The end of your career in yachting is coming, so you need to be prepared. So how do you make the move out of yachting and into another life smoothly ? Let’s find out.

First, you need to acknowledge that the end is coming. You won’t spend your entire working life on board a superyacht serving the needs of the ultra-rich. You will be moving onto the next stage of your life and this time you want to be in control.

Next, you need to recognise that your work/ life experience is completely different from those who are land based. You may have no experience of what a land based working life is like. So there can be big gap between shore-dweller expectations of you and your expectations of what life ashore is like.

Returning ashore the pros and cons

You’ll have to change your mindset to fit in, if you want a cookie-cutter life ashore, a carbon copy of everyone else’s. Unless you leave yachting with some money behind you, you’re more than likely heading straight into a 9-to-5 job in line with everyone else’s.

If you do leave yachting with money, your yachtie mentality will help you use that money to live life far more on your terms, You’ll have some independence.

In fact, if you are diligent and work towards it, you can leave yachting financially free, Then you can go your own path. 

But let’s assume that you’re going to leave yachting like the majority of yachties do: needing to find another job ashore.

If you don’t build wealth, at least build skills

While you’re working in yachting, you’ll be building up a broad skill set that will come in useful when you leave the industry. This will happen even if you don’t put any effort into learning new skills. Just look at this list of skills you’ll acquire regardless:

• Discipline
• Accuracy
• People skills
• Communication skills
• Problem solving
• Stamina (physical and mental)
• Resilience
• Team skills
• Leadership skills
• Technical skills
• Navigational skills
• Seamanship
• Administrative skills

You can no doubt add more to this list.

And if you do spend time purposely developing specific skills that will help you in the next phase of your life, you’ll come out of yachting a very well-rounded person who will be very attractive to potential employers.

Let’s consider some potential career options for superyacht crew who come ashore.

Entrepreneurial ventures inspired by yachting

Let’s start with the most difficult, yet potentially most rewarding step you can take after yachting: setting up your own business, serving a need that you identified while working in yachting. There are two categories here: needs inside yachting itself and needs outside of yachting. We’ll give you an example of both.

One of our clients was a chef on board superyachts. She felt the standard chef’s jackets and trousers weren’t very comfortable for women, nor were they styled very appealingly. So she set up a fashion brand offering more comfortable and exciting chef’s clothing for women.

Nor is she the only former yachtie to set up a superyacht-focused fashion brand.

And you don’t need to look too hard to find other examples of former crew who founded or run their own superyacht-oriented businesses: film and content creation agencies, crew career development advisors, crew wellness counselors, industry directories, tenders and toys suppliers, gym gear providers, on-board sports simulators.

Not sure how to go about setting up your own business ashore? No problem. There are even companies dedicated to helping yacht crew establish businesses, Yachting Ventures, itself the brainchild of superyacht crew. And Sisterhood by Michelle is devoted solely to helping female yacht crew on their entrepreneurial journey.

But former superyacht crew haven’t just limited themselves to setting up businesses serving the yachting industry. For example, former Yachting Financial Solutions clients set up a successful yoga and sea kayaking retreat in Costa Rica. Another one has a furniture restoration business.

Establishing your own business is hard work and isn’t a pathway to guaranteed success. But if you do succeed, you’ll probably find that building your own business in line with your own values and priorities will be the most fulfilling career path after yachting.

Onshore employment in the superyacht industry

Of course, you don’t have to use the experiences you gained in yachting to set up your own company that serves the yachting industry. There are already plenty of companies that serve the industry that would benefit from your experience and offer you a rewarding job.

Yacht managers, yacht builders, yacht brokers, chartering companies, crew agencies, provisioning companies, training providers, insurance companies, marketing companies, bunkering companies, marina operators, tenders and toys suppliers… the list is extensive.

Each one is an opportunity for you to use what you have learned in yachting to establish yourself ashore. Not only that, while you’re still in yachting, you can be laying the foundations for your transition by establishing contacts and building relationships with people in the kind of business you’re interested in.

Hospitality management careers

This is an obvious one for anyone who worked on the hospitality side of things on board: stewardesses, stewards, chefs, and even deck crew who gained experience working with guests as a diving, fitness or yoga instructor. Key here are your interpersonal skills and service skills.

A very good fit could be the luxury hospitality sector. You have experience of serving some of the richest people on earth on board some of the most luxurious and opulent boats ever built. You know their mindset. You understand how to talk them and how to behave around them.

And your opportunities won’t be just limited to customer-facing roles, either. If you spend your time in yachting completing management training or business courses, you will be in a good place to move into managerial roles at luxury hotel, resort, event and cruise ship operators.

Luxury travel consulting

First, let’s clarify the difference between a travel agent and a travel consultant. There is some crossover, of course, but broadly speaking a travel agent books travel for the clients while a travel consultant plans travel for them.

Chances are, if you’ve spent several seasons in yachting, you’ll have plenty of first-hand experience of Caribbean and Mediterranean destinations. It’ll be recent experience as well, which is very valuable. On top of which, it’s likely you’ll have been involved in managing and arranging excursions and shore visits for superyacht guests. This all adds up to a useful foundation for working as a luxury travel consultant.

But that’s not the only experience you have. We’ve never met a yachtie who didn’t take the opportunity to visit some pretty exotic places during their leave from the yacht. Often treating themselves to some luxury as well. So it’s likely you’ve built up an additional source of relevant first-hand experiences.

And last, but not least, you understand the mindset of the luxury traveller. It’s one thing to know about suitable destinations. It’s another to be able to talk to luxury travellers in a way that appeals to them and that they understand. Similarly, you’ll have picked up a lot of insight while working on a yacht about what wealthy people value when considering their luxury destinations.

Strictly speaking, you don’t need any formal education or training to become a travel consultant, but it is worth checking out courses and workshops offered by relevant organisations, such as the Travel Institute or the IATA.

Real estate as a career option

One of the things we get asked most about is mortgages for superyacht crew. And we are often asked about property as an investment vehicle. In other words, real estate is something a lot of superyacht crew come into contact with and have an interest in. Perhaps this interest could become the focal point of the next phase of your life? Particularly at the higher end of the international market.

A real estate agent needs something that superyacht crew have in spades: interpersonal skills. You need to be able to get on easily with people and you need to be able to draw out what they’re looking for. Sales is mostly a process of listening and asking the right questions. You could compare it to a two-street in which the volume of traffic in one direction (from the client to you) is much higher than in the other direction (from you to the client).

You’ll also need to be able to negotiate on behalf of your client and be able to communicate accurately and clearly.

Rules for becoming a real estate agent differ from country to country. For instance, in the US, you’ll need a licence, which will partially depend on a minimum number of hours of formal instruction. In South Africa, you’ll need a formal qualification and have completed an internship. Best check with the industry body in the country or countries you want to establish yourself.

Digital nomad lifestyle

The internet has made it possible to make a living on the road. We once met a high-end design and branding agency that had no headquarters. Its owner and staff roamed the world freely, working for top-notch clients in the most decentralised fashion imaginable. They’d find an internet connection in a local hotel, bar or café and work away on Macbook Airs.

Many people do the same: providing services to clients that don’t require them to be onsite in a fixed location. Many of these people work in the creative industry, often as freelance writers, illustrators, photographers, designers, etc. We even know of a premium maritime PR agency that was created on a laptop, and did its first jobs, while the founder was sitting by the side of a lake in Italy. The first month’s billings were in excess of five figures.

A third example is a friend who established a digital publishing company and ran his business for a year while travelling around the world.

If the nomad lifestyle appeals to you, it is possible to combine that with a rewarding career. The only requirements are a laptop and an internet connection. And clients, of course.

Further education and training

When you leave yachting, you don’t have to jump straight into the onshore job market. You could also consider going into third-level education. In fact, it’s an ideal time to do so because you’ll have a much clearer idea of what you want to do than many students who are just out of secondary education.

Not only that, where many, if not most, students will need to take out a loan to pay for their university or college degree, you can plan to leave yachting with enough money to cover your tuition and living expenses.

Two vital platforms for success

There are two resources that will help make your transition into any of the careers above a lot smoother.

The first is networking. Leaving yachting with a healthy contacts book is going to make the process a whole lot smoother.

The first group of people to build good relationships with are your crew mates. Some of them will leave the boat before you and might end up working in a job that appeals to you as well. Besides, it’s always good to have a good network you can approach for practical advice when the time comes for your own move ashore.

Next, think about the relationships you can build with service providers and suppliers to the boat. Again, they can provide you with valuable information, guidance and introductions when you come ashore.

Industry organisations relevant to the career that appeals to you are also great for networking. You don’t necessarily have to be already working in their industry before you get in touch. In fact, doing so before you transition will provide you with a focused and relevant source of information and guidance about how to break into the industry and what qualifications you’ll need.

Leaving can’t start soon enough

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking to yourself, “I don’t need to be thinking about this now already. I’m not going to leave yachting for years.”

Don’t make that mistake. You will leave one day. The sooner you start building relationships and working on a smooth transition plan, the less work, less stress and less friction you’ll experience when the day comes.

Think about it this way: would you rather have years of preparation or just a few months?

Don’t forget that leaving yachting is a process. It could be short, sharp and painful. Or it could be smooth, controlled and enjoyable. How you manage and experience it is up to you.