had to be cut short before the swell got bigger and the real action started, as our tender rope broke, leaving the tender floating amongst the swell, and near the rocks.

Towards the end of the clip, listen for the snapping sound of the rope!



Thankfully we mangaged to save the tender. After manouvering the 31m boat alongside the 6m tender, the 2nd Captain, which was my first Captain and happend to be onboard helping with some mechanics, jumped into the tender and rode the waves back into the channel.

We at that point turned our bow towards the waves and headed out to sea, before finding a window of opportunity which allowed us to turn back towards land and our new anchoring site, sheltered by the bay.

Tues 15th Sept

The heavens opened up and the rain came down in a big way!

As there was still alot of swell and strong wind, i had to do watchkeeping which meant staying awake from 12pm- 6am, monitoring the anchor (to see if we were still in position, and had'nt moved),other boats close to us as well as the status of the generator etc.

Wed 16th Sept

Still raining and so am unable to work on exterior.....sometimes a pleasure, when you need a break, but there's always the cleaning after, as the rain is rarely clean and leaves dirt behind, which can stain the boat if unattended.

Tonight is the engineer's turn to keep watch, so i was able to get a good nights sleep.

Thurs 17th Sept

The rain stopped, but the wind and swell did not. The wind was predicted to be force 5 so we moved from current spot to the front of the island, as it shielded us against the wind and therefore swell.

The wind picked up and was pretty much in full force when i had to pick up the 2nd Captain and chef from the shore. This meant i had to drive in my 6m tender across open ocean and back again. It was without a doubt, the most challenging drive I have had yet. There was one moment where i almost capsized, but somehow it worked out.

Fri 18th Sept

A very early morning start,as the wind direction and intensity had changed, which meant we had to pull up anchor and cruise back to our previous spot.

The weather for this time of year has been pretty bad, one of the many proofs that globl warming is very real and happening. According to "Cap" he used to get storm predictions for the year, and has seen the change in intesity and frequency over the years. The problem is that the predictions nowadays are very inaccurate, due to the increase in frequecy and changing of the seasons.

If you haven't already seen it, check out: An Inconvenient Truth......Here's what it's about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnjx6KETmi4

The day consisted of cleaning the generators (as there was still oil all over the place from the smoke incident). This is one of the worst cleaning missions I have had to do, as it took so long, because of the small areas in hard to reach places, and the engine room was hot.

The weather was still pretty dodgy, so i had to do another watch keeping stint, but only from 12pm - 4am this time, as i woke the engineer up to take over.

The watchkeeping was not without incident. Our tender seemed to be sagging at the back end, and the engine was lower in the water as usual, so i climbed on and opened the bilge area. The whole compartment was filled with water, as well as 1/3 of the aft section, as the automatic bilge pump had stopped working. All it meant, was that i had to flick the switch manually. Although a very simple task, it could have been a disaster if it was not noticed.

Problems on yachts are not always easy to spot, and it could be something behind closed panels or inside the body work of the boat, so you need to learn to spot tell tale signs that something is wrong before it gets worse.

Sat 19th Sept

Cleaned up after rain and then took it easy and watched movie 2 of my 100 winter collection. Winter in the S.France is not the best....besides the big swell and heavy winds, there is lots of rain. The upside tho, is that you can go skiing in the Alpes. The slopes are an hours drive from Cannes, and so I plan to make use of my free time.

Sun 20th Sept

My Captain took his leave today (1 week), and so the first Captain I had, filled in for him. Told that we goin going to be in Monaco Boat Show and then back in port by next week Monday/Tuesday!! Good old land.....

The decision one has to take once the Med Season is over, is whether to stay there for winter or leave the current job (should it be on a permanant basis) and head to the sunny Caribbean.......the latter is the option most chosen, but weigh up the pro's and con's of each and choose accordingly.







Thats it from me for now.......check back next week to see what i'm up to!

For info re: courses and the yachting industry in general log onto: www.certifiedtraining.co.za
Email: courses@certifiedtraining.co.za

My Week On Anchor

Welcome back to my weekly blog!

I’m not going to lie, the last couple weeks weren’t exactly riveting and so I have nothing too exciting to report back on, but fear not....the last week has been pretty busy, as you shall see.

Ok, so it’s the 5th Sept, we have just left Port De Cannes as today was the last day you could be in port, unless your boat is in the boat show, which we have decided not to be in.


The boat show is starting on the 9th and ending on the 15th Sept. Today is also the start of my 2 weeks at sea, as there are no available berths anywhere along the Riviera until about then!!! Crazy that!

Sept & Oct seem to be the months for boat shows, as first you have the Cannes boat show, then the Monaco boat show (23rd – 26th Sept), and then the Genova boat show (3rd – 11th Oct)! One of my fellow yachties is unfortunate enough to have to attend all 3 with her boat...a 130ft Mangusta.

Today was another day where it could have all gone wrong. After leaving port we anchored and prepared all our generators and watermaker. It all seemed fine until about lunch time, when I happened to walk past the engine room on my way to get lunch and saw that the entire engine room was engulfed in thick white smoke! My immediate thought was FIRE! I ran to the crew (who were all sat down with plates of food in front of them) and screamed “smoke in engine room”!...everyone jumped up and ran to the scene. My captain, was the first to enter and immediately requested that the generators be turned off, as this was the likely cause of the smoke.

It turned out that the generator was the cause, but it was due to a number of factors:

1) The cooling pipe had come loose and was causing the generator to overheat. Temperatures rose to about 120 degrees celcius!!



2) The sea cocks (which provides water to the watermaker and various other equipment, had been closed off from the sea, due to a blockage)



3) The muffler (silencer) had a hole in it, due to a small explosion caused by the pressure and heat, which meant that air was getting in, and also not allowing whatever water was in the system to flow in order to cool.



In our quest to find the problem, we cleaned all the sea cock filters, replaced impellers in generators, replaced the damaged muffler with a new one, which also had a defect, causing water to spray from the seam where the 2 parts of the muffler had been melted together! As well as filling up the with extra oil and water.

The day was long and hard and we ended up working a 13 hour day from 9am – 10pm. Sometimes this is necessary, as unlike a problem on land, a problem on a boat needs to be fixed immediately. In this instance it was the difference between having electricity & water or not, but in more severe cases, it could be the difference between sinking or staying afloat!

6th Sept....my 2nd day on anchor. We still had no generators working, except for the night/emergency generator which only supplies power to service and emergency batteries, which power lights, some plugs and the engines.

To be honest, I liked this day alot. As I couldn’t use any water and the boat was pretty clean as it was, I was able to get some “me” time and so caught some rays, learnt French
, fished and slept....yes, in that order! All in all a great lazy Sunday on my (well....the owners) boat.

Mon 7th Sept, weekend over and the start of the working week....or was it? Today, I pumped up the tender, as well as all the fenders. This seemed like enough work for the day, and so I decided to go for a swim, which didn’t turn out too good!

Although it had been about 8 years since I last free dived, I decided to head down to 10m. On surfacing, I had a lot of pain in my ears and sinuses, and then my nose started bleeding! It seems as though the pressure had been too much for me, as I was not “depth fit” and I probably did’nt equalize properly. About an hour or so later, I was all good.

Bleeding from the nose due to the pressure is’nt too bad, but if it had been from my ears, It would have been a different story.

Besides the 2 generators not working, we now had another problem……the emergency/night generator was overheating, and therefore all generators were stopped!

Rationing of water had now begun, as water reserves were middle to low range and watermaker was not working, as generators which power it were on the blink. If this was not enough trouble, the boats alarm system ( monitors fire, smoke, faults etc.) started going off and could not be silenced. After a complete boat search, we found that there were no problems and so had to disconnect all the censors one by one to find the wiring problem.

Tues 8th Sept, my 4th day on anchor. Our prayers were answered, as another, more experienced mechanic came onboard to fix our generator problem.

After connecting the dots, the mechanic simply took the sea cock filters out and stuck a stick down the sea cock (which opens up to the sea). What he found, was that the intake hole was blocked by mud barnicals and calcification from the sea water.

After we cleaned it out, the water started flowing again. This was the “big” reason why the generators were overheating! Proof that sometimes it’s the most simple things that cause the biggest problems.

Ok, so one problem down and a couple more to go. The watermaker was next on the list, and with the water levels not looking so healthy it was a biggie…………

After a technical overview, we found that it needed a new motor and pump. We replaced the filters in the meanwhile and awaited the new motor. At this point in time we only had 1000 litres of water, which sounds like a lot, but goes very quickly due to shower, washing up, toilet etc.

Got word today that we were going to be in the Cannes Boat Show tomorrow!!! It’s one of the most prestigious events on the yachting calendar, where hundreds of people (spectators and buyers alike) view the boats. Boats in the show range from small (10m) to Big (50m).

Wed 9th Sept and an early start……7am to be exact!

Although I had about 2 days worth of work, I managed to fit it into 1 day! I did a full wash down and exterior detailing (polishing stainless, polishing marks out, getting rid of rust etc.) so that “she” looked as pretty and as shiny as she could.

You’ll find that boats get dirty and dusty very very quickly, and so continuous cleaning and polishing is needed, especially when the owners are onboard, as they scrutinize everything.

Despite thinking that season was over and the owners were no longer coming onboard till next season (May), I received news today that the owner and 3 or 4 guests were coming on Friday!! Oh no…….!!

Thankfully, we received some good news in the form of a new motor and pump for the watermaker. No more rationing and a decent shower……awesome!

Thurs 10th September
Not too much to do today…..installed a new black water pump and that was about it really.

Boats have a black and Grey water pump system. Black water is all the waste from the toilets, and is named black water for a very good reason! The grey water is all the water from the shower and sink.

We have a touchscreen system onboard, where we can see all the different operating systems and levels of each tank, from freshwater to black and grey, as well as discharge them when needed. (Just make sure, you aren’t swimming when the black and grey tanks are discharged) Sometimes a sick, but funny (if it isn’t happening to you) joke captains play on the crew.

What I thought was going to be an easy day, turned out to be a late working night, as I got called to work at 8:00pm and ended at 12:00pm (chipping away foam insulation, in order to reveal some pipes where a new valve was going to be fitted.) I can’t say it’s the same for all boats, as some have start and finishing times for each day (ie. 8 – 5pm), but on my boat, anything at any time is possible!

Did you know: Boats designed for use in the Northern Hemisphere have longer anchor chains on the port side compared to the starboard side (providing they have two anchor systems). And vice versa for boats designed for use in the Southern Hemisphere. This is due to the fact that the wind in the north moves clockwise and the wind in the south moves anti-clockwise. This is why you will generally see boats using their longer chain side.

Fri 11th Sept,

Got up early and washed the boats hull and polished windows etc. Most hulls of boats are white, but I was unfortunate to get one with a navy blue hull. Although it looks very beautiful, the downside is that the blue shows up everything. Cleaning the sides of the hull is also not an easy task, as the angle is very difficult.

How do you clean the sides? Well, you can do it 2 ways:

1) Use the tender to go alongside the boat and clean the sides with an extendable pole and special soft brush head OR
2) Clean the sides (using the extendable pole and brush head) from the main deck. Make sure that the soap is washed off asap and before it dries, otherwise you’ll be doing it all over again!

Owner is still not here and is only supposed to arrive tomorrow now. Took it easy the rest of the day and just drove my Cptn. and the chef around on the tender to get supplies etc.

Sat 12th Sept,
Owner has still not arrived, and wondering if he’s ever going to come. In anticipation of him arriving, I polished windows and stainless.

Tip: Windowlene not only works well on windows/glass, but it also makes stainless steel shine like nothing else! White wine vinegar diluted with some water is also a good option for making stainless shine, but I still prefer windowlene.

We were approached by Port Security and told that we had to move a further 100m away from our current anchor site, as were all the other 100 boats out here. I still don’t know the reason, as this site has never been a problem.

Sun 13th Sept,
Woke up at 7:30am and started washing the aft (back) of boat, but was told by Cap (my captain shall now be reffered to as “Cap” from now on) that today was my day off, and that every Sunday is a day off! Hmmm…..best news ever!

What to do on day off when out at sea?? Hard one that……maybe boat watch, fish watch, sea watch??…..hmm…naaa, I’ll watch a couple “flight of the conchord” series (what a laugh) I then caught some shut eye, as sleep is always a good option on a boat, and should be taken when you can.


Lunch time was very interesting today. My Phillipino chef decided that i needed to try a popular Phillipino dish, fish soup. It's pretty tasty, so thought i'd share it with you!

Moved again, as storm had moved in and the spot where we were was getting too much swell.

We are now anchored between the 2 islands of Il St Marguerite, no swell and a great fishing spot!

That’s it from me for now....check back next week for new updates and pics.

Looking to get into the yachting industry and need more info re: courses?

Log onto: www.certifiedtraining.co.za
Email: courses@certifiedtraining.co.za

In the Med....My first yachting season

So, here I am, 2 months later and working on an awesome brand new custom built 100ft Motor Yacht!

Sit back, relax and let me take you right back to the start and tell you all about how I became a yachtie!

I have a friend called Richard, he’s a spontaneous character who’s always looking for the next best thing…so one day, he pitches the idea of “working on Superyachts” to me. Superyachts? What are those, I asked…..he began explaining and showed me pictures. Although I had a full time job and a comfy life, I decided that a little bit of excitement, travel and good cash could do no harm, so I quit my job,sold my car and booked a flight over to Nice, in France, 3 months later.

On arrival, myself and Richard caught a bus from the airport to Antibes. This is the hub of the yachting industry in France and a great start for those looking to get into the industry. If you learn one thing from my story, it’s that you should book at least a couple days accommodation before you arrive, as we arrived to nothing and almost had to sleep on a park bench!

We spent the first couple days orientating ourselves, gathering maps from the tourist info offices and taking in the French culture. To cut a long story short, we moved 3 times in one month, before finally finding a place in Antibes, close to the action.

We were constantly on the lookout for something more “cash friendly”, as the South Of France isn’t the cheapest place on earth, and knew that our living arrangements were far from permanent. After chatting to some fellow “dockwalkers” we heard about a spot which was much cheaper and just outside Antibes, so we packed up a few days later and headed to our new home in Biot. Little did I know it would only be home for 1 week, as I received a call one late evening telling me to come for an interview…..and so it was meant to be, and I am now the sole Deckhand onboard.

So, you probably wondering what life onboard is like?

Ok, let me give you a rundown of the past couple weeks and months…….

I arrived onboard my new yacht (it shall remain nameless due to a privacy clause in my contract!), a new build (less than 1 year old) and was shown to my crew quarters, which quite expectedly, was pretty small. It consists of a galley/eating area, a small bathroom and shower and 2 x bedrooms and 1 x fold out sleeper couch where the chef sleeps. My bedroom has bunk beds, which I share with the engineer/2nd Captain. The other room is where our stewardess’s sleep.

All in all there are 6 crew. Me, the South African Deckie, 2 x stewardess’s (one from England an the other from Scotland), Engineer/2nd Capt. (Lebanon), Chef (Philippines) and Captain ( Syria).

My first week was a baptism of fire, as I was thrown in the deep-end and had to find my way around the boat with regards to tools, products etc. and was not really given a job description and what was expected of me. As you can imagine, you really want to impress the Captain and owners from the start, so as to convince them to keep you longer than your probationary first month, so not knowing what I had to do made it kind of tricky. I began by looking for jobs to do, so as to look busy and pro-active. One by one I found things to do, and so my work onboard started.

My first 2 weeks were spent on the sea, as we were at anchor just off Port Gallice, a small port next to Antibes. The 1st week was characterized by long hard days in the engine room, cuts, bruises, aching muscles and sore feet. Besides the sore feet, this probably won’t be the case for most of you, but for me, it was!

By week 2, I began to understand what exactly my role consisted of, and I slowly but surely started getting into a routine. Since we were still at anchor, it consisted of driving the boats tender, a 6m RIB with a Yamaha 115HP engine. I consider this my toy, and is an absolute pleasure to drive.

Week 2 ended off with a bang, literally. It was about 5:30am on a cold and windy Sat morning, just off the Cannes coastline, by a small Island called St Marguerite, when my captain burst into the room and woke myself and the engineer up. The wind and swell had picked up considerably and the spray was coming over the bow, exciting for me, but probably not so much for the Captain, so we pulled up anchor and got out of there.

Week 3 brought about new and exciting challenges and journey’s, including the owners coming onboard for their 3 month working holiday!!

On one of our routine sea trials, we decided to tow our tender behind us, but through all the starts and stops, the tow rope happened to get stuck around the portside prop!! It’s something that no yachtsman looks forward to, especially as our props sit about 2m under the boat!

The 2nd Captain, who was driving the boat at that point in time, was the first to enter the water. He took a couple dives, holding his breath, but needed more help to free the thick nylon rope. At that point in time, we were sitting in about 20m of water. I looked at the water and jumped in without hesitation, as this was the first time I had swum in the med. 2 days and 11 hours later, we finally freed the rope. It took all sorts of tools (knives, saw’s, chisels, hammers, screwdrivers) and not to forget, a scuba diving cylinder with just a regulator attached, which was tied to a rope and hung from the maindeck and lowered into the water alongside the prop for me to breath from. They don’t teach this kinda stuff in your PADI course, but hell, was it fun! Its one thing if rope is wrapped around your prop, but another if its also been superheated and solidified onto the shaft, which we found was the case!

Week 3 also included a trip to Nice and the surrounding south of France coastline. I enjoy any seatime, as I’m trying to get my miles up to 2500 in order to do my Yachtmaster Offshore, which will mean a higher position and more pay. Once I have my Yachtmaster qualification as well as some experience behind me, I will be eligible to apply for a captains position!

Week 4 and the season was in full swing. By now, the owners were happy with the boat and all the mechanics, which incidentally cause problems more often than I thought, but nonetheless they were happy and decided to bring in the first batch of their guests, which consisted of friends and family.

Now, what do you do when you invite guests onboard your boat?….you go sailing, and so we headed out for numerous daytrips to the surrounding island of St Marguerite as well as St Tropez, Monaco and St Raphael.

My yacht is classified as a Private yacht, which means it is for the use of the owners and their family only, however being onboard, feels more like a charter boat, as they have a pretty big family and an ongoing presence of people onboard.

Being my first trip to St Tropez, I was pretty excited and looking forward to seeing this playground of the rich and famous. We sailed up and anchored just outside the small port, where I then took the owners and their guests to land on the tender. The Captain is a really good guy and so generally, when everyone is off the boat, we can relax a bit….although I could of taken it easy, I chose to get in the water and clean the hull of the tender, as it was an excuse to have a bit of a swim.

**(for those of you considering the deckhand role in the yachting industry, do yourself a favour and do the powerboat level 2 course. Not only will you increase your chances of being hired, but you can have fun driving around on the tender)

Week 5, meant I had been onboard for over a month now…probationary period was finished and final contracts were signed. I was officially one of the team! Woohoo!

This week also meant new guest arrivals as well as rigorous testing by the MCA (Maritime & Coastguard Agency). Due to the strict regulations, the yacht had to add some weight in the aft (back) area in order to be perfectly balanced. This meant that I had to carry big lead blocks and position them in different places. All in all with the help of my captain, we carried 10 tons of lead in one day!! Who needs gym, when you have yachting…..

Week 6, was pretty quiet, as we stayed in port most of the time. Even though we might not sail a lot of the time, I am constantly busy. Every morning starts with a “wipe down” which means that you wipe off any morning dew that’s formed on the boat and then proceed to clean the boat and make it look shiny:

1) Wipe down all surfaces (varnished wood and stainless steel included) with a damp shamy
2) Clean all glass with damp shamy or windowlene, should shamy leave streaks
3) Sweep dirt from deck, eating areas and walkways
4) Mop all walkways and corners, including bow (front) of boat

Once your wipe down is complete, you will start your other jobs for the day. It could be that you need to clean the tender, help in the engine room, polish the stainless steel or whatever, but trust me, there is always work to be done, and the Captain will usually direct you in this matter.

Week 7/8 has been quite interesting. The summer season in the south of France is very busy and Cannes seems to be one of the hotspots. There are big electro concerts on the beach, beach parties, Big DJ lineups at the venue next to the Marina, International Fireworks competition and other attractions. So all in all a good place to be right now……

A trip to Corsica was on the books last week, but we had to cancel due to some mechanical problems. We then attempted to sail there early Monday morning, but had to turn back, 2 hrs into the trip, due to an alarm which was going off. It turned out that it was only a false alarm!

3rd time lucky? Well we were supposed to head to Corsica yesterday…our berth in the marina was booked and everything, but just before we wanted to go, the reports came in that the weather was bad!! So, 3rd time not lucky…perhaps 4th?

Well, that’s it from me for now….View my weekly blog every week and watch my progress as I travel to different places, learn new things and gain more miles.

What you need to know before you decide to join the industry:

1)Complete your STCW 95 course (Compulsory – this is required by maritime law and you will not get a job without it. Included is first aid, fire fighting, and survival at sea)

2)For a Deckhand position – Do your Powerboat level 2 course as you will need it to drive the yachts tender (powerboat). It is a big plus and selling point when Captains/Owners are looking for crew. Some yachts might also require the deckhand to be PADI certified, and it is a good idea to do the course before you go. Another course I recommend doing is the Super Deckhand course so that you know how to paint, varnish, repair boats etc. It will also familiarize you with the general deckhand duties and tools needed to impress your Captain/Owner. It is not uncommon for people to make contacts through the course which could then lead to a job.

3)For a Stewardess position – I recommend doing a stewardess course. It can be quite daunting if you have never worked in the hospitality industry and then entering the yachting industry as a stewardess. The course covers topics such as; silver service, flower arranging, proper pouring techniques, stewardess etiquette, proper cleaning procedures, etc. It is also not uncommon for people to make contacts through the course which could then lead to a job.

4)For a Chef’a position - You can do a culinary course, if you have no formal experience, but a passion for cooking and perhaps some sort of course behind you is usually all it takes

5)For an Engineer position - This is more specialized, and a background in engineering is generally needed, although a basic course can do the trick, as you will most probably start out as 3rd engineer and learn everything while onboard.

The idea behind my blog is to give you advice and help you understand the yachting industry and the job at hand better, incase you’re thinking about making some quick cash, or even making a career out of yachting.

For any tips/advice,queries or courses needed, please feel free to contact Grant or Richard at the Certified Training head office:

Website: www.certifiedtraining.co.za
Email: courses@certifiedtraining.co.za

Till next week.....