Claire Griffiths is Dockwalk’s contributing editor in the Mediterranean. She fled to the sunny south of France from Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Claire has a background in journalism for national and regional UK press and a career in political and corporate PR prior to that. Claire’s hobbies include eating, sleeping and dancing at inopportune times. She tries to avoid sheer drops and Olympic bobsled runs. Email Claire at claire@dockwalk.com
Name: Antony Marzano
Position: Deckhand
Yacht: M/Y Francesca
Length: 31.1M/102'
Builder: CCN, Baglietto
Years in current position: 2
Years in industry: 3
Previous vessels: M/Y Just Marie
Nationality: Italian
My ultimate goal is to become a captain, so I’m working away at getting my certificates. My last certificate was Yacht Master and this winter, I’ll try for my Master 200.
It all began for me when I was working in London four years ago with my girlfriend. I was working as a waiter. One evening, we were watching Below Deck and we really liked it. One week after that we handed in our notice, sold our belongings, and gave up our flat. One month later, we were both working on a yacht in Antibes.
I did my STCW on the Isle of Wight. I used to post my CV on Facebook twice a day; once in the morning at 7:15 a.m. when I imagined captains were flicking through their phones with a cup of coffee and then again at 5:30 p.m. when they were maybe having a beer. I guess they got so annoyed at seeing my photo, one of them gave me a job!
My advice to anyone thinking about jumping on board is to throw yourself out there. There’s a lot of competition and you have to stand out. My one advantage is that I speak French, Spanish, Italian, and English. Take as many daywork jobs as you can get and keep searching on Facebook 24/7.
If I wasn’t on a yacht, I would probably be working for my father in one of his restaurants in the UK.
There’s nothing I don’t like about the job at all. Nothing is really tough. I even like chamoising!
If you want to impress, just be yourself, work hard, and be nice to other crew. And when you are told to do something, just do it and don’t argue. An old captain gave me a good bit of advice: If you don’t agree with something, just do as you are told and then after you have done it, go to the captain and offer your suggestion, then maybe they will do it that way next time.
The more extra skills that you have, the better. I used to do bodybuilding, so I could do personal training.
Being on board has taught me to be more respectful of the environment and how to live with other people in enclosed places.
So far, my most significant achievement was taking the plunge and leaving my job in London. It’s amazing to be out at sea, exploring some amazing places, and meeting amazing people!
My top tip is do everything that you do as well as you can and if you don’t know how to do it, please ask! Don’t improvise, because then we will have to do it all again and it’s a nightmare.
This article originally ran in the November 2021 issue of Dockwalk.