While brokers carry much of the weight during boat shows, crew still play a crucial role and can benefit from the yacht’s sale.
Stick around long enough in the industry and I guarantee you’ll have the pleasure of crewing on a boat that’s for sale. In most cases, the owner is either upsizing or finishing up with yachting altogether, and for us as crew, this involves some very real incentives if there’s a successful sale.
If you look in your Seafarers’ Employment Agreement (SEA), there will typically be a sale/change-of-ownership clause. Under MLC, you’ll be legally entitled to at least seven days’ notice (or pay in lieu) upon a sale. Often, it’s more than this. I’ve seen some SEAs even have two to three months of salary that gets paid out, as a kind of “severance.” Particularly if the owner has employed a long-standing crew with a strong relationship, sometimes there’s a (significant) discretionary bonus involved, as a parting gift but it’s not guaranteed. The sales’ clause also includes provision of repatriation flights and paying out accrued leave. Plus, it presents as a nice, clean finish on your resume that the boat sold, thus ending employment.
The new owner may also incentivize current crew to stay with the vessel with higher salary or introduction of rotation, providing your captain is willing to negotiate on behalf of the crew.
If the owner is upsizing, again, now is also your opportunity to renegotiate position, as well as increases in salary and potentially rotation. Crew who’ve put in their time will often get to step up to higher positions upon upsizing to the new boat while new hires fill the junior positions. It’s a good time to try for better conditions as your SEA will be getting re-written anyway. The only exception to that is if you’re working in a fleet, in which case your SEA might not change at all, as it won’t be tied to one vessel.
So, with higher salary, better positions, potential rotation or a bonus (maybe even all four), now we know the incentives. Let’s dive into what actually sells a boat.
It’s a tedious, sometimes drawn-out process, and you would expect to visit a lot of boat shows either side of the Atlantic, particularly Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and Monaco Yacht Show.
Selling a yacht involves a lot of tours by brokers, especially during boat shows. And the buyers who are serious will want out-of-water surveys, sea trials and toys demos, etc. When facilitating tours, displaying absolute professionalism, knowing your boat well and being enthusiastic and courteous will go a long way in securing a new owner’s favor, and what they’re willing to pay you. Expect detail-oriented questions; if you don’t know an answer, that’s fine. Don’t guess or speculate; offer to confirm with them after the tour or deflect to the captain or broker. If you guess and you’re wrong, it won’t look good.
The broker or captain will also set some guidelines for the crew, such as not taking photos, keeping a visitor log, having a greeter at the passerelle, etc. You may also need to establish a type of “watch” schedule during busy boat show days so everyone can get breaks. Don’t forget to lock doors and compartments that need to be locked, and always accompany visitors — don’t leave them unattended.
Selling a yacht can be a nice break from back-to-back charters, and it’s an interesting insight into a different part of yachting. You’ll notice most brokers, agents and advertisers in the industry all started out as crew, so keep that in mind if you’re interested in taking a new direction in your career.