March 23, 2010
With job-seeking crew on every dock, captains have options when hiring. They can choose their deckhand from a pile of two-page resumes documenting certifications and sea time or choose an industrious dayworker who has never felt waves underfoot.
This month at The Triton’s From the Bridge captains luncheon, we invited captains to gauge if they feel it is important for their mate, deckhand, chef, stew and engineer to have nautical knowledge and why they choose an experienced or a green candidate.
“We all started as unlicensed and now that I’m a captain, I have to look out for the green guy like I once was,” said a captain.
As always, individual comments are not attributed to any one person in particular so as to encourage frank and open discussion.
Although a boat is an inherently dangerous place and captains are responsible for everything that happens, the majority of captains in attendance said they will hire green crew with no nautical knowledge.
“But I will say to green crew, you are not in a hotel, this can tip over and we can die,” said one such captain.
Most all of the seasoned captains remember the person that gave them their first chance and they seemed to reflect back to their first jobs as they offered reasons to hire green crew.
“I had an interior crew that was a waitress, she was on the dock crying because she was out of work. I asked her to make the bed, she did it perfectly and I hired her. She was a rock star, she worked so hard,” said a captain.
The group offered several reasons why green crew can work out better than trained crew and comments included:
“They admit when they don’t know something. Sometimes the experienced ones will try to get one over on you.”
“If we teach them, they learn quickly; don’t call it a kitchen and they’ll use the word galley.”
“I wouldn’t hesitate to hire a green one, they haven’t learned bad habits.”
“I like that I know what they have been taught, because I trained them.”
Which type of crew you hire depends on what you need, said a captain.
“Sitting at the dock I don’t need licensed crew, I can get a green person for less money. But he can’t go out on the water until he gets his STCW. But the chance I give him can be the thing that makes him want to continue.”
We asked what characteristics captains seek when hiring green crew and a similar list of attributes came up.
“I look for common sense, situational awareness and a good attitude.”
“I give them an independent project then I watch them closely. If I tell them to wash this section of the boat, do they check to see which way the wind is blowing? Do they start at the bottom and then have to redo a section? Can they figure it out?,” said a captain, “but then I’ve had vendors that can’t problem solve.”
“When I get new crew I give them a huge work load, impossible to finish. When they can’t finish, I will keep the guy that doesn’t complain and gives it his best,” said another.
All captains said new crew must have a positive attitude, interest in learning and must be hard workers. The more a crew wants to learn, the more energy they will invest in them.
“Green crew need to listen, ask questions and work hard. If they have that eagerness, I will hire them,” summed up one captain.
“We like to hear “that makes sense” when we explain. It’s great to see they can figure things out,” said a captain.
The group reached a consensus that green crew are trainable and generally try harder. Several captains felt that helping a green crew to advance can be gratifying for them as captains.
“To take a guy, green as green can be, that is keen and quick, spend lots of time with him and see him become experienced, it is so rewarding.”
Differences came up when discussing larger yachts with several crew versus yachts with only one to work with the captain. It is easier and safer to hire green crew on a yacht with a full staff because the work is spread among crew. One captain said that he has great department heads that are capable of training new crew properly.
But for captains with one crew, the situation is different.
“You have to have someone who can handle things if something happens to the captain; how to use the radio, stop the boat, drop the anchor.”
We asked if anyone had an emergency with green crew and no one offered any occurrences. A captain said that he’s had the same situations with experienced and inexperienced crew.
We asked why captains would go through the trouble of training when they could hire experienced crew and they responded with bad experiences.
“Sometimes crew learned the right words to say from classes, but they don’t know what it really means or they can’t do the job,” said a captain.
“And a lot of them from big boats say they know stuff that they don’t.”
“I tell them, don’t lie to me, because if they say they know how and don’t, then I don’t need them. On the other hand, I’ve never had problems with green ones lying, they just say they don’t know.”
A captain said sometimes the experienced crew will question the captain’s order thinking they know better than the boss. But new crew given orders will obey because they realize that the captain can see a bigger picture, signifying crew need to do what they are told. But a captain said he wants crew to have the sense to tell him if something may be wrong. Everyone needs to be able to talk to the captain, he said.
If experienced crew have come from a larger yacht, they may feel like they’ve been demoted and have an attitude said a captain.
“It’s way harder to untrain,” he said.
One captain said there is a difference between green crew and crew green to the yachting industry; there are people who have the knowledge and know boats, but just don’t know large yachts.
“These are the ones the captains want. These guys are the prime,” he said.
But untrained crew come with a price.
“The green crew are the weak link. Until they’re trained, I keep them close,” said a captain.
“An untrained crew may say “I’m supposed to be doing the stainless, do you want me to leave this to tie on to the rescue tug? They just don’t know and it can be hazardous,” he added.
Several said it’s hard to find time to train green crew. Another issue is that some yachts require International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) for crew, so green crew eventually have to have official training.
Although one captain said he is not required to hire crew with any license or certifications.
“But my guys have training from another country that is equivalent. I ask them to show me anything, how to launch a life boat, and they know how. They don’t have to have the license if they can show the ability,” he said.
The captains discussed what is entailed in hiring green crew. Several said they have to make a judgement call on whether the new crew will be worth the time and effort to train.
“How quickly can I tell if they will be worth it? Two days. I always tell them to ask questions and I try to judge by that.”
But he added, “sometimes we’re right and sometimes we’re wrong.”
A captain said that before hiring, captains have to evaluate their own management skills and make sure they can use them to relate with new hires. And the captains agreed that one or two inexperienced crew is the limit.
“I can’t have a full green crew, it’s too big of a responsibility.”
But does everyone on board really need nautical knowledge? Most with larger crew said chef and interior need less information, because there are other crew to handle situations. And we asked about knowledge that is being replaced with new technology like sextants and morse code.
“If I had to navigate by sextant, we wouldn’t get there, I forgot all that,” said one captain.
Several said that sailing is so different today and it’s usually delivery crew that face more difficult situations.
“People are fair-weather sailors, yachts have guests and owners onboard and with technology and forecasting, no one has to be out in rough conditions anymore.”
A few captains expressed frustrations with situations they have seen deciphering between experienced and inexperienced crew.
“One problem comes when they go from a deckhand polishing stainless and tying lines, then get their time and become captains. They are green and they are advancing which is not helpful to anyone. The lower end of crew are not being trained enough. I won’t hire from a big boat ever again.”
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