I’m currently in the mega yacht industry and curious to hear if anyone has transferred over to the commercial side.
I’ve been told that a lot of commercial company’s think yacht crew members are party animals and scared to work. Thoughts/opinions?
What papers do you hold?
I shifted to tug and barge work 15 years ago. It’s possible.
You’re better off on the commercial side although the work is dirtier. At least the owner’s wife won’t interrupt you in the middle of a delicate docking maneuver while you’re trying to avoid scuffing the fiberglass, demanding to know why there are specks of dust on her vanity mirror.
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On the commercial side, it will be profitable. It is difficult to say, this situation is both good and bad at the same time 
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That is the operative question. Yachtie “licenses” don’t quite cut it.
Very true, just like fishing industry licenses, but the first step would be finding out where he stands, and what he needs to do to get to where he wants to be.
I wouldn’t worry about what people think.
I know two guys that transitioned. One guy had a nice cushy gig up in Maine working for a millionaire for about 20 years. Then one day the guy was hauled off to federal prison, so that was the end of that gig. The dude is now a DP mate in the GOM.
We had another guy that was basically kicked off yachts. He was impossible to work with based on his abrasiveness and lack of deck experience. However he did have a job as captain on a bunkering tanker. That lasted until he had an accident bunkering the Queen Mary 2. Narrowly missed killing the tankerman and deckhand, and losing the contract for us.
Both these guys were smart enough to get more than 200 tons while the old regulations were in effect. It’s much harder to get the tonnage now.
Just landed my first permanent job as an AB with an OSV company after leaving yachts in August of last year. I hold a 3rd mate AGT and 1600 Master along with OICNW. I was in yachting for almost 15 years and 10 years sailing ships in the Coast Guard before that. I had been applying to companies in GOM with the intention of becoming a DPO. Repeatedly turned down citing “lack of experience”. I worked a few offshore hitches through a temp agency before I could even get an interview, now I’m working on my DPO book.