I am a single, laid back, 34 yr old female, that is physically fit, a college grad, and currently living in Florida. I’m seeking a life change and am considering a career in the sailing/boating industry.

I have been sailing most of my life…attended sailing camps in the summer as a kid, and then instructed ...Read more]]>

Amanda’s question

Gwen Hamlin answers

Dear Amanda!

 Your letter could have been written by me 25 years ago. I was just about your age when it all began for me.

If you go to my first Admiral’s Angle column, you’ll get a pretty good idea how I got started. No reason for me to type it all up again here.

What are sort of opportunities exist in this industry?

There are lots of opportunities, and unexpected pathways for getting to them. It may be hard to walk up to an island charter company, show a squeaky new captains ticket and expect to get hired as a captain, but you can work your way in.

Is it a disadvantage that I’m a woman?

I never found it an issue being a woman. Neither did most of my other woman captain friends. The trick is simply not to think of it as an issue. Be game to do whatever is needed; if you don’t know how, ask to learn. You’ll be amazed how many of the male charter captains don’t know how to do some of the mechanical stuff, that at least I thought they would have a head start in knowing how to do!

I know some women captains had issues with guests who gave them some grief in not being as assertive as they pictured a male captain would be. I ran into very little if that. I often attribute that to being their dive instructor too. Holding their lives in my hands, so to speak! But mostly, I found, people who will book a boat with a woman captain self select out to being better adjusted people!

The reality of course is that many of the crewed charter boats — whether with the big bareboat companies or private — are run by husband/wife teams, often experienced or returned cruising couples. That doesn’t mean you can’t work without being married, or that you must get pigeon-holed as a chef, but it is a typical arrangement. The good news is that charter boats are getting bigger and bigger and carrying more guests, so there is often a place for a third crew member. In such a situation, keep yourself positioned as an asset and avoid becoming in any way a burden or a liability. Take care to avoid being a third wheel or a threat!

When I was in the biz, I was one of a very few female owner-operators/captains. Other women captains found gigs with single males, some of whom needed paper captains (i.e. The guys didn’t have the correct licenses). Several worked doing captain-only gigs for the bareboat companies. Even with a captain’s ticket, many start out/ or double as charter chefs. Don’t let the “chef” moniker put you off. Just being a good cook can be enough on many boats.

Starting as a deck crew/stewardess is a great way to get sea time as well as inside experience on what is wanted and expected in the charter biz. Every boat and situation will be different, though, and the best asset you can bring is good people skills, natural hosting abilities, flexibility,…..and, like I said, a knack for cooking, cleaning and varnishing doesn’t hurt!

The more qualifications you can walk in with, the better. For the Virgin Islands I believe you would want as a minimum a captain’s license and the STCW endorsement, but you should check with the charter companies themselves and/or the clearing houses for the crewed charter yachts for the most current standards.

If you scuba dive, being a divemaster or dive instructor adds to your options and makes you more valuable. At least be a competent snorkeler.

If you have certifications from sailing organizations that let you teach and/or give certifications, that’s an asset with bareboat companies.

Is it better to be located within the area I wish to work- such as the Virgin Islands – to apply for a job?

Being where you want to work geographically is a huge advantage. Employers in the islands want to know you are committed to being there, that you can take living there! Too many vacationers breeze through with frivolous ideas of stopping to work. But moving there without a job can be awkward if your budget doesn’t allow you to get a place to live while you hunt.

Is the compensation, in general, enough to live on?

Compensation in the charter biz is usually enough to live on because part of the job is living aboard. It won’t make you rich, even (or especially) if you are an owner operator!, but it does afford the lifestyle.

Does working in this industry set myself up for an isolated lifestyle?

You ask if you are setting yourself up for an isolated lifestyle. It certainly was not my experience. There are isolated times, of course, and there are frustrations when your newest best friends — your current charter guests or a cruising boat team you’ve become friendly with — go home or move on. This does not mean the relationships are shallow, they just come and go, and often come back again. There are, of course, sailors, charter teams, and cruisers who choose to keep to themselves, but I would generally consider it a very social lifestyle. It is what you make it.

What you are setting yourself up for is not having a typical life, marriage or kids, pension etc. It’s a fact of life that, as a woman, your window to have children is small, and if that is important to you, you may be making it harder on yourself.

Are there networking sites or job boards?

There are job boards and crew agencies, many based in Ft Lauderdale. I personally think of these as catering to the mega-yacht trade, which is actually another possible way to go. There are all kinds of training opportunities in Ft Lauderdale for these kinds of crew positions. Mega yacht crewing is all a LOT more formal than Virgin Island chartering, and I’ve heard there is bias is against women in deck positions.

There are also boards that match volunteer crew up with boats making passages. This can be a good way to get offshore experience. Many of the major sailing rallies have crew wanted bulletin boards, and our W&C resources page has some suggestions.

Good luck,
Gwen Hamlin
Admiral’s Angle

If you have a question about going cruising that you want answered, email it to: kathy@forcruisers.com

How do we earn money while sailing? Is going into the charter business a good option?

Do you have to have a special license to do daysails or charters?

I am not a writer or a journalist, which it seems, most of the people who contribute to Women and Cruising are. I do ...Read more]]> Amy has more questions:

How do we earn money while sailing? Is going into the charter business a good option? Do you have to have a special license to do daysails or charters? I am not a writer or a journalist, which it seems, most of the people who contribute to Women and Cruising are. I do have a very nice camera and feel I am an adequate photographer. Amy

Gwen Hamlin answers:

• Is going into the charter business a good option (for earning money while sailing)?

Charter is a good way to enjoy the lifestyle and pay for it at the same time. It will, however, influence the boat you choose, for charter.

At minimum, you need a boat with two good cabins. Three cabins is probably better.  Or four! While cruisers often choose smaller boats, 37-44, charter boats are more likely to be 42-50′ or bigger.

My 44 was a good size for what I wanted to do — charter, then cruise — but it was hard to carry more than 2 passengers. Many feel that four passengers is ideal for making money while still keeping things intimate, with 6 guests being the limit without getting into much bigger boats and licenses.

Sticking with 2-4 to me allows it feel like you are cruising with friends, depending, of course, on how you present yourself.

Obviously, you can go cruising on a smaller, simpler, less glossy boat than you would need for chartering. So be sure that charter is for you before going that route. I loved it, but maybe I was just lucky!

• Do you have to have a special license to do daysails or charters?

It is as important to be a good host/hostess to succeed in charter as it is to be a knowledgeable captain. Photo: Shelly Tucker, s/v THREE MOONS

You have to have several licenses (captain’s license, business license, insurance….etc) to do any kind of chartering for money, but more importantly, you also have to have the “knack,” if you truly want to succeed at it.

It is every bit as important to be a good host/hostess to succeed in charter as it is to be a knowledgeable captain. Probably more so. You have to be okay with people in your space, and you have to have that “showtime” knack of making sure THEY are having a good time whatever else is going on (plugged toilets, engine issues, etc.).

Plus someone aboard needs to have the knack of fixing all those issues as much behind the scenes as possible!

The captain’s license you go after will depend on the size of the boat you choose and the number of passengers you want to carry and the amount of sea time you can document. The typical first level of license is the  OUPV (Operator of Uninspected Vessel, also known a “6 pack,” meaning you can carry a maximum of six passengers).  With more sea time you can go for a 50Ton or 100Ton Masters License.  Each license level has different requirements for sea-time experience and different testing.   To get all the details on current requirements for a captain’s license, see http://www.seaschool.com/requirements2.htm

If you wanted to jump right in, you could hire a licensed captain to work with you.  For specific information, if, for example you wanted to charter in the Virgin Islands, you could contact the Virgin Islands Charter Yacht League for up-to-date details (www.vicl.org) or The Charter Yacht Society of the British Virgin Islands (www.bvicrewedyachts.com).

• There are many other ways to support yourself while living the lifestyle: the more fixed in place you are willing to be; the more conventional the job options.

You don’t say what you and your husband do now, but, if income is an issue, you might want to think about starting now to training in a boating relevant skill, for example refrigeration, electrical, rigging, mechanics, canvas work…all of which skills are useful for you as boat owners, too. The cruising community is a funny one though, some skills cruisers expect and will pay for, eg those listed above, whereas help with computers (equally essential!) is usually exchanged gratis!

Let me differentiate, here, between help and work. Cruisers help other cruisers without compensation ALL THE TIME. It is just the way of the life. However, cruiser skills can get you work at boat yards or marinas nearly everywhere.

Other people are able to find work in their previous career fields. Teachers can often find job teaching English as a second language, or probably most any other subject. Doctors and nurses, too, can often work a term in a local hospital.  We’ve also had friends stop and work in computer programming for several years in New Zealand for example.

So it’s not all a matter of some talent in journalism. Few of us make much real money at that! Pick up some of Fatty Goodlander’s books, and he will paint that picture clearly!

Good luck,

Gwen Hamlin

If you have a question about going cruising that you want answered, email it to: kathy@forcruisers.com – or join the next Women and Cruising webinar!

Read also

• Cruising kitty: Will I have enough money?

• We are presently up against many challenges, least of those is not having any experience sailing. We live in central Ohio, therefore our opportunities to learn to sail are fairly limited.  I have done some extensive research about sailing ...Read more]]> Amy’s questions

My husband and I are very serious about eventually enjoying the cruising lifestyle. • We are presently up against many challenges, least of those is not having any experience sailing. We live in central Ohio, therefore our opportunities to learn to sail are fairly limited.  I have done some extensive research about sailing and have decided that we just need to take a week long certification class and get that taken care of. • We are both 40 and in 5 years our children will all be out of the nest.  I have always been a “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of person, so my fear is minimal, but my husband is an organized, bit conservative fellow. Do we sell our home and all of our belongings and just jump right in, or do we keep those assets just in case? • Where do you feel the best places in the world are to sail? How do we know what is required for different countries? We have been researching the Caribbean, but I love Bali and Thailand too. Thank you very much for your time.  Any advice will be immensely appreciated, as we are feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed right now. Sincerely, Amy

Gwen Hamlin answers.

Dear Amy!  Wow!

What you are asking is what everybody wants to know, and those of us who have “been there/done that” have answers…but not necessary the formula that will be what you end up following.

That, of course, is what Women and Cruising and my column Admirals’ Angle are all about, trying to present a bunch of building blocks so you can see how others have done it and pick and choose the bits that will work for you.

Let me just say that coming from the mid-West is not the ultimate handicap.

In 1989, Shelly & Randy Tucker, from Tennessee, chartered with Gwen Hamlin on s/v WHISPER. 8 years later, they bought their own charterboat, THREE MOONS, and …they are still in the yacht charter business!. Photo: Shelly Tucker, s/v THREE MOONS

My husband got started with Hobie 16s on a reservoir in Indianapolis that was so small he could tack down it in 15-20 minutes (hence the name Tackless for his first and second monohulls  because (heh heh)..he tacked less!)

When I was in the charter business, my very first season, I had a young couple from Tennessee book my boat.  Where they got the bug from I don’t know, but we had a grand week, after which they went back, bought a small fixer-upper to sail on a local lake, sold it, stepped up to a bigger fixer-upper…and so on.

Then they bare-boated in the Virgin Islands, then they started organizing bareboat groups to the Virgin Islands, and then nearly eight years later, they actually bought their own charter boat, a huge Irwin 65, and came to the islands as I was leaving to go cruising in 1998/9.  There are still at it!  (See www.sailthreemoons.com.)

So a crewed charter, where you can fully enjoy the lifestyle but also benefit from learning one-on-one from an experienced captain (be sure to make clear to your charter broker what you hope to get out of your charter!) is a very valuable education masquerading as a vacation.  Particularly if you have curiosity about the charter business yourselves.

Women on the Water Week. Photo from the Bitter End Yacht Club website www.beyc.com

You might also want to look into  Women on the Water Week, a favorite project of Pam Wall’s, which takes place at Bitter End Yacht Club (Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands) in the summers.

Many women feel that having the chance to learn sailing fundamentals on their own, away from the shadow of their usually stronger, often more experienced partners makes a huge difference.  Husbands just can’t stop being protective and chivalrous and wives tend to defer in areas they aren’t knowledgeable about.

Take a course together later, maybe even someday on your own boat!  Having an instructor oversee the working systems the two of you will need to work out would have to make that whole process go more efficiently,  I had Kiwi friends who did just that on their boat before leaving New Zealand northward on their first cruise.

Do we sell our home and all of our belongings and just jump right in?

Finally, re destinations and jumping right in…go cautiously to start; hedge your bets to whatever extent your finances will allow.  Don’t sell out your house, if you live in an area it will be hard to come back to if you feel strongly about coming back there.  But your kids will be grown and may not settle where you were anyway, so often selling leaves you more flexible for future choices.  I’ve written about this process a couple of times in my Admiral’s Angle columns.

But regardless, take at least one year in a cruising ground from which you can realistically return, both to shake yourselves down and your boat.  For the East Coast that is usually the Bahamas or the Caribbean, and for the West Coast that is usually Mexico or Central America.

You know, cruising is a wonderful lifestyle, but it doesn’t turn out to be for everybody.  I’ve just been talking with a late 50s couple who’ve just returned from 18 months up the East Coast.  Perhaps it was just bad luck, but the weather seemed to be against them continuously.  Stopovers were more expensive than they anticipated, and it turned out the two of them expected different things from their destinations.  Plus they stayed in the US, which to me is a different kind of cruising than I experienced.

We have many other stories to read on WomenAndCruising.com, particularly on the “12 questions to 12 sailing Families” page.  In fact Family #12 is a family that left with two teenagers!  Perhaps you will find inspiration to go NOW!

Where do you feel the best places in the world are to sail? How do we know what is required for different countries?

For cruising info, most of us get basic info from reference books and/or (these days) websites.  Tons of that info is available on WomenandCruising.com on the page called Resources.  On that page, under Reference Books, are some links to recommended reading.  Anything by Jimmy Cornell will give you info about places, particularly his new book World Cruising Destinations.

Also, one of the first things you should do is join the The Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) as an Associate Member.  This gets you their monthly Bulletin which will immerse you in the real world of cruising.  SSCA has conventions (called Gams) around the country several times a year where you will meet real cruisers and partake of good seminars.  SSCA has taken that a step further with their Seven Seas U (SSU), an online cruising university.  Excellent webinars (including ours) are available right in the comfort of your own home.

Finally, favorite places will be different depending to whom you speak.  Some people love the Caribbean, we loved Mexico and Central America (which were not even on our original plan!), others love the history and cultures of the Med.  The South Pacific and Indonesia and Thailand are also great destinations, but they are BIGGER COMMITMENTS (esp with what’s going on in the Middle East),  and, frankly, the weather is not as pleasant as the south sea tales make out!

I once had a mentor who always said, with reference to those of us living the boating life, “We have a responsibility because we are living other people’s dreams.“  What HE meant, was that we had to live the life to the biggest, fullest extent, and never cast a critical word.  But I, on the other hand, have always felt that trying to be realistic – to share some particulars of the not-so-great with the great – is the only fair way when asked for counsel on such a huge life choice.

So, hope I’ve been helpful.

Good luck,
Gwen Hamlin

Read also on this website

• Cruising Resources for Women Cruisers
• Getting Started (Admiral’s Angle column #3) – Examples of how (and when) some experienced cruisers got started show you don’t have to be a life-long sailor to take off cruising.
• Keeping a Home Back Home (Admiral’s Angle column #13) – Perspectives on the tough decision between selling all or keeping a home back home
• How We Choose Where We Cruise – Part 1 (Admiral’s Angle column #32) – Resources and strategies for planning your voyage to match your interests.
• How We Choose Where We Cruise – Part 2 (Admiral’s Angle column #33) – The role of whim, spontaneity and flexibility in voyage planning.
• How Does Chartering Fit (Admiral’s Angle column #53) – A look at how various chartering options may fit in at different stages of sailors’ cruising goals

More information (External links)

• Women on the Water Week
• The Seven Seas Cruising Association
• Seven Seas U
  
• World Cruising Destinations: An Inspirational Guide to All Sailing Destinations at Amazon.com

If you have a question about going cruising that you want answered,
- email it to: kathy@forcruisers.com,
- or join the next Women and Cruising webinar!

Wow!

I just got my copy of Jimmy Cornell’s new World Cruising Destinations this last week – and I am in love with it!

I’ve carried Jimmy Cornell’s books aboard my boat ever since I bought my first copy of World Cruising Routes in the late ‘80s.

When I was finally lucky enough to have ...Read more]]>

Wow!

I just got my copy of Jimmy Cornell’s new World Cruising Destinations this last week – and I am in love with it!

I’ve carried Jimmy Cornell’s books aboard my boat ever since I bought my first copy of World Cruising Routes in the late ‘80s.

When I was finally lucky enough to have my boat and wonder “OK, now how do I get to these places?” World Cruising Routes had the answer for me, laying out all the major routes for any crossing I might want to make.

World Cruising Destinations is a great companion to World Cruising Routes.

What World Cruising Destinations does is give you the WHOLE world through a boater’s eye, and of course, not just any boater’s eye, but with Jimmy Cornell’s decades of experience. It covers every significant cruising destination around the world – 184 of them to be exact.

Here is some of the information included for each destination:

• Country profile
• Map
• Climate
• Formalities and Ports of Entry
• Facilities (for repair, provisioning, etc)
• Cruising guides
• Charter areas and operators
• Websites
• Flag, time zones, buoyage, currency, electricity, communications codes, etc.
• Plus, and best of all, an understanding of where and how you cruise that area.

But I guess one reason that I LOVE the book is that it’s beautiful, enticing even!

The photos are gorgeous, and the layout makes it fun to just pick up the book and read … about Croatia, Spain, Cuba, the Falklands, Antarctica – the places I’ve been, the places I would love to go to in my own boat, the places where I might like to charter, or take a friend up on an offer to visit.

With cruising guides, I’ve always had the attitude, “Okay, I’ve got the book, so I now I have to go there!”

Note

World Cruising Destinations replaces Cornell’s 2001 World Cruising Handbook (which I also carried aboard).

More information (external links)

• World Cruising Destinations: An Inspirational Guide to All Sailing Destinations at Amazon.com
• World Cruising Routes: 1000 Routes from the South Seas to the Arctic at Amazon.com

Also on Women and Cruising

• Admiral’s Angle #44 – An Admiral’s Reference Shelf
• Women and Cruising’s Cruising Women’s Bookstore