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When Reality meets Expectations

This blog is slightly random and has multiple purposes…

1: To educate green crew about how tough yachting is.
2: To give them a couple of ideas to help them cope a little better.
3: Hopefully it is slightly amusing!

I am a big fan of the film 500 Days of Summer. It’s a witty, intelligent rom com. You may or may not be aware of it so I have thoughtfully provided a link to the scene I am referencing. Incidentally it’s a great scene.

 

Tom, the hero of the piece is meeting the girl he loves, Summer, at a party she is hosting. En route he is blissfully imagining the party unfolding and him ending up in the arms of Summer. His unrealistic expectations meet a rather harsh reality unfortunately and it doesn’t go as planned. Why am I referencing this?

Because last year that scene reminded me very much of junior crew joining a yacht and how they leave the yacht too. Tom has some very unrealistic expectations and when he sees the reality of the situation he storms off in a huff without saying goodbye (I realise this is a slight controversial interpretation of the film so I’m happy to discuss it in the comments!). Sadly many yachties new to the industry bail from a yacht in an unprofessional manner when it isn’t all roses, often at an inopportune time eg the day before a charter.

We are about to enter that time of year when hundreds if not thousands of crew flock to Antibes, Palma and various other yachting hubs looking for their first job and bringing with them hugely unrealistic expectations. Hopefully this blog might mean a few more green crew stick it out when the going gets tough.

Working on a yacht isn’t all champagne in the jacuzzi on the sun deck and watersports despite what some crew’s social media accounts portray.  So what should you expect when you join a yacht?

The following are my tips on how to get through the tough times.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally if you really aren’t coping and leaving isn’t an option then the following two options provide support if you are in a bad place mentally.

 

www.bigwhitewall.com

http://seafarerswelfare.org/

Best of luck in your first season guys and hopefully this helps.

Waves
When Reality meets Expectations

About the author

Tim Clarke

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