Handle unruly guests How to keep a positive attitude
Montenegro
Historical backdrop and megayacht facilities B1 Vol.7, No. 1
www.the-triton.com
A 2007 Triton survey showed only 2 percent of captains are women. Capt. Nicole Lawrence, shown at work in Seward, Alaska, has had her license 11 PHOTO FROM Capt. Nicole Lawrence years. yachting are women. Even on deck, you will see a corresponding trend, with deck roles filled by a mere 8.4 percent women. For today’s progressive society, it is a bit shocking that the traditional gender roles in yachting are still so evident. In the past 11 years of holding my captain’s license, I have met only a handful of other female captains. And
Six injured in tender accident Six people in a tender from M/Y Man of Steel, a 164-foot Heeson, were involved in an accident in Staniel Cay in The Exumas, Bahamas, Feb. 15, according to Martha Wohlford, a responder to the Mayday call. Wohlford’s daughter, Coral and her husband Capt. Brian Lowe, of L and C Island Shuttle, were almost asleep when they heard the call. “At approximately 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 15, 2010, I heard a weak ‘Mayday, Mayday’ on the VHF radio,” Wohlford wrote in her log. Coral, monitored the radio and could
Pollutants are monitored internationally
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Green crew: Would you hire them on your yacht?
By Capt. Nicole Lawrence
By Dorie Cox
MARPOL
April 2010
Women’s roles: Chef, stew and captain, too According to a survey done by The Triton in 2007, 70 percent of women in yachting these days have finely tuned their stewardess talents toward the art of the perfect napkin fold, elegant flower arrangements, and laundry skills that still amaze me. Yet, another large percentage of women in yachting express their genius in the galley. They are able to whip up incredible meals in the amount of space that would rival the interior of a VW Bug. And they do this while being heaved to and fro across the galley, and somehow the meals still come out looking like works of art. For some of us, however, the interior can feel a bit claustrophobic. We tend to stray toward an open hatch and our talents tend toward detailing tenders, doing oil changes, and maneuvering in and out of slips. We Awlgrip-loving few comprise the small percentage of women who occupy deck or engineering jobs on yachts. In the same Triton study, it was found that only 2 percent of all captains in
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decipher a female saying “Man of Steel.” Lowe knew the vessel was anchored in Big Major Spot and speculated the distress call was from near the yacht. Lowe and Wohlford used a spotlight on their boat to find the 38-foot Intrepid in gear, circling slowly. Lowe came along side, tied to, and could see that all on board appeared injured. He boarded and turned off the running engine; the two others were off. Lowe triaged the six people on board to affirm they could travel and that the boat could make it to Staniel Cay Yacht Club. Wohlford drove
See ACCIDENT, page A15
unlike some of the salty sea dogs out there who are naysayers to women occupying deck leadership roles, I do not believe that the lack of female captains has anything to do with a lack of competency. My experience shows that many women in the yachting industry
See WOMEN’S ROLES, page A14
TRITON SURVEY: MENTORING
Do you have a mentor?
No – 34.8%
Yes – 34.8%
Yes, more than one – 30.5%
Story and more questions, C1
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 From the Bridge The Triton’s From Dorie Cox 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. The attending captains are identified in a photograph on page A12. 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:
See BRIDGE, page A12