Build captain Firat Gürelli on what he loves about Fiji and what he looks for when hiring crew.
How did you end up becoming a captain/getting into yachting?
I have been sailing since I was a kid. It was a natural transition, really. My education was in philosophy and literary theory. The inevitable difficulty of earning a living through those disciplines made the decision easier as well.
Where is your favorite destination for cruising?
Definitely Fiji. It is such an interesting country. Not just the sailing but the culture, nature, colors, smells and sounds… it was like nothing I’d ever seen before! You find yourself thinking and feeling things that you wouldn’t have done in a different environment. The relationships we had with the locals also made the experience unique. I would go back to chartering there in a heartbeat!
Where is still on your yachting bucket list?
The Northwest Passage. I have been drawn to that route for years now. But perhaps an explanation is required: such routes are always perceived as “achievements.” You would “conquer” them. That is absolutely not how I relate to the Passage. I truly want to experience the geography and the cultures on the way. It is an interesting part of the world, to say the least.
What is the biggest crew challenge you deal with as captain?
I am sure quite a lot of my fellow captains can relate to this one: crew that think they are “complete.” They have a distinct — I want to say almost narcissistic, in a sense — perception of themselves. They believe they know everything and that they are the only ones in this sense. Apart from the natural fact that this is impossible, relating to the world and people around you through such a self-perception makes life terrible for everyone on board.
Name: Firat Gürelli
Position: Build captain/head of business development, Bering Yachts
Current location: In transit between Turkey and Europe
What is your one top tip for other captains?
Always doubt yourself, your knowledge and experience. Never stop reading, thinking critically and learning.
If you were stranded on a desert island, which crew member would you want with you and why?
My chef, who happens to be my wife.
What do you look for when hiring new crew?
Quite a lot. And each interview’s criteria are different depending on the context, of course. But for the sake of the answer, I can distill it down to two things:
- Where they position themselves and others
- Their approach to information and their moments of self-doubt, learning and improving
Through the first one I try to get a feeling of their potential effect on the overall “crew culture” on board, and through the second one I hope to understand their reaction to a failure/mistake or the possibility of it, which highly determines one’s state under emergency or stressful conditions.
What’s a lesson you learned through experience?
Every lesson was hard in their own way, I would say. But through experience, I keep learning that the number of things to be learned is even vaster than I thought before!
The BOAT International Captains’ Club is a unique group that brings together more than 300 like-minded active superyacht captains for world-class luxury events and networking opportunities in venues and on yachts around the world. For more information, email captainsclub@boatinternationalmedia.com.