Turn around New propulsion downsized to yachts
A28
Vol. 2, No. 7
Smiley faces
On a prayer
Shipyard attracts charter guests, too
Crossing to Panama on a 35-footer
A15
A34
www.the-triton.com
Crew health insurer banned in Florida
Monaco ‘05
By Lucy Chabot Reed
October 2005
Trinity opens Mississippi yard to rebuild, grow By Lisa H. Knapp
State insurance officials have banned one of the largest crew health insurance companies from writing business in Florida. In a statement released Sept. 12, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced that International Medical Group (IMG) and its underwriter, Sirius International Insurance Corp., have agreed to “cease and desist from issuing health insurance coverage to Florida residents.” Though most megayacht crew are not Florida residents, an OIR spokeswoman said the order also prohibits IMG agents in Florida from selling the insurance. “If one of your crew members is a resident of Florida, or is offered a policy in Florida by a Florida agent, they should call the Consumer Services hotline and report this,” spokeswoman Beth Scott said. IMG has been selling international health insurance plans common with yacht crew through agents in Florida without being licensed by the state to do so. Instead, it set up an international business model with the Indiana Department of Insurance as the regulator, a format the company believed viable and legitimate, said IMG President Joseph Brougher. “Clearly, the existing Florida statutes were not
See MHG, page A23
From the bottom up, Capt. Wayne Palmer, Carol Ballnas, Kate Craggs and Colin Skelton of the S/Y Aphrodite 2 were among a growing number of sailing yacht crews at the 15th annual Monaco Yacht Show in September. Everyone seemed pleased with the weather and parties, including the Jones Boat Yard party co-hosted by The Triton. For more photos, visit www.the-triton.com. As for Aphrodite 2, she’s headed to Barcelona while Craggs and Skelton are off to South Africa to get married. PHOTO/DAVID REED
Trinity Yachts, the United States’ largest yacht builder, is rebuilding this month in a new shipyard that will temporarily house production of its luxury aluminum and steel megayachts. New Orleans-based Trinity was planning to expand into the 50-acre facility in Gulfport, Miss., at some point this year, but was forced to last month after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, flooding much of New Orleans and leaving its residents without homes or access to the yard. The company has ordered more than 100 trailers to house employees, subcontractors and their families as work begins in Gulfport, where water and electric services have been restored. “Our No. 1 goal is to keep our workforce in tact,” said Billy Smith, Trinity’s executive vice president. “It’s a huge effort on our part – the social part.” All levels of employees have lost their homes, including CEO and President John Dane III who lived in Pass Christian, Miss. “We’ve been successful in locating a great number of employees,” said Jim Berulis, vice president and general manager at Trinity. Berulis said that employees are being paid while the company regroups and they are looking forward to returning to work. Most of Trinity’s New Orleans buildings See KATRINA, page A24
Perks, tips, hard work, attitude all part of crew member’s salary Working on a megayacht can bring a lot of perks. Along with the long hours and sometimes forced smiles, crew can occasionally get time off in amazing places, outrageous tips and access to some fabulous toys. So just how important is that bottom-line salary when considering FROM THE BRIDGE a position on a LUCY CHABOT REED yacht? We asked this month’s Bridge captains how they pay their crews. As always, individual comments are not attributed to any one person in particular so as to encourage frank and open discussion. The attending captains are identified in a photograph on page A22.
Do they have a budget from which to draw, or does the money stretch to meet whatever salaries are necessary? “I tell owners ‘here’s what I want to pay employees and here are the increases I want to give them if they work out’,” one captain said. “A budget like that helped because I didn’t have to go back and argue with him to give the crew a raise.” “I call the crew agencies I know that are good people and I have an honest conversation with them,” another captain said. “I want to be fair to my boss and to the crew, so I ask what should I be paying them? I’ll also take references from captains and ask them what they paid the person.” “I always ask people what they are looking to get paid,” said another. “And I know what the boss is used to paying.”
These captains unanimously agreed that the use of the yacht should make no difference in salary negotiations. Many in the industry acknowledge that charter crew can sometimes be paid less because tips more than make up the difference. But that’s not really fair, these Bridge captains agreed. Crew on charter yachts should get the same, if not more, than crew on yachts in private use. “The best people on charter should be paid more, not less,” one captain said. “And any tips should be split right down the middle, equal shares for everyone.” “If you’re working hard for charter or private, the salary should be similar, with bonuses on top.” There was some discussion that private yachts often operate as charter
yachts, tending to an owner’s guests without the owner there. Those guests often will tip or discretely ask the captain if they should. “I tell them that it’s up to them, to treat the yacht like they would a resort,” he said. “If they received service they thought was worth it, they should feel comfortable tipping, but it’s not necessary.” One captain expressed that a previous captain on his boat had approached the owner with the desire that his guests tip, a tactic that all these captains agreed was out of line. “If they ask, you can tell them, but no way do you go to the boss with that.” So will a yacht pay more for a crew member it really wants? Not necessarily, they agreed. See BRIDGE, page A22