That Man Who Buys You A Beer May Just Own a Super Yacht

Look! Out on the water! Its a seabird, its a seaplane, no; its a super yacht!  Yes, apparently the worlds oceans are so thick with super yachts there's barely room for water.  So much for the global financial crisis.  On every sea (and some of the more socially acceptable lakes) there are super yachts swarming like salmon in spawning season.

At least this is the impression I got from the employment section of the newspaper the other day.  "Join the fastest growing maritime employment sector!" the advertisement screams concealing for the moment the fact that in Australia at least the second fastest growing maritime employment sector is the navy.  It will probably come as no surprise to the discerning reader (assuming a couple of them have wandered onto this blog by accident) that this advertisement was not placed by employee hungry super yacht owners desperate to get themselves a crew.  No, it was placed by a company that apparently trains people to be crew members on super yachts.

Of course there are super yachts out there and of course they need crewing but I can't imagine it is such a burgeoning growth area that it will suck up the nation's pool of unemployed.  Also I'm not sure whether super yacht crewman would be such a great job.  Yes you get to see the world, or at least seventy percent of it.  Specifically the seventy percent that is water and lacks such basic amenities as anything at all.  When you do touch land it will be at the sort of place the owners of super yachts want to visit.  I'm sure they'll be nice but you might find that the purchasing power of a super yacht crewman's salary doesn't go very far.

Another concern is trouble in the workplace.  I'm not saying it will happen but if you have an argument with your boss you can't just storm out, not unless you're a very good swimmer.  Possibly the best description I can think of for super yacht crewman is "paid hostage".  The prevalence of pirates in some stretches of the ocean means that there is always a chance you can swap that status for "unpaid hostage".  I very much doubt if you could get the day off for seasickness either.

All in all crewing a super yacht is likely to mean lots of hard work while stuck in the middle of an ocean or tied up at shore surrounded by the type of people you would normally run a mile to avoid.  No wonder the training institute has to advertise; it won't be long before they resort to shanghaiing just to keep numbers up.  I think its time glass bottomed beer tankards made a comeback.