Super Yacht |

It’s official, this just in, I am now a commercially licensed yacht Captain! After a fairly grueling two week course and half a dozen written exams, culminating with a practical exam at sea, I can happily report that I passed! I obtained my MCA Master of Yachts 200 Gross Ton Limited Captains License through Professional Yachtmaster Training in Fort Lauderdale, FL. This is the UK ticket similar to the RYA Yachtmaster Offshore. I am still training this week to obtain an additional endorsement for Master of Yachts 200T Unlimited; an Ocean endorsement to allow navigation in all oceans of the world. I am deep into reducing celestial sights and playing with sextants. The class concludes after the 4 hour exam this Saturday. I am really looking forward to the finish line.

The beautiful Mermaid is out here in Fort Lauderdale visiting for the weekend and getting our name out there with the crew agencies. We still plan to go back to Fiji this season so we are just doing intros and making contacts. We are looking to run a boat up to about 70 feet or join as First Mate and Stew on a larger vessel. If you have any delivery or crew opportunities or know of any please pass along the below link to help us get started! I am available for deliveries or temp work this spring before we return to Fiji.

Hope everyone is having a great week. Cheers

www.ridethetrades.com/crew/

Yesterday we had the privilege of sailing the 144 foot super yacht ENCORE. It was an incredible experience. The 200 foot carbon mast and boom cost $6 million! After hearing that I though the mainsail was quite reasonable coming in at just under $400 thousand. The sheer size of all the hardware and the extreme loads on the rigging was amazing. You control the sails by joysticks that turn huge drums below deck to trim the sails. The three roller furlers are driven by hydraulics and are also controlled via joystick from the helm. She sailed beautifully and drove hard at 14 knots on a beam reach out of Ko Olina Marina. Oh how we wished we were bound for the South Pacific on her! We joined the Captain and his family for dinner afterwards; prepared by the live aboard chef of course. We both agreed it was one of the most amazing days we have ever spent.

I took a bunch of GoPro video and as soon as I learn how to cut and edit video I’ll post it up. In the meantime here are some pictures.