Super-rich turn to UK Navy for yacht crews
Published 05 August, 2008, 06:19
With more luxury yachts in the water than ever, and 400 launched every year, finding well-trained staff has become a real challenge. The British Royal Navy has decided to lend its expertise to the super-rich by opening a Superyacht Academy at the historic Portsmouth Navy base.
Many of those undergoing the training believe that the ₤720 cost of the course is not a high price to pay for the chance to one day rub shoulders with the mega-rich in the Mediterranean.
Working on a pleasure boat involves as much glamour as hard graft.
“You get to see the Caribbean and when it’s winter in England and the Mediterranean when it’s summer in England…I mean you get loads of different nationalities, and culture. You get to experience so many different things… and the socialising!” said Emily Gandy, a trainee on the programme.
The staff won't reveal who their clients are, but reports in the media, such as the Wall Street Journal, suggest that one of the first to use these facilities was the crew of a yacht belonging to Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of England's Chelsea Football Club.
The annual production of super yachts has nearly doubled over the past five years. According to 'The Yacht Report' magazine, 253 new boats were delivered last year alone. With demand mushrooming, yacht owners are often forced to hire deck staff with little or no real training or experience. So the idea of the Academy was born.
Trainees are given a thorough grounding in all the skills they need to work at sea on some of the world's largest private vessels, from controlling a rapidly spreading fire to submarine navigation to folding napkins.
Sir Tim McClement OBE, Managing Director of the Flagship Superyacht Academy, said the popularity of luxury yachts was creating new opportunities.
“I've spent 35 years at sea, and to be given the opportunity to develop a new business with a small team and deliver a service to the super yacht industry that captains want and that will make it safer is a huge opportunity that I grabbed with both hands,” McClement said.
Under the current deal, Flagship Superyacht Academy receives 40% of the profit and the Royal Navy takes the rest. But people in the industry don't seem to be appalled that the navy which sank Napoleon is now tending to the needs of the rich and famous.
Michael Howorth, an expert on super yachts and occasional captain, welcomes the Navy's involvement.
“There are about 5,000 super yachts in the world and there are about 400 built every year. It's a huge industry. It's difficult to find good-quality crew and one of the reasons they're not good quality is because they haven't been trained. The British Royal Navy has the finest training facilities in the world, so why not use them? In fact, if you didn't use them, that would be wasteful,” Howorth said.
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