Every year around the Monaco Yacht Show, the industry gets out its measuring tape. The biggest yacht, the longest yacht, the greatest volume, the latest addition to the 100-metre-plus club. The engineering and ambition behind these superyachts can be extraordinary, but our fascination with yacht size doesn’t stop at the passerelle – we seem to be measuring yacht crew careers in metres too. But should we believe what we’re told, that big is better? Or does it really come down to how you use it?
Progressing from 40 metres to 60 metres to 80 metres and then over 100 metres is routinely seen as career progression. Moving in the opposite direction can raise questions. Yet LOA alone tells us remarkably little about what someone actually did on board, what they learned or whether they were any good at it…
Smaller yachts build versatile crew skills
Captain Tom Chubb believes smaller yachts can produce some of the industry’s most versatile crew. “Smaller yacht crew have done it all, and have to do it all,” he says. “Working long days and nights with only two to four crew and still looking after 12 guests. Having to pitch in in all departments.”
And he means all departments! “On the smaller yachts you’ll find yacht stewardesses who can throw a bullseye heaving line, chefs who can splice, engineers who can navigate like a captain, and captains who spend more time out of their cabin than in it.”
Chief engineer Jason Yates knows this firsthand. His largest vessel wasn’t actually a superyacht, but the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, where he spent three years before deliberately moving smaller. Since then, necessity has broadened his skillset considerably. “I am now comfortable with boat ops, solo jet ski launches and recovery, tender driving, nav watchkeeping and jumping on the helm if needed, and I'm also a whizz at cleaning guest bathrooms, ironing pillowcases and have quite the portfolio of ornate toilet paper folds...”
Stick that on the CV.
Joking aside, Yates believes smaller yachts can be particularly valuable early in a career. “I believe that, wrongly, yacht size is measured as either a person's ability or experience. Yes, the bigger boats require bigger tickets and that’s all well and good and necessary, but a green crew member on a smaller yacht will gain way more experience on, say, a 45-metre vessel in a shorter amount of time than they would if they joined a 100-metre vessel.”
The benefits of working on larger superyachts
But bigger has some undeniable advantages. “From an engineering aspect, the bigger boats – 55 metres plus - tend to have a second or even a third engineer, which can be a Godsend,” says Yates. “Also, having a larger engine room so you don't have to crawl through a bilge to dip the oil on your mains has its benefits too.”
Engine room yoga. Another one for the CV.
Chef Jo Mackenzie is equally enthusiastic about having room to do the actual job: “If I were single, I’d go big and ideally aim only to cook for the owner and guests.”
Larger yachts usually have commercially equipped galleys, while smaller vessels can have domestic equipment, limited storage and inadequate refrigeration. Mackenzie recently finished a season aboard a new 40-metre motor yacht sleeping 12 guests and seven crew, with “so little storage or refrigeration I needed to provision every two days”.
So bigger can mean more space, more support and fewer emergency supermarket runs.
Work-life balance vs career progression in yachting
Yet Mackenzie chooses to work alongside her partner, Angus, over simply chasing LOA. Her ideal now is over 50 metres with 2:2 rotation. “I’ve been in the industry a long time and both it and I have changed. I love it, but I’m not looking for adventure, and I regard it as a profession, not a life.”
Freelance stewardess Leanne Ferreira made a very different choice, deliberately stepping away from the traditional climb. What began as helping a family on a smaller yacht for a season turned into 12 years. “Those years gave me the opportunity to actually see the world, rather than mostly seeing it through portholes and hurried shopping trips. I got to work alongside the man I love, travel with our cat, live all over the world chasing an endless summer, and build lifelong connections with the family we worked for.”
Would she do it again? “Absolutely.”
The career perception problem in superyacht crew hiring
But there's a catch. Now Ferreira is looking towards larger yachts again; those 12 years can somehow be perceived as less valuable than if she'd spent them aboard 50-metre-plus vessels. “Sometimes, I catch myself questioning whether stepping away from the traditional career ladder was the right decision.”
Then she remembers what those years actually gave her. “I think part of the problem is that not everyone in yachting has a broad enough spectrum of experience to know what valuable experience can look like. Metres are easy to understand, so we use them as a shortcut.”
Yates says that if he were advising someone today on job choices, LOA would come “quite far down the list”. Expectations, training, owner interaction, crew dynamics, salary, bonuses and training budgets would all take priority. “You might be miserable on a 100-metre commercial vessel, and you could have the best ever season on a private 40-metre.” Or vice versa.
So, does size matter? Guess it depends on who you ask…