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/tritonnews | www.The-Triton.com | September 2016
Like it or not, guns are often onboard yachts From the Bridge Dorie Cox
The recent arrest of a yacht owner with an unpermitted gun in New York prompted questions about firearms in yachting. We presented the topic to
captains at our From the Bridge lunch, a changing group of captains gathered by The Triton once a month, and we started the conversation with, "Who has guns onboard?" The answers ranged from "everybody", "we used to" and "never have" to "depends where we go". "People don't talk about it because
a lot of captains have guns that are ‘onboard’ but, they're ‘not onboard’, if you know what I mean," a captain said. Individual comments from the lunch are not attributed to any particular person in order to encourage frank and open discussion. The attending captains
See GUNS, page 40
Unexpected loss of power tests captains’ skills, nerves By Dorie Cox
PHOTO/CAPT. GLEN ALLEN
Megayacht fleet tackles training to build team, stop crew turnover By Lucy Chabot Reed A month after sharing his ideas for crew training, Capt. Glen Allen of Fleet Miami organized his second three-day course for the company’s employees and says he’s close to what he calls the kind of training that could help stop crew turnover. “I’m really excited about it,” Capt. Allen said a few days after the course ended. “It’s already made a difference in our organization, and it is something I feel could make a difference in yachting overall.” The first class, while it brought employees together, lacked the impact
Capt. Allen was hoping for. The second class held in mid-August with the crew of the 154-foot M/Y Usher, above, delivered. “I am so amazed how well it worked,” said Capt. Veronica Hast, who took over Usher in early August as relief while its full-time captain, Nicole Fawcett, is having a baby. “I saw a crew of 10 people go from just people who work together to being a real team. I felt it too, in just three days. It was the kind of feeling you have after the hardest charter season ever or after a year of working together.”
See TRAINING, page 46
Capt. Paul Preston was at the helm of a yacht more than 100 feet long. He was navigating into the lagoon on St. Maarten as the bridge opened. “There was a stiff current running, and she was not the most responsive of boats,” Preston said. “Everything was fine until we were between the bridge abutments and committed to the approach.” And then came the unexpected. “The port engine died,” he said. “Had never died before and never died since.” Somehow, he managed to “crab the boat through without hitting either side, using one engine, bow thruster and a lot of helm.” Yacht captains are highly trained, but occasionally encounter a scenario for which they are not prepared. And potentially dangerous ones, as in Capt. Preston’s case, often include the loss or reduction of engine power. The variables that lead to power
See POWER, page 34
News
Crew take a chance Goodbye corporate world. Hello to life onboard.
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Staying power The Triton prints it 150th issue. Reminisce with us, and help us get better.
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Where in the World
35,38 Get up and go Away from the maddening crowds, captains report back.
Events
Next Triton Networking Join us on the first and third Wednesdays of September.
44,45
Triton Survey Are you going to FLIBS this year? No 12.5% Yes, with a boat 19.2% Don’t know 21.7%
Yes, without a boat 46.7%
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Navigating The Triton
September 2016 The-Triton.com
What’s Inside
3
Columnists Career
4
Owner’s design for remote control of 260-foot yacht gets OK.
News
1 Captains lunch 1,4-6 News 6,25 Obituaries 7 Business briefs 8 Crew News 10 Boats / Brokers 11 Marinas / Shipyards 26 Fuel prices 28 Triton Survey
12 Publisher’s Point 14 Owner’s View 24 On Course 39 Crew Coach 43 Taking the Helm
Operations
18 Rules of the Road 19 Engineer’s Angle 20 Diesel Digest 21 Sea Science
16 Come together, every month.
Events
47 Calendar 16,17 Networking photos 44,45 Next Triton events
22 First trip to Alaska doesn’t disappoint.
27 Enjoy cool summer salad.
Interior
8 Couple takes chance, leaves corporate world avoid ‘what ifs’.
Write to Be Heard
48 Letters to the Editor 48 Crew Eye 49 Guest Opinion
26 Stew Cues 27 Crew’s Mess 27 Top Shelf
Crew Health
23 The Yachtie Glow 32 Take It In 33 Sea Sick Editor Dorie Cox, dorie@the-triton.com Contributors
Publisher Lucy Chabot Reed, lucy@the-triton.com Advertising Sales Catalina Bujor, cat@the-triton.com Production Manager Patty Weinert, patty@the-triton.com The Triton Directory Catalina Bujor, cat@the-triton.com
Carol Bareuther, Capt. Chris Berg, Capt. Jake DesVergers, Paul Ferdais, Capt. Rob Gannon, Chef Mark Godbeer, Peter Herm, Chief Stew Alene Keenan, Brian Luke, Capt. Herb Magney, Capt. Mac McDonald, Scott McDowell, Stew Melissa McMahon, Kay Mellinger, Rich Merhige, Capt. Michael J. Mullen, Keith Murray, Chief Stew Angela Orecchio, Tom Serio, Capt. Ned Stone, Capt. Bob Terrell, Capt. Martyn Walker, Capt. John Wampler, Capt. Jeff Werner
Where in the World
9 Photo gallery 22 Alaska 35,38 Turks & Caicos,
St. Lucia, Panama
54 Triton Spotter
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50 Business Cards 53 Advertisers Directory Vol. 13, No. 6
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The-Triton.com September 2016
News Briefs Med PSC starts inspections
The Paris MoU on Port State Control (PSC) will begin a three-month campaign on Sept. 1 to verify compliance with working and living conditions onboard ships, as spelled out in the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006. The Concentrated Inspection Campaign, which ends Nov. 30, expects to inspect 4,500 ships. During the campaign, PSC officers will use a list of 12 questions to ensure the required certificates and documentation are onboard. Additional questions will verify records of the inspections of the accommodation, food and catering, and whether a safety committee has been established.
Yacht beats trans-Atlantic record
The 100-foot S/Y Camanche broke the transAtlantic record, crossing from New York to England in five days, 14 hours and 21 minutes, whacking a full day off the previous record held by S/Y MariCha IV for the past 13 years. Built in East Boothbay, Maine, by the 200-year-old Hodgdon Yachts, the carbon-fiber racing yacht was built for speed. It won the Sydney-to-Hobart race in 2015 and shaved five hours off the previous record in the Newport Bermuda race this summer. Comanche is owned by Netscape founder Jim Clark. The crew of 17 sailed the 2,880 nautical miles at an average speed of 21.44 knots, a feat possible because of a rare perfect weather window. But several of its veteran sailors, including skipper Ken Read and Jimmy Spithill, were at the America’s Cup series races in England at the time and missed the crossing.
Yacht in Panama Papers seized
M/Y Galactica Star, the 213-foot (65m) Heesen launched in 2013, has been frozen after documents revealed in the Panama Papers linked its owner to a fraud investigation in Nigeria. In a story released July 25, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reported that the yacht is owned by Nigerian oil magnate Kolawole Aluko, one of four people the Nigerian government says owes the government nearly $1.8 billion on sales of oil. The yacht is owned through a shell company that was created by the law firm Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm. More than 11 million of the firm’s financial and legal documents were leaked, revealing a who’s who of the world’s wealthiest people and how they handle their money.
The law firm denied any wrongdoing. “Our firm, like many firms, provides worldwide registered agent services for our professional clients (e.g., lawyers, banks, and trusts) who are intermediaries,” Mossack Fonseca told ICIJ. “As a registered agent we merely help incorporate companies, and before we agree to work with a client in any way, we conduct a thorough due-diligence process, one that in every case meets and quite often exceeds all relevant local rules, regulations and standards to which we and others are bound.” The Panama Papers reveal that in August 2015, Aluko’s Swiss wealth manager, Johnnie Ebo Quaicoe, asked the law firm to help with a $30 million mortgage. In May, the Lagos Supreme Court granted the Nigerian government’s request for an order freezing assets linked to Aluko and three others, including the assets used to secure that loan – M/Y Galactica Star and a Manhattan apartment.
Remote control yacht app gets patent
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted a patent for an app that will operate a yacht, a concept created by Apple founder Steve Jobs to run his 260-foot Feadship M/Y Venus (above), according to a story on MacRumors.com. The patent, titled "Remote motion control using a wireless mobile device", was filed in 2013 and has just been granted, now registered under Apple and Savant Systems. Savant is a manufacturer of luxury home automation systems and worked with Jobs on Venus, the site reported. The patent describes a generalpurpose device with a touchscreen, similar to an iPhone, which executes an app that remotely connects to the vessel's electronic control system, enabling the user to maneuver the vessel remotely.
Piracy drops to 21-year low
Piracy and armed robbery at sea has fallen to its lowest levels since 1995, despite a surge in kidnappings off West Africa, according to a new report from the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau (IMB). IMB's global piracy report shows 98 incidents in the first half of 2016,
News
September 2016 The-Triton.com
News Briefs compared with 134 for the same period in 2015. When piracy was at its highest, in 2010 and 2003, IMB recorded 445 attacks a year. In the first half of 2016, IMB recorded 72 vessels boarded, five hijackings, and 12 attempted attacks. Nine ships were fired upon. Sixty-four crew were taken hostage onboard, down from 250 in the same period last year. Despite global improvements, kidnappings are on the rise, with 44 crew captured for ransom in 2016, 24 of them in Nigeria, up from 10 in the first half of 2015. "In the Gulf of Guinea, rather than oil tankers being hijacked for their cargo, there is an increasing number of incidents of crew being kidnapped for ransom," IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan said. In Indonesia, low-level theft to ships at anchor has been brought down by introducing designated anchorages with improved security. There were 24 incidents in the first six months of this year, less than half of the same period in 2015. For more information, visit icc-ccs. org/piracy-reporting-centre.
Havana regatta to race again
The St. Petersburg Yacht Club plans to revive its regatta to Havana in late February. The regatta ran annually from 1930 to 1959 but ceased when tensions with Cuba tightened. The revived regatta will follow the same 284nm trip from the yacht club to the 18th century Morro Castle at the mouth of Havana Bay. The field is limited to 70 boats, which must be at least 30 feet long. Boaters can sign up at spyc.org. The regatta falls into one of the 12 categories that makes visitation to Cuba possible by Americans.
Australia to study impact of yachts
Superyacht Australia, with support from two of Queensland government’s key ministers, will pay for an economic impact study into the superyacht industry in Australia. “We want to understand the significant tourism value our industry contributes,” said organization CEO MaryAnne Edwards. “The study will also identify future economic opportunities provided by the growing global
See NEWS BRIEFS page 6
Scholarship honors bosun killed in Monaco in 2010 Six years ago during the Monaco Yacht Show, Bosun Will Black of 183foot (56m) Perini Navi M/Y Burrasca was involved in a tender accident and went missing. His family has recently started a campaign to raise money for a scholarship in his name at the UKSA in England. “Many friends at the time wanted to help and raise money in his name but to be honest it has taken this long to think clearly about being able to do this,” his family explained on the fundraising page. “We now are doing something positive in his name within the maritime industry in which William found a home for his spirit of adventure.” Mr. Black trained at UKSA, a sailing academy and youth-centered charity. His scholarship will help “new sailors who otherwise might not be able to enter the industry,” his family’s page said. “This is a way for Will’s name to live on and give back to the industry he so loved.”
Bosun Will Black with his sister, Rosanna (left), and parents when the family visited him in Italy in 2006. PHOTO/STERNA STOCKHOFF The page accepts direct donations, but also other fundraising efforts, such as cycling or running races. The campaign began in July to mark Mr. Black’s 34th birthday. The family also raises concerns about crew safety. Mr. Black was not wearing a life jacket on that latenight tender run, and the kill cord switch had been disabled, his family said. They vow to work to affect change. Read more at the page, www. justgiving.com/teams/crewwillbsafe.
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News Briefs NEWS BRIEFS, from page 5 superyacht market and be a great tool to lobby both state and federal governments to institute policy and regulations to support these opportunities.” As Australia will host the Commonwealth Games in 2018, the Gold Coast is preparing for an increase in the number of visiting superyachts. “By supporting the growth and development of the superyacht industry, we aim to give marine businesses around the Queensland coastline new contract opportunities to provide food and fueling services, bunkering, maintenance, private jet services and crew pit stops,” said Minister for State Development Anthony Lynham. Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt backs Superyacht Australia’s efforts to pass legislation to allow foreign-flagged superyachts to charter in Australia.
Conference for human rights at sea
A first-ever International Maritime Human Rights Conference will take place Sept 14 at the Royal College of Surgeons in London.
The program focuses on addressing the issues surrounding human rights and welfare at sea, and brings together global maritime industry leaders with worldrenowned human rights advocates. The aim is to explore emerging human rights matters, and investigate protections and remedies for abuses. For more information, visit marrights.com.
Award to honor fair brokers
Following the passing of broker Richard Earp earlier this year, Fraser Yachts has created an award named in his honor that recognizes brokers who operate with transparency, fair and ethical behavior, charisma and style. Nominees should also be well respected within the industry, have longevity as a broker and still be active in the market. A group of Mr. Earp judges chaired by Roberto Giorgi, chairman of Fraser
Project engineer dies
Ocean Marine when he hired Mr. McCaskill in 2005. Cox now works as Project foreman and yacht engineer a Volvo Penta field service engineer. Michael McCaskill, died of a heart “Mike was a huge part of the attack while at work on a yacht in the mechanical aspect of M/Y Serque,” Bahamas on July 27. He worked on the Cox said. “He was lead on the engine three-year rebuild of M/Y Serque. He room, he did the mechanical and was 52. technical side to find a Mr. McCaskill graduated home for everything to meet from the Northwest School compliance and the owner’s of Wooden Boat Building requirements.” and started on yachts John McCaskill said his when he was hired on the brother loved his work. conversion of a 115-foot “Mike was master of Broward into the 133-foot everything, and if didn’t, he M/Y Serque. would strive to know. He Greg Cox was project had passion.” manager on the yacht at Mr. McCaskill – Dorie Cox
Yachts. will review the nominations. “Richard was such a well respected and admired broker that we wanted to find a way to honor his memory and ensure that his attributes are encouraged throughout the industry,” Giorgi said. “As well as being one of the fairest yacht brokers to work with he also had a great
sense of humor and charisma that was noticed by everyone he met.” The winner will be announced the 2016 Monaco Yacht Show. To nominate someone, send an email to Olivia.Pasquali@FraserYachts.com by Sept. 9. Brokers cannot nominate themselves.
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Business Triton names new editor
Ft. Lauderdale-based Triton Publishing Group has promoted Dorie Cox as the new editor of its monthly news magazine The Triton. Cox, previously associate editor, has been a reporter with The Triton since 2008. She graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in mass communications Cox and worked at newspapers in Colorado before settling in Ft. Lauderdale. She has sailed across the Atlantic, worked as mate on day trips in the Florida Keys and raced sailboats. Before joining The Triton, she spent eight years at Bluewater Books & Charts. “I can’t think of a better journalist to take over The Triton,” said Lucy Chabot Reed, current publisher and founding editor of The Triton. “Dorie is such an important part of The Triton family. Everyone knows her, knows her stories, and knows her commitment to solid community journalism.”
Doc firms merge
Wisconsin-based Marine Loan Security has merged with Ft. Lauderdalebased All Oceans Closings, a marine documentation company. Together, Heide Cooper of Marine Loan Security and Lisa Borkowski of All Oceans Closings have handled more than 10,000 transactions over their 20 years of owning documentation companies. “This gives us more locations and the ability to expand our list of services so we can better assist our customers,” said Cooper, the new vice president of All Oceans Closings. Borkowski is president.
Equity fund acquires Amerijet
Private equity firm ZS Fund L.P. has acquired Ft. Lauderdale-based Amerijet Holdings and its subsidiaries, Amerijet International and ITN Worldwide. Amerijet is a cargo air carrier operating from Miami International Airport to destinations throughout the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and South America. ITN Worldwide is its logistics partner. Vic Karjian is incoming president and CEO.
Charity plans gala
The Ft. Lauderdale-based charity Marine Industry Cares Foundation is holding its second annual Chairman’s Gala on Jan. 28
The black-tie, masquerade-themed casino night is a fundraiser to support the charity’s summer marine camp programs for middle and high school students. The MICF Marine Immersion Summer Camp started in 2015 as a twoweek program introducing students to the marine industry through field trips to local businesses, visits by industry professionals, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) projects. The projects included a boat propeller design and race challenge, and an ROVbuild challenge run under the guidance of both industry professionals and local engineering teachers. In 2016, the camp expanded to two schools. The goal is to continue growing to reach more kids. The gala also will honor several individuals and organizations who contributed to the foundation and/or the community over the past year. The gala will be held at the Gallery of Amazing Things in Dania Beach. For tickets and other information, visit MarineIndustryCares.org.
Rolls-Royce to power Eagle
Germany-based Rolls-Royce was chosen to power the U.S. Coast Guard’s training ship S/V Eagle, also known as America’s Tall Ship, with a Series 4000 MTU engine. The 80-year-old barque was initially built for the German Navy. The MTU brand is part of Rolls-Royce Power Systems. The 295-foot, three-masted Eagle, which drives under full sail in the open ocean at speeds up to 17 knots will receive one MTU 8V 4000 marine propulsion engine for use when the cutter is not in sail. The vessel’s repower will also include the addition of the MTU Callosum – an integrated ship automation system that allows operators to monitor the propulsion plant, the onboard power supply and the entire ship. The U.S. Coast Guard is MTU's biggest customer in the United States. “The biggest benefit the USCG has in turning to MTU is consistency in its fleet,” said Mike Rizzo, government naval program manager at MTU America. “The fleet has many MTU-powered vessels. By powering the training cutter with an MTU, cadets will be able to directly translate their experience to other MTU-powered vessels.” The Eagle was built in 1936 for the pre-World War II German Navy. It was included in the reparations paid to the United States following World War II and recommissioned as the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle.
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The-Triton.com September 2016
Couple takes right-hand turn on life to avoid ‘should haves’ By Lucy Chabot Reed Sometimes, taking a chance pays off. Take, for instance, the first time Stew Cami Vago visited Atlantis in the Bahamas. It was her first job on a yacht, her first trip on a yacht. On her day off, she put herself and her husband, Mate/ Eng. Chase Hunter, on a budget of $20 to spend in the casino. Hunter asked a casino employee where the hot seat was, and he pointed to a bank of slots “over there”. Hunter felt the seats and picked a warm one, indicating someone had played there a while, which might mean the machine would hit soon. Ten minutes later, it did, for $1,000. Sometimes, taking a chance pays off, just as it has for Vago and Hunter, both 31 and married eight years. A year ago, they were living in Tampa, working corporate jobs. But Hunter’s brother had been tempting them for years with photos and stories of his adventures as a mate on a private yacht. They started taking their vacations in South Florida, taking week-long classes to get their STCW certification, ENG1, interior training and, for Hunter, his 100-ton USCG license. (He owned his own 22-foot center console and had experience running and maintaining a boat.) They started getting ready to take a chance, if one ever presented itself. Yet by day, Vago was a manager at Bank of America; Hunter was a master technician with BMW. And like many couples in their early 30s, they owned a home (actually, they had three properties) and a couple of cars (actually, they had three). Still, about a year ago, they decided to take the chance, apply for a couple’s job on a yacht, just to see what might happen. They had nothing to lose, except the pay-off if it worked. “I don’t want to look back on my life and say I should have done this, I could have done that,” Vago said. “I want to look back and say I experienced life and did some things. If we didn’t get anything, that would have been OK, too.” Before long, they were offered a job on an 85-foot Pacific Mariner, but the opening was immediate. And for two professionals in the corporate world,
they had to honor the standard twoweek-notice rule. So they declined. A couple months later, the same boat was looking again, and this time, agreed to wait the two weeks for them to start. In August 2015, they joined the yacht, she as stew, he as mate. In that time, they sold a car, the boat, a boat lift and a condo, and put their stuff in a room, padlocking it shut and renting the rest out to a colleague. That was a year ago, and they are still with the owner, now on the 107-foot Christensen M/Y Reflections, which was in the Newport Charter Show in June. “It’s a lot of work,” Hunter said. That first boat included a transition between two captains and then taking the boat to another level. “The one thing you need to learn right from the beginning is the chemicals to use, which ones work, and which ones don’t.” Vago noted that the hard work is easier when shared by a committed couple. “It’s been nice to work together,” she said. “We’re happy to help each other. When I’m done inside, I come outside and see if there’s anything I can do, and when he’s done, he’ll come help me.” Hunter would like to be a captain one day so they are busy learning everything they can. “I started as a teller, and Chase started cleaning cars,” she said. “We’ll start at the bottom and work our way up. Hopefully, this is long term, but if it doesn’t happen, that’s OK, too. We can always get back to the jobs we had.” The best part so far? The people. “You get to meet a lot of interesting people,” Vago said. “The guests are just amazing. They make me feel like I’m part of their family. The last group of guests we had were crying when they left.” She scrolled through her text messages to share selfies the guests took with the crew, and notes that said “Miss you already.” “You don’t get that working in a bank,” she said. Sometimes, taking a chance pays off. Big time. Lucy Chabot Reed is publisher of The Triton. Comments are welcome at lucy@ the-triton.com.
September 2016 The-Triton.com
Photo Gallery
Crew Gallery
As of July 1, Capt. Chris, left, and Chef Sylvie Berg have retired from M/Y Intrepid after 18 years. The pair are setting off on their Harleys and motor coach to ports unknown. Fleet manager Capt. Rusty Allen (top left aboard M/Y Mystere), Capt. Greg Albritton of M/Y Honey Fitz (above), Chief Stew McKenzie Munroe of M/Y Natita (left), and Natita Eng. Bill Mimms (below) work together to keep the vessels in ship shape. PHOTOS/LUCY REED
Eng. Tyler Anthony, left, and Deckhand Jean Freysen keep smiling three months into a refit of the 115-foot S/Y Tenacious.
For more than a decade, Capt. Brit Robinson has taken care of the 130-foot Westport M/Y Arm’s Reach.
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The-Triton.com September 2016
Boats / Brokers Yachts sold
M/Y Cakewalk, the 180-foot (55m) Benetti built in 2003, sold by Merle Wood & Associates broker Kevin Greene representing the buyer. M/Y Sensation, a 164-foot (49.5m) yacht built by Sensation Yachts in 2007, listed with Fraser Yachts broker Jan Jaap Minnema for 9.9 million euros. M/Y Seven J's, a 156-foot (47.5m) Delta built in 2008, listed with Fraser broker Josh Gulbranson for $19 million. M/Y Parvati, a 125-foot (39.7m) CRN, sold by Camper & Nicholsons broker Gaston Lees-Buckley for the seller. M/Y Anastasia M, a 122-foot (37.4m) Sanlorenzo built in 2010, listed with Fraser Yachts broker Alex Krykanyuk for 7.5 million euros. M/Y Kai, a 121-foot (36.6m) Benetti delivered in 2008, sold by Camper & Nicholsons. It is under CNI management and listed for charter with seven crew. M/Y Kampai, a 92-foot (28m) Overmarine built in 2005, listed with Fraser Yachts broker Michael Selter for $2.2 million.
New to the sales fleet
M/Y Suerte, a 227-foot (69.3m) yacht built by Tankoa in 2015, listed with Northrop & Johnson for $65.7 million. M/V Sarsen, a 226-foot (69m) yacht, listed with Northrop & Johnson. A 217-foot (66m) Feadship new build, listed with Northrop & Johnson. S/Y Felicita West, the 210-foot (64m) Perini Navi, listed with Northrop & Johnson. M/Y Invader, a 163-foot (50m) Codecasa built in 1999, listed with Fraser Yachts for $15 million. M/Y Hanse Explorer, a 156-foot (47.8m) expedition yacht built in 2006 by Fassmer, listed with Fraser Yachts for 13.5 million euros. S/Y Mari-Cha III, the 147-foot (44.7m) sailing yacht built by Sensation Yachts in 1997, has been withdrawn from the market with BGYB. M/Y Four Wishes, the 144-foot (44m) Palmer Johnson built in 2004, listed with Ocean Independence for $13.9 million. M/Y Bandido, a 140-foot (42.5m) Westport built in 1989, listed with Ocean Independence for $3.5 million. M/Y Star, the 138-foot (42m) Kingship built in 2012, co-listed with Denison and Fraser for $13.5 million. A 125-foot (38m) Ocea 125XP explorer yacht to launch in 2018, listed with Camper & Nicholsons broker Foulques De Raigniac for $20 million. M/Y Integrity, a 112-foot (34m) Westport built in 2002, listed with
Northrop & Johnson for $4.9 million. M/Y AD5, a 104-foot (31.7m) yacht built in 2011 by Agantur Yachting in Turkey, listed with Camper & Nicholsons for $4.3 million. M/Y La Reina Del Mar, a 102-foot (31.4m) Hakvoort built in 1985, listed with Fraser Yachts for 2.9 million euros. S/Y Dark Side of London, a 90-foot sloop, listed with BGYB for 1.25 million euros.
“It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with so many amazing people over the last 42 years,” van Lent said. “Feadship attracts the most ambitious and quality-driven clients in the superyacht world, and I am delighted that their future and that of the Feadship family is safe and secure with a new generation of leaders at the helm. I look forward to playing a background support role in this new era of success.”
Newly launched / delivered
Ex-Burger chief joins YachtZoo
Benetti will debut two new models at the Monaco Yacht Show this month, the 45m M/Y Domani and FB 264, a fourdeck 63.5m vessel. Westport has launched the first in its new 125-foot (38m) raised pilothouse series. The yacht will make its world debut at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. Vitters Shipyard has launched the 33m S/Y Missy, a high performance, carbon-fiber, sloop-rigged superyacht designed by Malcolm McKeon Yacht Design. Its hull was constructed by Green Marine, Vitters’ composite subsidiary in Southampton, UK. Horizon Yachts of Taiwan unveiled designs of the new Horizon E98 motoryacht, M/Y Do It Now. The first of this model is scheduled for delivery in early 2017.
News in the charter fleet
M/Y Quantum, a 120-foot (36.6m) yacht built by Warren Yachts, is listed with Northrop & Johnson and available in Australia.
New CEO at Feadship
Jan-Bart Verkuyl has been appointed CEO of Feadship’s Royal Van Lent yard, where he will be responsibile for day-to-day operations of the facility in Kaag, its subsidiaries and the new yard in Amsterdam when it opens in 2018. Dick van Lent has stepped down after more than 40 years. A sailor who has participated in international regattas, Verkuyl started his career as project manager at the maritime research institute Marin in 1998. He joined Feadship De Voogt Naval Architects in 2006 and held various roles in engineering, design, construction and sales. In 2011, Verkuyl transferred to Feadship’s Royal Van Lent yard and joined the Feadship board of directors three years later. Van Lent started work at Royal Van Lent as assistant manager in 1974 and became CEO in 1985.
David Ross has joined Monaco-based YachtZoo as CEO of its U.S. office in Ft. Lauderdale. Ross was president and coowner of Burger Boat Company before retiring in 2007.
Maine yard builds first Brevilla
Front Street Shipyard in Belfast, Maine, has begun construction on the first boat in a new series of center console power catamarans for Brevilla Boat Company. Hull No. 1 is a 48-foot composite catamaran with a 13-foot-10-inch beam and 20-inch draft. The hull form provides lift, speed, shock mitigation and advanced handling. It will run at speeds in excess of 55 mph with twin 350-hp outboards. Front Street Shipyard will launch the first test platform of the Brevilla 48 in early October.
MYBA chair re-elected
Northrop & Johnson Charter Director Fiona Maureso has been reelected to a second term as president of the Mediterranean Yacht Brokers Association (MYBA). Her mission is two-fold, according to a news announcement: First is to reach out to the next generation and safeguard MYBA’s standard of ethics and professionalism; and second is to work more closely with other industry organizations to ensure that yachting remains safe and enjoyable for clients. MYBA’s first president was Kees Van Vliet, then-president of Northrop & Johnson’s office in Cannes.
New Denison office opens
Ft. Lauderdale-based Denison Yacht Sales has opened its 21st office, in the San Francisco Bay area at Oakland Marinas. The office is Denison’s fourth in California and fifth on the West Coast. The San Francisco location will be led by Don Margraf, a broker who has raced sailboats, consulted for boat builders on three continents, delivered yachts across oceans and sailed thousands of miles.
September 2016 The-Triton.com
Marinas / Shipyards Rybovich dredging under way
Rybovich Superyacht Marina & Refit in West Palm Beach is nearing completion of construction work at its north yard, which will open 800 linear feet of dockage with a controlling depth of 17 feet. “We expect to be fully operational by Oct. 1,” said Carlos Vidueira, vice president of Rybovich. – Dorie Cox
Firm hires for new La Ciotat team
Blohm+Voss has appointed JeanGabriel Tridon as general manager and Dieter Pladeck as finance director for its new maintenance and refit facility in La Ciotat in the south of France, which will focus on yachts over 80m. Tridon holds degrees in nautical sciences, naval architecture, ocean engineering and marine services. He worked with Blohm+Voss in Hamburg as dock operations coordinator and construction manager. Pladeck is a banker and a graduate economist. He worked for various companies of the ThyssenKrupp group before joining Blohm+Voss in 1998. At Blohm+Voss, he has been head of finance and accounting, and general manager, and an authorized officer for several subsidiaries. “The goal is clear: we want to get the facility ready for our customers as soon as possible,” Tridon said. The operational business in La Ciotat is scheduled to start by Nov. 1.
Varador opens in Palma
Barcelona-based Varador 2000 has opened a sales office in Palma to offer services and technical and logistics support to clients in the Balearic Islands. The new office is at Paseo Maritimo No. 16 A, near the auditorium. The office will also act as the company’s sales office (+34 662 12 62 07). Varador 2000 manages the nautical base for superyachts Mataro Marina Barcelona as well as a repair and refit technical base in Arenys de Mar.
Palma marina helps turtles
The Marina Port de Mallorca has created an arrangement with the Palma Aquarium Foundation to help aquatic animals in distress, especially sea turtles. The marina will provide a container to help collect and transfer marine species, which will then be recovered by the aquarium.
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12 Career
The-Triton.com September 2016
Turning 150 looks pretty good on us, don’t you think? Publisher’s Point Lucy Chabot Reed
As The Triton team sat around our conference table this summer making plans for our fall editions, it occurred to me that we were about to publish our 150th issue. The sesquicentennial. You hold it in your hands, and it reflects not only weeks and months of effort, but years of schooling on yachts, docks and shipyards, and of constantly refining our skills as reporters, editors, marketing experts and production managers. I’m proud of our product today.
Actually, I was proud of it from the beginning. We were small business neophytes, but we were passionate and committed, and from its first issue, The Triton made a statement. Looking back, I honestly believe the best thing we’ve ever done – and the most important thing we still do – is host the captains lunch every month. Getting six to 10 captains to sit down together in the same place at the same time is always a challenge, given all the balls they juggle to keep their vessels operational. We’ve hosted 150 of them now, and the conversations are always fantastic. We learn something new every single time. After 27 years as a journalist, it’s the most rewarding work I’ve ever done,
New Triton Editor Dorie Cox hosts the captains lunches monthly. and I’m grateful to the captains who have shared their expertise with us – and our readers – over the years. Our Triton Surveys have been fun to do, too. We started those in 2008 and
have done more than 100 of them now. I am constantly humbled that yacht captains take time out of their day to answer my nagging questions. Please know that your personal experiences, added together, have helped create an industry standard of sorts. When shoreside industry people wonder how captains handle something, many brokers and business owners have told me they look to our surveys to find out. And where would the industry be without Triton Networking events? Not to brag, but for a long time, ours were the only events held outside of the boat show season. I must give full credit for the birth of those events to Kristy Fox, the now-crew placement agent who helped us get The Triton off the ground in the spring of 2004. She was already organizing informal gatherings at local bars with captains she knew, and once The Triton was founded, it made sense to help our advertisers promote their businesses by having the events at their locations instead of in bars. I pulled all our issues out recently to look at the covers, to get a sense of the breadth of stories we’ve researched and written. I can’t even put it all into words. But one popped out – the special four-page wrap we did for the November 2005 issue that covered Hurricane Wilma’s impact on that year’s Ft. Lauderdale boat show. We had already gone to press with that issue when Wilma hit, but we got the printer to give us 24 extra hours to create that special piece. Those days before the storm and the tedious and heart-wrenching decisionmaking that followed kept us motivated and busy. We were proud to be a center
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September 2016 The-Triton.com
for information in those first hours and days since the show’s website was down but ours was operational. I guess looking back over 150 issues, I am proudest most of the crew we have gathered. Most of our Triton family – from employees to columnists to freelance writers and editors – have been with us for eight or 10 years, some since the beginning. And I’m super excited to announce that Dorie Cox has been promoted to editor, a role she has blossomed into over the past few months. (Read more about that on page 7.) So after 150 captains lunches, more than 100 Triton Surveys, 17 Triton Expos, about 220 Triton Networking events and thousands of stories in print and online, I’m just proud. As I was thinking about all this and writing this column, I received this lovely compliment from a captain of 24 years: “Since The Triton arrived and started taking an active role in the informing, joining, education and networking around the boat show, the whole local yacht industry has stepped up its game for captains to a higher level.”
Triton Expos (top) and monthly events connect crew and industry. And that’s been our mission, to give the people who see yachting as a profession the information to do their jobs and manage their careers better. It feels good to know we’ve made a difference. I guess my point is: What do you think? Have we made a difference? How can The Triton keep getting better? And where is there a need in yachting that you think we can fill? I’m all ears. Lucy Chabot Reed is publisher and founding editor of The Triton. Comments are welcome at lucy@the-triton.com.
The Triton has tried on a few hairstyles since 2004, from the primitive but functional first eight years, to the more colorful and professionally designed editions from 2012-2015, to the lastest magazine-style with our signature emphasis on news.
14 Career
The-Triton.com September 2016
Update: Crew light on whines; heavy on plans, budgets, details Owner’s View Peter Herm
In previous months, I have written about the crew we inherited with the current boat in Europe. We got lucky. Over the past 15 months, we have experienced many of the joys of big boating. These have included thousands of miles of Med and Adriatic cruising, yard periods, repairs, replaced equipment, amazing sights and spectacular weather. Like any good crew, ours is more than competent at the maritime parts of their jobs: safety, navigation, docking, maintenance, repair, etc. But what sets this group apart is its true desire to make the owner’s and guests’ enjoyment of the boat complete, including the little details. The crew that goes the extra mile is the crew an owner wants. For some reason, it can often be difficult to find. A few of the elements that have made this our best crew ever in more than 30 years of yachting: l No Whingeing (the British term for whining). Certainly they have commented on various elements of their jobs, like my overpromising of their talents to guests, back-to-back usage, insane refit schedules and my desire to always slow down. But in general, there has been little or no whining. Whining crew are fairly common in my experience and have probably led to more than a few owners departing from boat ownership. By all means, communicate, but this crew does it in a way that is not whining; many others do not. l Great Cruise Planning. I am not experienced in most of the places we have traveled in the past 15 months. A lot of them don’t even make the guide books. Virtually everything has been new to me, and much of it has been new to the crew as well. When I said, “Let’s run Montenegro to Venice,” the captain gently suggested another plan. Given the hundreds of unspoiled islands on the Croatian coast and my desire for uncrowded places, we would be missing a lot by trying to make such a long trip in a relatively short visit. The captain was right. He guided us toward a more rational schedule, and we saw some amazing places he picked from research into the guides and
chatting with other captains. My advice to owners: Let the crew plan your trip; you might be surprised at what you get. l Watching the Nickels. Big boating is not a sport for the light of wallet, but there are ways to reduce the financial impact of a lot of decisions. These decisions can be as small as provisioning and as large as engine rebuilds. But it is critical to have a captain and crew who do not view the owner’s wallet as a place to feed the black hole of big boats. Here’s just one example. Years ago, I interviewed a captain looking for a new job because the owner rarely used the boat. If the owner never used the boat, I asked, why was it docked in one of the most expensive marinas in Ft. Lauderdale? His response was scary. “It is more convenient for me. The owner doesn’t care, he is worth a billion dollars.” Needless to say, I did not hire him as this was not the financial attitude I was looking for, nor would any owner I know. There is a fine line between being cheap and being wasteful. My crew has it figured out. l The Little Things. Every owner I know has pet peeves, the minor irritants that drive them crazy. My list is well communicated: running out of beer/ice, dirty deck scuppers, broken bits on the tenders, and marinas in general. Fortunately, my perceptive crew has picked up on the needs/wants/peeves of my family members and guests as well. They have all commented how the crew has been able to anticipate their needs/ desires and make them happy, just by paying attention to the little things. It doesn’t take a lot, just listening, asking and anticipating rather than waiting to be told. That’s a critical and valuable skill that is tough to teach. I hope for a long-term relationship with my current crew. Hopefully, they will feel the same after a lot of R&R at the end of the season. For most folks here in the Med, that season end is September. But did I tell you how fabulous October is around here? And they did move the Ft. Lauderdale boat show into November, which leaves October wide open for one last trip. Bow west and high tide only. Peter Herm is the pen name for a veteran yacht owner who is an entrepreneur based on the East Coast of the U.S. Comments at editorial@the-triton.com.
16 Triton Networking
The-Triton.com September 2016
Network with IGY Marinas
T
he Wiener Wednesday gang joined The Triton for our networking and school supply-raising event at Ft. Lauderdale beach in August. More than 150 people gathered to reconnect, sample eight delicious hot dog toppings and make a difference in children’s lives. The back of Triton Publisher Lucy Reed’s Fiat was filled with pens, notebooks, markers and more for middle and high school students. IGY Marinas sponsored the event and has donated 75 backpacks for the cause. Thank PHOTOS/TOM SERIO you to everyone who attended and contributed.
September 2016 The-Triton.com
Network with United Yacht Transport
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ore than 150 captain, crew and industry professionals joined us for our regular third-Wednesday-of-the-month Triton Networking with United Yacht Transport in Ft. Lauderdale. New crew mingled with veteran captains, placement agents and pros from PHOTOS/LUCY REED and DORIE COX a variety of yachting companies.
Triton Networking 17
18 Operations
The-Triton.com September 2016
Sewage, discharge, garbage on list for yachts to monitor, log Rules of the Road Capt. Jake DesVergers
With the recent implementation of yacht inspections by the U.S. Coast Guard, plus the continued efforts being seen by the Paris MoU in Europe, a quick refresher about one of the major maritime regulations is overdue. The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, most commonly known by its acronym of MARPOL, is the most important of all global treaties established for protecting the marine environment. The original 1973 protocol covered pollution by oil, chemicals and harmful substances in packaged form, sewage and garbage. Following a series of tanker accidents in 1976-1977, a second protocol was adopted in February 1978 and entered into force Oct. 2, 1983. It applies to all vessel types, including both private and commercial yachts. The Convention includes strict regulations focused at preventing and minimizing both accidental and operational pollution. The current requirements are outlined in six technical Annexes. Annexes I and II are mandatory, with the remaining four Annexes voluntary per the discretion of each signatory nation (the flag with which the yacht is registered). Annex I details the discharge criteria and equipment requirements for the prevention of pollution by oil and oily substances. In addition to the technical guidelines, it contains the designation of “special areas” that are considered to be vulnerable to pollution by oil. Discharges within these areas are completely prohibited, with minor welldefined exceptions. The use of reception facilities, an oil record book, and survey requirements are also described. Compliance for yachts 400 gross tons and larger is verified through issuance of the International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP) Certificate. Annex II focuses on noxious liquid substances and has no practical application to today’s yachts. Annex III focuses on preventing pollution by packaged harmful substances. It has no practical application to today’s yachts. Annex IVapplies to vessels 400 tons and larger or those that are certified to
carry more than 15 persons (guests and crew). All new yachts must be delivered in compliance. Existing yachts were required to comply by Sept. 27, 2008. The Annex requires yachts to be equipped with a sewage treatment plant, a comminuting and disinfecting system, or a holding tank. Discharge into the sea is prohibited, except when the yacht has in operation an approved sewage treatment plant or is discharging comminuted and disinfected sewage using an approved system at a distance of more than three nautical miles; or is discharging sewage, which is not comminuted or disinfected, at a distance of more than 12 nautical miles. “Special areas” are also designated. Compliance is verified through issuance of the International Sewage Pollution Prevention (ISPP) Certificate. Annex V deals with different types of garbage and specifies the distances from land and the manner in which they may be disposed. The most important feature of the Annex is the complete ban imposed on all forms of plastic. A major component of this Annex is the maintenance of a yacht’s Garbage Management Plan and records. There is no specific certificate issued to verify compliance with this Annex. Annex VI sets limits on sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions from exhausts, and prohibits deliberate emissions of ozone-depleting substances. “Special areas” are established for increased scrutiny. Compliance for yachts 400 gross tons and larger is verified through issuance of the International Air Pollution Prevention (IAPP) Certificate. Compliance with MARPOL is a major issue for the world’s waterways. This is illustrated by the frequency of concentrated inspection campaigns by Port State Controls, such as the U.S. Coast Guard and Paris MoU countries. While not yet exhibited in the yachting arena, a large number of civil and criminal cases have been seen in the commercial merchant ship industry. Noncompliance with MARPOL has led to civil fines, banning of vessels, criminal charges against shipping companies, and even prison time for crew members. It is definitely not a regulation to ignore. Capt. Jake DesVergers is chief surveyor for International Yacht Bureau (www. yachtbureau.org). Comments are welcome at editorial@the-triton.com.
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September 2016 The-Triton.com
Engine misfire often largely to blame for vibration onboard Engineer’s Angle Rich Merhige
Vibration is easily attributed to misalignment, a bent shaft or a deficiency with a propeller. Often, though, the true source of the problem is engine misfire. The combustion process is one of the most important functions of a diesel engine. It is comprised of physical and chemical reactions, and has four stages: l Ignition Delay Phase. This is the period from the beginning of the injection to the point of the ignition of the fuel. The fuel that’s injected must be completely vaporized, air-to-fuel ratio must be precise, and temperature must be high for ignition to commence. l Pre-Mixed Burning Phase. As ignition begins, heat spreads rapidly throughout the engine, causing combustion to begin. l Diffusion-Controlled Burning Phase. Lower heat is diffused to control the burning of the fuel. l Combustion Tail Phase. The falling temperature and pressure initiates cooling, resulting in slower heat release. An engine misfire occurs when one or more of the cylinders inside the engine doesn’t fire correctly, especially when there is an interruption of the air-to-fuel ratio inside the combustion chamber. It’s important to note that misfire doesn’t always occur at all RPMs. It could actually occur at idle. Other scenarios that can make a misfire more likely to occur include: 1. A lack of air to the engine makes it difficult for the chemical reactions necessary for combustion to happen. 2. Faulty electronics can hamper the flow to the engine, hampering the reactions necessary for combustion. 3. Fouled injectors can lead to poor atomization. 4. Poor timing. 5. Contaminated or poor quality fuel. Misfires are one of the most difficult problems to diagnose because many situations can cause it. When an engine misfires, performance suffers. When performance of a mechanical component suffers, so does fuel economy and power output. This also increases emissions by reducing the efficiency of combustion. The cylinder cutout test is often used to diagnose a weak or failed injector. The test disables each injector and measures the difference in the fuel volume with the injector disabled compared to enabled. Load on the remaining cylinders is higher and the delivered fuel volume
increases to compensate. If a failed injector is cut out, delivered fuel volume on remaining cylinders will not change. Another tool is vibration analysis. In a general vibration survey, engine misfire vibration is picked up as a halforder harmonic of the engine RPM. This vibration is usually absorbed through the engine’s isolators, but excessive misfire may be transferred through the isolators or exhaust system and into the hull. A traditional vibration analyzer will not pick up the exact cylinder misfiring nor identify the nature of the misfire.
To precisely diagnose the misfire, use a diesel engine analyzer that uses ultrasonic measurements to detect degradation to internal engine components. By identifying specific issues, they can be fixed before they become expensive repairs. Left untreated, engine misfire can cause overloads to the crankshaft journals and connecting rods, which can be detrimental to an engine’s life. Today’s diesel engines are large machines that have thousands of parts and multiple systems. When any one component fails, it can lead to a host of
negative or catastrophic events. Most engineers follow the prescribed maintenance and routine inspections, but even with that, a significant amount of maintenance expense goes into unexpected failures. Condition monitoring programs can help identify problems before they cause failures. Rich Merhige is owner of Advanced Mechanical Enterprises and Advanced Maintenance Engineering in Ft. Lauderdale (www.AMEsolutions.com). Comment at editorial@the-triton.com.
20 Operations
The-Triton.com September 2016
Annual ‘physical’ spares yacht’s diesel a preventable ‘illness’ Diesel Digest Capt. Jeff Werner
We all understand the importance of completing an annual physical with our doctor. It is longevity. We all want to live as long as possible. Parts of our annual physical are tests ordered by our doctor to check our levels of cholesterol and blood sugar. We also do biometric screening such as measuring our blood pressure and bio mass index. The goal is to identify potential health issues, even before we experience symptoms, since many issues that develop over time can be prevented. Diesel fuel is no different. We all want longevity for the engines onboard the yachts we work on, so our jobs can run smoother. Fewer breakdowns mean fewer headaches. Since diesel fuel is the lifeblood of our engines, screening the fuel to make sure it is “in spec” should be part of all yachts’ fuel preventive maintenance program. The American Society of Testing and Materials has developed 2,400 standards
for diesel fuel. In the petroleum industry, if fuel doesn’t comply with those specifications, it is “out of spec” and is considered “bad fuel.” Of the specs, there are seven that an engineer or captain should be concerned about for everyday use, and they should be tested for on a quarterly basis: l Distillation gives information on the behavior of fuel during storage and use. l Microbial growth determines the presence of bacteria, mold and fungi, and the size of the colonies. l Flash point indicates contamination of diesel fuel by other fuels. l Water determination by Karl Fischer titration measures concentration of water entrained in the fuel. l Water and sediment determines the volume of free water and particulate matter in the fuel. l Appearance using a visual inspection procedure to determine the clarity of fuel. l Stability and accelerated aging measures the oxidation of fuel. If testing and analysis determine the fuel is out of spec and this is not addressed by fuel polishing, tank cleaning
and the use of proper additives, the results can be detrimental for an engine. The distillation analysis determines the boiling range characteristics of the fuel. This affects the injection, ignition and combustion phases of the diesel engine cycle. It is an important predictor for smoke, exhaust odor, cylinder and piston deposits, fuel economy and, ultimately, power output. The analysis of the remaining six tests all have an impact on a yacht’s fuel delivery system. If any of these six tests are out of spec, then problems with tank sludge, corrosion, flow, filter plugging, pump wear and injector wear are likely. These seven tests are typically performed by a fuel testing laboratory using a fuel sample provided by the yacht. Any crew member can be taught to draw the sample needed from each tank. If you suspect problems, then these tests should be run more frequently than four times a year. Samples should be drawn from two locations within the tank, the bottom and center. Water, dirt, rust, and other debris will settle to the bottom of a tank. It is important to detect and correct for
these contaminants. The bottom sample may not be representative of the overall fuel characteristics. Therefore, a mid-fuel level or center sample should be drawn. For smaller tanks, samples can be taken with a hand pump that collects the fuel in a plastic bottle. For larger capacity tanks, a metal “fuel thief” or “bacon bomb” is used. For a bottom sample, the fuel thief is lowered into the tank until the sampler’s plunger contacts the tank’s bottom. That opens the plunger assembly, admitting fuel into the housing. To take a mid-level fuel sample, a tug on a pull chain attached to the plunger opens the housing. Implementing and strictly adhering to a fuel preventive maintenance program, which includes fuel testing, is a simple and inexpensive alternative to the cost of repairing severely damaged high pressure pumps, injectors and pistons. Capt. Jeff Werner has been in yachting for almost 25 years, and is the owner of Diesel Doctor (MyDieselDoctor.com). All Triton readers receive a 10 percent discount on online orders. Comments are welcome at editorial@the-triton.com.
September 2016 The-Triton.com
Operations 21
Nothing worse than saltwater when it comes to survival at sea Sea Science Scott McDowell
Survival at sea is primarily decided by the availability of drinking water. Our body needs to consume roughly one-half gallon of fresh water daily to maintain healthy body functions. Without fresh water, the average person can live for only a few days; somewhat longer under comfortable conditions. It is possible to survive a week under extreme circumstances, but essential organs are often sacrificed during such ordeals of extreme dehydration. An easy way to remember survival parameters is by the Rule of Threes. Death can occur in: l 3 minutes without air l 3 hours in extreme cold l 3 days with no drinking water l 3 weeks without food (normally sooner) Drinking alcohol for survival when a fresh water supply is low is worse than not drinking at all because alcohol causes excessive urination and the body loses more water than normal to purge its cells. But there is nothing worse than drinking salt water. Physicians and biologists back in the 1950s attempted to cross the Atlantic without supplies of food and drinking water, solely to prove it could be done while consuming only seawater. The most noted was Dr. Alain Bombard who departed from France in an unpowered 15-foot inflatable boat. Upon reaching Barbados after 65 days adrift, he claimed to have survived without a freshwater supply, having lived solely on caught fish and plankton. Soon after, a German physician named Dr. Hans Lindemann went to sea (adrift) to disprove Bombard’s claim of living on seawater. (He also suspected Bombard of having a stash of freshwater but this accusation could not be proven.) Most believe Lindemann was correct, demonstrating that ingesting fresh water from consumed fish was insufficient for survival and that drinking seawater would exacerbate the problem. Lindemann nearly died during his extended drift. General acceptance is that seawater can be consumed but must be accompanied by three parts freshwater
mixed with less than two parts salt water. Consumption of straight salt water will definitely kill you soon. Seawater contains roughly 3.5 percent salt and 96.5 percent water. Our kidneys separate waste material in the blood and store it as urine in the bladder, but kidneys cannot make urine from liquid with a concentration of more than 2 percent salt. With this saline overload, the kidney must extract water from other cells in our body to dilute the excess salt, and this causes dehydration. Yes, the more salt water we drink, the thirstier we become and the more dehydrated as well. Drinking urine is not a solution either, as it contains the excess salt your body is trying to expel. The kidneys eventually fail to rid our blood of salt and concentrations rise to toxic levels. Our nervous system becomes short-circuited from the electrolyte imbalance, seizures begin and cardiac arrhythmia leads to death. An analysis of records from 163 separate life raft voyages (extended strandings) documented that 39 percent of sailors who drank seawater experienced death during or soon after their drift, whereas the risk of near-term death was only 3 percent for those who did not ingest seawater. These numbers may have been biased according to the duration of the strandings (e.g., fewer deaths for short strandings when survivors could exist without fresh water) but the 10-fold difference in death statistics is significant. All manuals for Survival at Sea strongly and wisely warn against drinking seawater. It is noteworthy that the manual for Marine Combat Water Survival of the U.S. Marine Corps specifies the following rules for sailors stranded at sea: l Do not drink salt water, urine or alcohol as they all dehydrate a sailor. l Do not smoke tobacco products. l Do not eat solid food unless potable water is available. Definitely worth remembering as you check your life raft and survival gear. Scott E. McDowell has a doctorate degree in ocean physics, is a licensed captain and author of Marinas: a Complete Guide, as well as a fictional thriller, both are available at www.scottemcdowell.com. Comments are welcome at editorial@ the-triton.com.
22 Where in the World
The-Triton.com September 2016
First Alaska trip helps stew appreciate yachting By Stew Melissa McMahon
ride and a helicopter ride. I can finally check those off my bucket list. The bird’s eye view of Alaska had to be one of my favorite adventures. We see these things in Every day is a struggle between really missing magazines or on TV. Now I can say I saw it with my home and having my breath taken away by the own eyes. views of the places I have gone during my first few During the seaplane ride, the pilot played music in months of yachting. The locales we see as yachties are our headphones and the playlist was on point. With unquestionably stunning. great music and beautiful views, I had to pinch myself My feet hurt after every day of working, naps to make sure it was all real. Five become a must during breaks, years ago when I was in college, and I’m dealing with 20 other I never would have thought or personalities. Is it all worth it? imagined myself doing all of this. Yes. The look on guests’ faces and The helicopter ride was their thank yous mean a lot, and awesome as well. Riding shotgun I would not see these mountains, and being able to walk across bears, tropical waters, and amazing a glacier is out-of-this-world marine life if I were home working amazing. I hope everyone can at the desk job I used to have. experience Alaska. Do it during Alaska has been the prime summer because it is a little chilly spot during this summer for the Stew Melissa McMahon eyes a here now, so I can’t imagine what yacht I work on. I have never seen PHOTOS PROVIDED it would be like in the winter glacier. anything like this before – the months. glaciers, mountains, whales, seals, Life is too short to not go on adventures, meet meeting the locals, and the excursions I got to go on people, and enjoy life the best we can. Thank during time off. All so incredible. you to the yachting industry for providing these With three days off every three weeks, we try to opportunities for us. manage our time thoroughly. Planning what to do, where to go, and who wants to go with, is a process. Melissa McMahon is a stew onboard a 230-foot yacht. There’s so much to do in such little time. For the first time ever, I got to experience a seaplane Comments are welcome at editorial@the-triton.com.
Crew Health 23
September 2016 The-Triton.com
It’s over; try this to recover from a charter By Angela Orecchio You’ve finally gotten into your workout routine, you’re eating healthier and even feeling slimmer. Then you receive the boat’s charter dates. Suddenly, bam! You’re smack in the middle of 12-hour days getting ready for the trip. Your fitness schedule gets a little messed up, and you’re indulging a bit more in foods and drinks that give you comfort and quick energy. Then the really long days start. The guests are on. You’re tired, your feet and legs hurt and you’re seeking emotional comfort anywhere you can find it. The last thing you want to do is work out and have a salad. I know this feeling all too well. I can manage a small workout schedule and continue eating healthy on short guest trips. Come the longer guests trips in summer, however, and I find myself falling off my healthy schedule all together sometimes. On this last guest trip, I didn’t exercise once, and my eating program was less than stellar. It’s not a big deal, as I know it’s short term, but it did take a noticeable toll on my health. So here’s how to recover from a charter: Acknowledge that you have just put your body and mind through something quite intense and that you might need a period of recovery. Visualize yourself
back into your fitness and healthy eating routine, and focus on it daily. This includes: 1. Starting slowly with your workout routine. This could mean spending a period just walking and doing some light yoga and body weight exercises. I like squats and pushups in between my yoga sessions. 2. Giving your body time to rest. Go to bed earlier and sleep in longer on days off. 3. Filling your body with mostly, if not all, whole plant-based foods and omit junk food and caffeine. 4. Drinking more water than you’re used to. At least 2-3 liters is a good starting point. 5. Having some alone time off the boat, if possible. Take walks and get out in nature. 6. Getting out of the city, if possible. Taking walks in nature, and taking your
shoes off out there. 7. Getting a good amount of Vitamin D by spending 15-20 minutes in the sun before 10 a.m. with as few clothes on as possible and without sunscreen but with sunglasses. 8. Making a gratitude list. Remember why you’re working on yachts and what your goals are. 9. Bonus: If you want to recover quicker, start today. Don’t indulge in the standard post-charter late-night drinking. Everyone is in a great mood once the guests leave, so it’s great to take part but keep your healthy goal in mind and limit your alcohol intake. Angela Orecchio is a chief stew and certified health coach. This column was edited from her blog, Savvy Stewardess, The Smart Girl’s Guide to Yachting (www.savvystewardess.com). Comments are welcome at editorial@the-triton.com.
24 Career
The-Triton.com September 2016
Trainers have profound effect on crew attitudes, professionalism On Course Capt. Brian Luke
Over the years, some captains and crew have been skeptical of education and training, or have grown tired of sitting in on certification courses, taking exams or spending well-earned money to do so. Well, I have good news. It’s all worth the effort. Training is worth it both for those who entrust their lives to the skill and expertise of the crew, and for career progression as a maritime professional. Central to this effort is the professional maritime instructor who helps crew members develop, learn and mature. The professional maritime instructor brings their expertise, knowledge, experience and stories to the training environment, whether in the classroom or onboard the vessel, to deliver not just relevant knowledge but an attitude about safety, learning and constantly wanting to know more and be better. The best training centers provide the culture and milieu for this to happen; the best instructors bring it to life. Great maritime instructors can have a profound effect on a crew member’s professional life and our industry. They can influence how crew members think about education and how they view the skills required for every position onboard the vessel. Instructors are responsible for the incoming generation of maritime professionals. Great instructors produce competently qualified crew members, and in doing so, provide a service that will undoubtedly save lives in the future. But great instructors do much more than instruct. Their attitudes toward professionalism influence the way crew and other professional trainers who fall within their “sphere of influence” conduct themselves. Great instructors help foster a culture of excellence among all those who work with them. They are critical in helping develop new training procedures and materials as regulatory requirements evolve and the complexities of the maritime profession grow. Instructors continually work on the training process and help to increase course effectiveness. Great instructors are always searching for ways to improve course content and delivery. These dedicated, committed and motivated individuals sometimes even spend
personal time researching and improving this training process. Efforts by these great instructors has a ripple effect throughout our industry. The professionalism the instructor imparts on his or her students will ideally then be imbued in the crew members those students work with in the future. These crew members will now have a solid base or foundation to move forward in their careers. This foundation helps create safer, more competent crew, and that means safer seas for all who travel upon the water. It also helps create an awareness of our fragile ocean environment, love of the seas, and our nautical traditions. If education and training are indeed the foundations of our maritime industry, then the instructors of our industry are the builders of that foundation. Without these foundations, it would be impossible to operate any vessel safely and securely. That safety is essential to those that entrust their lives to the crew. They rely on the crew to get them from departure to destination safely and securely. They rely on the crew for their safety at anchor and for their safety when they are playing on one of the water toys. They rely on the crew from the moment they step on the vessel to the moment they step off, regardless of whether they understand a crew member’s duty. All the while, the crew make it look easy when we know it is not. Education and training are the foundations of the crew’s expertise and ability. Education and training are the foundations of the crew’s competency and professionalism. Education and training are the crew member’s keys to career progression and earning potential. Education and training are paramount to the safety and security of yachting in particular and the maritime industry overall. The unsung hero to making great education and training happen is the professional maritime instructor. A great instructor’s motivation is to help all crew members learn, no matter their experience level, learning style or educational challenge. This motivation, as well as that of the individual, is key to keeping your career on course. Capt. Brian Luke is president of International Crew Training in Ft. Lauderdale (www.yachtmaster.com). Comments are welcome at editorial@ the-triton.com.
September 2016 The-Triton.com
Colleagues, captains will miss helpful surveyor By Lucy Chabot Reed Lloyd’s marine surveyor Sjaak Bot died of a heart attack on July 20. He was 61. A Dutch native, Mr. Bot had spent years as the principal surveyor for Lloyds in its office of 15 surveyors just outside of Ft. Lauderdale, and had recently been promoted to regional technical support manager for North and South America. He worked at Lloyd’s Register Marine and Offshore for 20 years. “He was the most dedicated, highly qualified, technical surveyor,” said David Callahan, vice president of client relations in the Americas and Mr. Bot’s boss. “He was sincere about finding reasonable, technical solutions for yacht owners and captains.” Mr. Bot trained “everybody in the office … and he affected many, many more,” Callahan said. “Anyone with yachts going through Lloyd’s survey knows him,” said Capt. Rusty Allen, manager of the Natita fleet, who saw him on the docks at Rybovich the week before he died.
“He was very approachable,” Capt. Allen said. “He realized things weren’t always black and white. He was willing to work with captains. The strict interpretation of the Lloyd’s rules say one thing, but if I could present a reasonable alternative, he would make it happen.” Capt. Allen said Mr. Bot tried to impress upon the surveyors he trained to operate the same way. “He had a lot of common sense, as long as it didn’t interfere with the safety of the vessel, the crew or the guests,” he said. “Hopefully, the new generation [of surveyors] will be as amenable to those of us running vessels. “He was a pleasure to work with,” Capt. Allen said. “I learned a lot from him.” As did many of Mr. Bot’s colleagues. “I worked for him for eight years,” said Gerrit Cramer, a marine surveyor who reported to Mr. Bot. “He was a wonderful team leader, and he was a wonderful example of how you manage an office. “And he was a person who put his clients first,” he said. “If there were ever
any questions or someone needed help, 24/7, he was always available or looking for a solution.” Mr. Bot is survived by his wife, Georgina, three grown daughters, one granddaughter, and many colleagues and friends. “In the office, he was friend, mentor, comedian, priest, counselor, surrogate uncle, you name it,” Callahan said. “And he was my best friend.” To leave a message for his family search Jacob Bot at www. palmswestfuneralhome.com. Lucy Chabot Reed is publisher of The Triton. Comment at lucy@the-triton.com.
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Today’s fuel prices
One year ago
Prices for low-sulfur gasoil expressed in US$ per cubic meter (1,000 liters) as of August 15.
Prices for low-sulfur gasoil expressed in US$ per cubic meter (1,000 liters) as of Aug. 15, 2015
Region Duty-free*/duty paid U.S. East Coast Ft. Lauderdale 437/469 Savannah, Ga. 528/NA Newport, R.I. 668/NA Caribbean St. Thomas, USVI 712/NA St. Maarten 670/NA Antigua 440/NA Valparaiso 542/NA North Atlantic Bermuda (Ireland Island) 583/NA Cape Verde 435/NA Azores 517/1,118 Canary Islands 657/700 Mediterranean Gibraltar 471/NA Barcelona, Spain 426/1,101 Palma de Mallorca, Spain NA/1,107 Antibes, France 434/1,254 San Remo, Italy 552/1,554 Naples, Italy 560/1,619 Venice, Italy 572/1,777 Corfu, Greece 541/1,281 Piraeus, Greece 509/1,225 Istanbul, Turkey 603/NA Malta 673/1,506 Tunis, Tunisia 438/NA Bizerte, Tunisia 441/NA Oceania Auckland, New Zealand 448/NA Sydney, Australia 473/NA Fiji 533/578
Region Duty-free*/duty paid U.S. East Coast Ft. Lauderdale 466/509 Savannah, Ga. 466/NA Newport, R.I. 622/NA Caribbean St. Thomas, USVI 799/NA St. Maarten 748/NA Antigua 720/NA Valparaiso 719/NA North Atlantic Bermuda (Ireland Island) 741/NA Cape Verde 551/NA Azores 608/1,346 Canary Islands 664/1,030 Mediterranean Gibraltar 459/NA Barcelona, Spain 619/1,408 Palma de Mallorca, Spain NA/864 Antibes, France 531/1,352 San Remo, Italy 666/1,621 Naples, Italy 644/1,610 Venice, Italy 753/1,630 Corfu, Greece 428/951 Piraeus, Greece 437/955 Istanbul, Turkey 482/NA Malta 608/1,041 Tunis, Tunisia 743/NA Bizerte, Tunisia 743/NA Oceania Auckland, New Zealand 540/NA Sydney, Australia 550/NA Fiji 545/NA
*When available according to local customs.
Devastation of Sept. 11 called out the best in us, if only for a while Stew Cues Alene Keenan
Fifteen years ago, Alene Keenan was the new chief stew on the 163-foot Oceanfast M/Y Mystique docked at Chelsea Piers across from New York City. This is edited from a letter to family after the attacks. To read the full letter, visit her website. It was hard to grasp the enormity that day, but America was changed forever. Generation X had evolved into Generation Why? The defining question of a generation was no longer “Where were you when JFK was assassinated?” (for those of us old enough), but “Where were you for 9/11?” I was there, and I will never forget. Moments after the first plane struck at 8:45 a.m., we ran out on deck. At first we were confused, but when the second plane hit at 9:03, there was no question for any us that this was not an accident. I have never been so afraid in my life. I expected more planes to fall from the sky, and probably bombs, too. We had a perfect view of the towers that day. The first tower fell at 9:59, the second at 10:28. We could not move the boat, so there we sat, at what rapidly became Command Central. The ice rink could serve as a morgue. The convention and sports areas were set up for medical triage, with hundreds of doctors and nurses waiting for survivors who could not be treated at hospitals. Along Westside Highway came a flood of people heading north. There was a hush to them, and here and there were people caked in fine beige powder. I imagined that Ground Zero was like a war zone, and remembered reading somewhere that the fabric of society frays in direct proportion to one’s nearness to the battlefield. In New York on Sept. 11, it was happening over a few blocks. Our crew volunteered as quickly as we could. We were met by two aides who instructed us that we were to accompany stretchers from ambulances, gather identification information and tag victims. Groups assigned by color divided the area, and we were warned that it would be hard to witness. Green and yellow tags were for the ambulatory and moderately injured; red and black for seriously injured or dead. My knees buckled a little when I heard that. We waited and waited for the
wounded to arrive, but they didn’t come. No one was coming out of that awful cloud a few blocks away. We were all just there – doctors, nurses and volunteers like us – stacking boxes and erecting eye-wash stations, making neat little trays of gauze bandages and syringes and antiseptic wash. Staying busy let us believe we were doing something to help. So many volunteers had gathered that we were asked to wait outside. By this time the sun was setting over the Hudson River and for a while, maybe a half hour, there was a stunning gold tinge to the sky. In the true spirit of that wonderful city, even in the midst of their own anguish, those waiting for ferries to shuttle them home greeted us with a round of applause as we poured out into the afternoon light. It was amazing to see how people treated each other. There was so much kindness, care and concern, everyone trying to do or say anything to ease someone else’s suffering. The grief and fear were palpable, though. Some peoples’ eyes were desperate, or terribly sad and vacant, as if the mind was trying to erase what the eyes had seen. I sat on the fly bridge all evening, watching the smoke rising from the charred remains of the Twin Towers, thinking of all the souls lost that day. By the second day, people began to emerge from their shock. Impromptu memorials began to pop up, little altars of flowers and candles. What also blossomed were a million small posters, photos of those still missing. At Chelsea Piers there was something to do 24 hours a day. We could step off the boat and help any time of day or night, even if it was just loading the boats carrying supplies to Ground Zero. I thought about all we have and take for granted every day of our lives. On Sept. 11, 2001, in uncounted ways, in final phone calls, in circumstances that Hollywood should no longer try to match – it was proved true all over again: “What will survive of us is love." We have so much to appreciate. We, as a society, are so fortunate to have such a wonderful way of life. Let us carry into the world the spirit of hope and of peace. Alene Keenan is lead instructor of yacht interior courses at Maritime Professional Training in Ft. Lauderdale and author of "The Yacht Guru's Bible" (www. yachtstewsolutions.com). Comments are welcome at editorial@the-triton.com.
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September 2016 The-Triton.com
Cucumber and Rotini Pasta Salad Crew’s Mess Capt. John Wampler
The dog days of summer have little to do with an old hound dog lazing in the shade of a cypress tree, or a song by Florence + The Machine. The phrase comes from Greek antiquity. To the Ancients, the “dog days” occurred around the day in late July when the star Sirius in the constellation Canis Major rises in the dawn just before the sun. In fact, Sirius is also known as the Dog Star and is the brightest star in the night sky. And as we all know in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is at its hottest in late summer. Here’s a cool dish to serve as a side, or stand-alone vegetarian meal.
Ingredients:
1 cup dry whole grain rotini pasta
3 Tbsp key lime juice 2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped 2 Tbsp. agave nectar 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 1 cucumber, peeled, chopped in 1/2” squares 1 cup roma tomato, diced 1/2 cup red onion, chopped Cook pasta, drain and allow to cool. Combine key lime juice, cilantro, sugar, salt and pepper in small bowl
and mix well. In a large bowl, combine pasta and vegetables. Toss gently with the lime dressing and serve chilled. Variations: Want protein? Add some cooked northern beans. Spice it up with minced jalapeño. So simple, yet oh so good. Enjoy. Capt. John Wampler (www.yachtaide. com) has worked on yachts for more than 30 years. Comments are welcome at editorial@the-triton.com.
The Green Flash Top Shelf Chef Mark Godbeer
Everyone always asks me what I eat on charter, and how I stay in reasonable shape with all that temptation at my fingertips. The answer: A balanced diet. When your day begins long before the sun rises, and the galley is filled with aromas of bacon and croissants, along with an array of other aromatic culinary delights, the beast in your belly will awaken, ravenous. But this is not what you need to endure the whole day. Leave the processed sugar and fats for those on vacation. I personally cannot afford to be weighed down by heavy morning meals before a 17-hour day. And with my mobility restricted to the galley, I need something to give the ol' metabolism a kick start first off. The Green Flash is an energy, digestion, antioxidant and
metabolism booster. Drink one on an empty stomach allows the body to absorb the vitamins and nutrients easier and quicker. Be sure to eat something light a little later on, and by then your metabolism and you will be firing on all cylinders. Ingredients: 2 kiwifruit, peeled (Vitamin C) 2 stalks celery (fiber, Vitamin K) 1 lemon, peeled (detox, Vitamin C) 1 Tbsp fresh ginger (immune boost, motion sickness) 1 cup spinach (fiber, protein, multiple vitamins) 1 cup watercress (calcium, Vitamin A) 1 tsp coconut oil (antioxidant) 2 cups coconut water (electrolytes, hydration) 2 cups water (energy, hydration) 1 tsp chia seeds (energy, stamina) 1 tsp flax (digestion, antioxidant, Omega 3) 1 tsp turmeric (metabolism, antioxidant, digestion) 4 large mint leaves (mental fatigue, flavor)
Place in blender in that order and blend for 1 minute. Drink immediately. Kick butt all day. Mark Godbeer has been a yacht chef for more than 10 years (chefmarkgodbeer. com). Comments are welcome at editorial@the-triton.com.
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Triton Survey
Ft. Lauderdale boat show
With a boat or not, captains attend FLIBS for work, fun By Lucy Chabot Reed As summer comes to a close, we all in South Florida are eager for the fall and the return of traveling yachts and crew. And, of course, we think about the fall’s signature event, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. We were curious if captains and crew actually attend the show on their own, or if they only go when working on a boat being exhibited at the show. Anecdotal evidence from captains lunches and bumping into captains on the docks at the show tell us they do, but we wondered to what extent, and why. So we asked. Are you going to this year’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (Nov. 3-7)? The largest group – nearly half of our 125 yacht captain respondents – will
be going, even though they will not be working on a boat in the show. “As a captain, I need to stay current on industry trends,” said a captain in yachting more than 30 years who attends nearly every year. “FLIBS is the best way to do that.” About 18.5 percent of our respondents will be at the show because they are working on a boat. “I'll be there, unless the boat is sold before then,” said the captain of a yacht 120-140 feet. Taken together, that means two-thirds of our captains will attend the boat show. Most of the rest – about 21 percent – were undecided as of mid-August. “This is yachting,” said the captain of a yacht 100-120 feet. “I don't know what I am doing next week, let alone the end of October.” Just 12.9 percent will not be going.
“I don't miss many, but I will be working in Tahiti this year,” said the captain of a yacht 160-180 feet in yachting more than 20 years. How many times have you been to this show in the past 10 years? The largest group – 39 percent of our respondents – have been to this show between seven and nine times in the past 10 years. When we add those who have been every year (22 percent), a majority of captains attend the show regularly. (When we looked at this combined group, we thought we would find only veterans, but we discovered that they were evenly split among all our categories for length of time in the industry.) About a third of our respondents have been to the show three to six times in the past decade, and just 5.7 percent said they had been only once or twice. No one said this year would be their first.
Do you only attend when working on a boat, or do you attend on your own? The vast majority – 82.6 percent – said they attend with or without a boat. About 9 percent usually attend on their own. About 8 percent attend only with a boat in the show. For the roughly 13 percent not going to the show, we wondered Why will you miss the show? The majority – about 62.5 percent – will not be in the area. “Was planning to go, but family plans conflict,” said the captain of a yacht 80100 feet. “Really wanted to go. I will make it next year.” About a quarter of our respondents said they don’t attend boat shows. Just 12.5 percent said there was no need to attend since their boat was not for sale and the owner was not looking to buy another one.
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Triton Survey For the majority of our respondents who are coming, we asked If and when you come without a boat, do you come each of the five days? Just 5.4 percent do. The rest were pretty evenly split between attending several days (48.6 percent) or just one day (46 percent). If and when you come without a boat, why do you come? What do you get out of it? Most captains come for three reasons: to network with suppliers and brokers, to research new products and technologies, and to catch up with old friends. “New products, networking and to get the heartbeat of the industry,” said the captain of a yacht 80-100 feet who has attended the show more than seven times in the past decade. “What better place than FLIBS?” “To do centralized and physical product research, some networking, and socializing with old friends and peers,” said the captain of a yacht 160-180 feet who has attended a handful of times in the past decade, always without a boat.
“Keep up to speed on electronics and other shipboard systems,” said the captain of a yacht less than 80 feet who attends nearly every year but will be out of town this year. “The ability to meet with factory people versus local dealers or suppliers is a big plus.” “Networking,” said the captain of a yacht 100-120 feet who attends every year. “If they don't see you at the show, rumors circulate that you have died.” “Seeing vendors and manufacturers, looking at new equipment, and dealing with issues with existing equipment,” said the captain of a yacht 120-140 feet who attends every year. “In the past few years, attending some of the educational seminars.” “Networking, the only reason to go,” said a captain in yachting more than 30 years who attends nearly every year. “You get to say hello to industry partners that you may not have seen in the previous year, and run into other captains and crew. You only need to hang out in one place: the rum barge. Sit there long enough and everyone you know in the
Do you only attend FLIBS when Do you wander around the working on a boat? show? No .9%
Only with a boat 8.3% Always on my own 9.1% Both with and without a boat 82.6%
industry will come by. Although I do make an effort to annoy the brokers and keep my face in theirs. That is where the best jobs come from.” Whether working or not, do you wander around to see what’s new? About a third explore every bit of the show, meeting all the people they can.
Yes, every bit of it 35.5%
Sort of 63.6%
“Well, not every bit of it, but not just cruising around either,” said the captain of a yacht 120-140 feet who attends every year. “The technology and engineering tents are a must. I skip the tourist and fishing tents. Dockside, I view all the big
See SURVEY, page 30
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Events, parties a large part of FLIBS experience, value SURVEY, from page 29 yachts, but not small or fishing boats.” Two-thirds will walk the docks, visit with friends, and visit a few key vendors. Less than 1 percent said they don’t wander much. Do you take tours of the new yachts? Slightly more than half do. Do you go to events after show hours, outside of the show? The largest group – 44 percent – takes in all the key events. But surprisingly (at least to us) was that the next largest group – 27.5 percent – don’t attend any outside events. About 16.5 percent attend only National Marine Suppliers’ customer appreciation and fundraising party. The smallest group – 11.9 percent – go to as many events as possible. What are the best parts of the show? Topping the list are the networking (chosen by 68.2 percent of captains) and access to vendors (chosen by 57.3 percent). Events (29.1 percent) rounded out the top three. “I need more time,” said the captain of a yacht 160-180 feet who attends every year. “I can't attend all that is offered due to time constraints.” About 21 percent of captains liked the seminars, and 18 percent like the debuts. “Although I checked seminars, I rarely have had time to attend them,” said the captain of a yacht 100-120 feet. Last year, show organizers moved the show one week later to the first weekend in November? Do you approve of this shift? Slightly more than half said yes, with most of the rest saying it didn’t matter.
“We wrap up our season in late October,” said the captain of a yacht 80100 feet who attends nearly every year. “The later weekend is nicer. It ensures I can make it to the show.” “The farther back in storm season, the better,” said the captain of a yacht larger than 220 feet who attends most years. “It gives us an extra week to get the boat ready for the show,” said the captain of a yacht 120-140 feet who attends every year. “There’s a massive crunch time in the yards during October.” “I get to have Halloween with my kids,” said the captain of a yacht 80-100 feet. Even though a large group of captains said the date shift didn’t matter to them, several noted reasons why it wasn’t ideal. “I like to leave for the Caribbean the 1st week in November,” said the captain of a yacht 80-100 feet who will not attend this year. “They didn't take into consideration the time change,” said the captain of a yacht 120-140 feet who attends every year. “It gets darker earlier. When it gets dark, everyone goes home.” “I know that you have to have a show at some point, but having the show when most boats are trying to conduct shipyard periods is crippling,” said the captain of a yacht 160-180 feet. “Most of the suppliers and venders lose two weeks before the show and two weeks after the show, plus a week for the show. Most of their production, manufacturing and service comes to a halt, leaving existing customers that are actually trying to get their boats ready for the winter season stranded without assistance.” Only 7.9 percent said they didn’t like
Do you take tours of new yachts?
Do you go to events after show hours, outside of the show?
No 46.4%
Yes 53.6%
Yes, as many as I can 11.9% Just the National party 16.5% No 27.5%
Yes, the key ones 44%
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the shift. “It screws things up for starting season and makes refit time to go to the Caribbean shorter, but I guess we will all get used to it,” said the captain of a yacht 80-100 feet. We really wanted to understand not only captains’ behaviors related to the show, but their impressions and suggestions, so we asked How can the show be better for captains? “More conferences and seminars on important topics,” said the captain of a yacht 80-100 feet in yachting more than 10 years. “I would love to have a captain's tour time where, at a given time, the captain of a yacht will give a group of other captains a tour. I find it really informative to tour other boats.” This was a popular thought. “More seminars for captains,” said the captain of a yacht 140-160 feet who attends nearly every year. “More equipment and regulatory seminars,” said the captain of a yacht 120-140 feet who attends every year. “Streaming seminars when we can't make them,” said the captain of a yacht 120-140 who attends nearly every year. “I never know what the event/ seminars are,” said the captain of a yacht 160-180 feet who has attended a handful of times in the past decade. “Any seminars should be outside of the actual show and done a couple days prior to the show,” said the captain of a yacht 180-200 feet who attends most years, but just for one day. “During the show is not practical, and at the show the venue is a mess for parking and getting in and out for those not in the actual show.” We include here all the other productive thoughts captains shared in the hopes that show organizers will take their needs and desires into account for future shows. (A sidebar lists some things captains say is missing at FLIBS.) “A preferred pass to get on boats for informative purposes without going through the broker process,” said a captain in yachting more than 20 years who attends every year. “Maybe make it as part of a captain lounge.” “Allow captains access to all brokerage boats without hinderance from gatekeepers,” said the captain of a yacht 140-160 feet who attends most years. “Even though we are not the owners/ buyers, a little more respect from yacht brokers would be nice,” said a captain in yachting more than 35 years. “Often, we are shopping for a new boat for the boss.” “When I have worked the show, I would have preferred an earlier closing time,” said a captain in yachting more than 35 years who attends the show every year. “7 p.m. is too late as the docks empty around 5.”
What’s missing at FLIBS? l A place to hide. l Acaptain’s lounge. l A location for government info
and homeland security guidebook for all flagged yachts. This would help captains prepare with state-tostate rules and laws on operation, waste discharge. etc. l A write up of what's new at the show. l Really big yachts should anchor off the beach, and run in near the Bahia Mar footbridge over A1A. l Parking. l More bathrooms and better food. l Better information on parties and events well before. I travel from the West Coast so I have to plan hotel and flights well in advance. l Tickets for family. l Better safety. If a yacht ever caught on fire, it would be a domino effect of boats burning. Once you are locked in the show, you are trapped. It is not a very safe set up. Add bad shore power to the mix, boats with no crew living on board while plugged into power, and it is just a matter of time. “It is getting better, year by year,” said another captain of a yacht 120140 feet who attends every year. “Keep following the new trend of combining outlets together for social and business functions. Speakers are a big draw.” “An in-the-biz-only day would be great,” said the captain of a yacht 140-160 feet who attends nearly every year. “It's too big,” said the captain of a yacht less than 80 feet. “Palm Beach is the new FLIBS. I won't miss that show now.” “Need better electrical and shore power,” said a captain in yachting more than 25 years who will be exhibiting a new yacht this year. “They removed the tender dock last year, which made it very inconvenient to get guests to and from the show,” said the captain of a yacht 120-140 feet who attends every year. “Make brokers sign a ‘I swear to tell the truth’ statement, and don't allow a boat in the show without a price,” said the captain of a yacht less than 80 feet. “Personally, I think the show is pretty well run and appreciate the amenities provided to crew,” said the captain of a yacht 120-140 feet in yachting more than 20 years. Lucy Chabot Reed is publisher of The Triton, lucy@the-triton.com. We conduct monthly surveys online. Crew can email us to be included.
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Make smart choices, do it often, when on mission to gain weight Nonfat dry milk powder is an excellent choice for adding extra muscle-building Take It In protein along with needed nutrients such Carol Bareuther as calcium. Stir the milk powder into mashed potatoes, cream soups, breakfast cereals, smoothies and even a glass of It’s a problem everyone thinks they milk to make a fortified beverage. would love to have. Yet gaining weight Smoothies are a great way to boost can be a real challenge for those who find it hard to pack on the pounds. Their consumption. In addition, liquids usually digest more quickly than solids reasons range from athletic pursuits to and therefore are less likely to cause an achieving a healthful weight because of a uncomfortable genetic tendency full feeling. Think toward slimness to outside the box weight loss from a with smoothie health problem. ingredients. Add The key is to avocado, Greek not start chowing yogurt, wheat down on highgerm, flax, nuts calorie goodies and seeds, and such as cakes, nut butters in cookies, ice cream addition to fruits and chips to gain and vegetables. weight. Instead, Dried fruits choose healthful, and nuts are small calorie-rich, dynamos that can nutrient-dense add a heaping foods and alter helping of eating habits to vitamins, minerals take in more of Photo Courtesy of Almond Board of California and calories to these items during dishes when the day. Fork into nutritious weight-gain foods sprinkled on or stirred into salads, soups, in one of two ways. First, choose the most hot and cold cereals, rice, pasta, couscous and sweet potatoes. calorie-rich nutrient-dense foods – both Beans are another fortifying choice. single and prepared foods – in each food Stir into rice, pasta, soups, stews and group. Secondly, fortify everyday dishes casseroles, and snack on bean-based with pound-producing ingredients. foods such as hummus. On the food group front, choose Avocados are granola, dense rich in calories whole-grain breads The key is to not start due to a rich (especially those content of healthy made with nuts and chowing down on high-calorie monounsaturated seeds), wheat germ, goodies such as cakes, cookies, fat as well as many whole-grain pasta, ice cream and chips to gain body-building rice and barley nutrients. Make when it comes to weight. guacamole and eat breads and cereals. on whole-grain For fruits and chips or crackers, add slices of avocados vegetables, try bananas, dried fruits, figs, to sandwiches, use slices as a soup topper avocados, corn, peas, lima beans, sweet or drop them in smoothies. potato or yams, and root vegetables such To gain weight, eat small meals as parsnips, beets and rutabaga. through the day, as long as food choices Select full-fat milk and milk products are calorie rich and nutrient dense. such as yogurt and cheese in the dairy Have snacks and meal fixings handy so group. there are no missed eating opportunities As for protein foods, choose beans, throughout the day. nuts, seeds, tofu and fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, swordfish and sardines. There are many simple ways to fortify Carol Bareuther is a registered dietitian everyday dishes. This doesn’t mean going and freelance health and nutrition writer. Comments are welcome at editorial@theout and buying an expensive protein triton.com. powder or nutritional supplement.
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September 2016 The-Triton.com
Disasters can happen anywhere; are you and your crew prepared? Sea Sick Keith Murray
Medical emergencies happen every day. These emergencies can be accidental, such as car accidents, falls or cuts. They can be health-related, such as in the case of a heart attack and stroke. There are environmental emergencies caused by mother nature, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tornados. And another group of medical emergencies are caused by acts of terrorism, war and violent criminals. People who work on yachts must be prepared for any type of medical emergency. They receive training and, practice in drills, so that in the case of an emergency, their training kicks in, they can rise above any fear or concern, and they can be of the most help. It is difficult to predict when and where a medical emergency will happen. The best way to be prepared is to be aware of the surrounding situation, to keep current with CPR AED and first aid training, and have the best tools on hand in as many places as possible. That means not only the yacht, galley and engine room, but also the tender, the Jet Ski, the yacht’s car, the day-trip backpack, etc. Here are a few medical emergency situations that made the headlines this year. If you had been there, would you have been able to assist? Bakersfield, Calif., July 16: Fourteen people were hospitalized after being wounded in a drive-by shooting. Nice, France, July 14: At least 84 killed and 202 others injured after a truck purposefully drove through a crowd at a Bastille Day celebration. Dallas, Texas, July 7: A lone gunman killed five police officers and injured nine others as they worked protecting protesters. Baghdad, Iraq, July 3: About 300 dead after a suicide truck bomb blew up in the street in front of a popular shopping area. Istanbul, Turkey, June 28: 44 killed in an attack with gunshots and suicide bombings at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. Orlando, Fla., June 12: 49 killed and 53 injured by a gunman in a nightclub. Lahore, Pakistan, March 27: 72 killed, including 29 children, in a bombing at a park. Brussels, March 22: 32 dead in three suicide bombings, two at the airport and one at a subway station. Reading this, one might wonder what these suicide bombings and militarystyle attacks have to do with yachting.
Most of these attacks happened in war zones, places yachts don’t visit. But they can happen anywhere – airports, subway stations, nightclubs, parks. In Chicago, so far this year 336 people have been killed by gunshot, 1,937 more people wounded. When disasters such as those listed occur, they can overwhelm local emergency medical services. On dry land, we can pick up the phone and call for help. But just like at sea, during a major incident, help is not so close. When there is an incident, we are the ones tasked with providing emergency medical care. My question is, are you prepared? Think about how prepared you and your crew mates are for a disaster. Faced with someone who has been shot,
would you know what to do? Are your emergency medical first aid skills up to date? If you were the victim, who around you has the skills necessary to help you? If you were impaled with something, would they leave the item in, or pull it out? If you were shot, would your team know how to control the bleeding? If you don’t feel comfortable either in your skills or in the skills of those around you, learn. Schedule to take a class. Next, make certain the right equipment and supplies are onboard to treat people in medical emergencies, including the ones to protect yourself, Personal Protective Equipment. PPE includes gloves, glasses and a CPR barrier mask. These protect first responders from bloodborne pathogens.
Look at all first aid kits onboard. At a minimum, refresh the contents every year. Make certain you know what each item does, and if it is up to date. It is not possible to have PPE and first aid kits everywhere, but the more places you have them – and the more often you open them and go through them – the better your odds of being able to safely help a person in need. Trained as an emergency medical technician, Keith Murray now owns The CPR School, which provides onboard CPR, AED and first-aid training as well as AED sales and service. Contact him through www.TheCPRSchool.com. Comments on this column are welcome at editorial@the-triton.com.
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The-Triton.com September 2016
Can’t anticipate ‘all variables’, often just ‘need good insurance’ POWER, from page 1 loss are numerous, but the possibility it may happen is real. “It’s a boat, and boats go bad,” Capt. Bill Tinker said. “I had a problem from Aruba to Cayman. I was in the engine room, a wave had hit us sideways and there was water in the ventilation. It hit the electronics and shut it right down.” Capt. Tinker managed to get into port with the other engine. But there was no way to anticipate that incident or what the results would be. Troubles can compound when traveling with limited crew or during deliveries, especially if there is no engineer onboard. “It behooves captains to know what will happen and how their engine works,” said Todd Barnes, general manager of RPM Diesel in Ft. Lauderdale. “Whether it is old or new, it may go into limp mode or shut down. “Some systems have no override option, but on some you can change the parameters,” he said. “Are captains aware of what their engine may or may not do?” Captains can never prevent every scenario, but Capt. Tinker’s advice is for captains to know their boat and practice possible problems. “Captains need good diagnostic skills,” he said. “We crawl through the boat and engine room. We check every valve and every pipe to find where it all goes. We take that knowledge then go through scenarios of ‘What would I do if...?’ “If you have that forethought, sometimes you can work through an emergency,” he said. “And sometimes, no matter your knowledge level, you can’t get out of it.” The outcome of some of those unexpected power losses make their way to the office of Scott Stamper, senior vice president of Atlass Insurance Group in Ft. Lauderdale. “Let’s take this scenario into North Bimini [in the Bahamas], where the course takes you directly at the beach and then requires you take a hard turn to port,” Stamper said. A captain is in a serious situation when a failure, especially a complete shutdown, or going deadship, happens when heading to the beach, he said. “He has no time to react,” Stamper said. “Unfortunately, in those circumstances, he needs good insurance. More than one boat has been on that beach.”
Each captain makes the judgement call whether the yacht is in a mayday or pan-pan situation, he said. “When you realize you’re having a failure, check your system, call for a tow, tow yourself, remain offshore, drop anchor,” Stamper said. “Know your emergency protocols. If lose you control and don’t know what will happen, deploy your anchor. If you’re in deep water with no imminent threat, then send an alert to other mariners and radio call for professional assistance.” There is no one answer to how to handle an engine shutdown. “Most modern yachts have some form of computer monitoring sensors that will modify the engine’s performance parameters to either limp home under reduced power or completely shut down,” Stamper said. “But every manufacturer is different. MTU, Man, Caterpillar, whichever, all address this preservation a little differently, but all have some type of circuitry that acts to protect the engine from catastrophic failure. This is in part due to the complexity of the equipment and the potential repair.” There is not much captains can do to prevent a loss of power, but they can research how it happens on their vessels, said Capt. Tony Pedraja, corporate captain of InterMarine in Ft. Lauderdale. “We can’t expect captains to know all these variables,” he said. “I run multiple boats each day. Many are still yet-to-becommissioned, and my chances of things going bad are higher than the average one-vessel captain.” Captains know how to maintain their yacht and train their crew. The best they can do to manage an engine shutdown is take another look, Stamper said. “Make a careful inspection of your engine for anything that has changed,” he said. “That could be very important. The little thing you ignore today could cause the serious scenario tomorrow.” And most importantly, understand what circumstances will go into a fail-safe mode and what emergency procedures to take, he said. “It can happen; systems shut down,” Stamper said. “Like a home computer or phone, they can lock up on you. This is just the age of the computer. It’s part of our life.” Dorie Cox is editor of The Triton. Comment are welcome at dorie@thetriton.com.
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September 2016 The-Triton.com
PHOTOS/KAY MELLINGER, IGY MARINAS
Outside the Box As yachts begin to plan their winter in the Caribbean or across the Panama Canal to points in the Pacific, we asked captains to share some thoughts about these three off-the-beaten-path destinations. See more on page 38.
Diving, fishing, beaches lovely in salty Turks & Caicos Easy access to best marina The main town is Providenciales, or Provo. It has two marinas: Turtle Cove and Blue Haven. Turtle Cove requires you to follow a guy in a dingy through all of the sandbars, 90-degree turns and coral heads. Blue Haven, which is an IGY marina, is new with floating docks that are positioned to manage the current when it comes through Leeward Cut. The Cut is much easier to deal with than Turtle Cove. It’s a straight cut that now has markers, but yachts might be limited by draft of 8 or 9 feet. The diving all around the islands is great. West Caicos is world renowned for great diving on the wall. The northwest point has great surfing all winter. There are several high-end resorts with excellent restaurants in Provo, plus some typical Caribbean restaurants. So guests can enjoy the beachy thing with conch or they can go for white tablecloth, elegant Colonial. Outside of Provo, it’s best to go with a guide because there are lots of barrier reefs and coral heads. But the whole place has amazing bays and beautiful beaches with nobody on them for those who are willing to adventure and explore a little bit. A lot of it, though is too shallow to anchor in. The reefs are still as beautiful as they were when I lived there. Big boats can come into Blue Haven, but I suggest leaving the boat at the dock or anchor in the cut behind Water Cay, which has good holding. The reefs there are fantastic, and they are easy to dive on. Crew can build a bonfire on the beach for guests, and there’s bone fishing right out from the marina. Needless to say, the game fishing around here is fantastic as well. A great trip is to have a guide take you for a trip to Bottle Creek. It’s a full-day trip to North Caicos where
the waters are crystal clear, there are sandbars to park on, and the wall reef is easily accessible. What put Turks & Caicos on the map was its ability to create salt, which was like gold. There were lots of ponds and pools. Cockburn Town on Grand Turk, the capital, restored a salt-raking facility and now it’s a boutique business. They offer tours that guests love. South of Grand Turk is Salt Cay. There is nothing there but birds and a beach. It’s absolutely stunning. The wreck of the British frigate HMS Endymion from 1790 is south of Salt Cay. On an average day, there’s 100-plus feet of clarity in the water. Check with the fisheries department on where to anchor and where not to, as officers will enforce it. – Capt. Herb Magney of M/Y Island Heiress
‘Awesome’ Blue Haven Marina makes visit easy The new Blue Haven Marina and Resort are awesome and a beautiful transient stop heading north or south with easy entry and departure. Customs and immigration are nice and accommodating. The other two marinas are for smaller and lesser-draft vessels. South Side Marina is nice for vessels with 5-foot or less draft, and has a great top-of-the-hill bar with super hospitality and awesome views. Visual navigation is necessary for all of the bank side cruising. Do follow the preferred route course lines if you want to stay out of trouble. (Visit the 80-foot Ferretti “bed and breakfast” to check out what a not-so-prudent captain left behind.) The marina development on southwest point this summer had not been completed and is at a standstill. There are marine stores, supermarkets and small casinos on the islands. The restaurants at the marinas are the best bet for excellent cuisine. – Capt. Bob Terrell
Find the glow worms to make a memory All guests to Turks & Caicos should visit the glow worms on a full moon. It happens on the bank in the area of the Fort George Land and Sea Park where, in some monthly mating ritual just after a full moon, all these glow worms pop up in shallow water and put out their “signal” to other worms. Very bizarre and accessible by kayak and small tenders. And there’s a friendly wild porpoise nearby that will swim up to yachts at anchor. Guests and crew have been known to get in the water and swim with it. – Capt. Michael J. Mullen
38 Where in the World
PHOTOS COURTESY OF IGY MARINAS
The-Triton.com September 2016
Find solitude amid St. Lucia’s picturesque setting Worth the trip Getting down to St. Lucia is a hike, especially in winter, because the weather can be rough. That’s 400 miles of open ocean. It definitely takes a captain who wants to go exploring. When you do make it, though, you can take guests places there are few other boats. It’s a beautiful island. The diving is great, but there’s not a lot of shallow water. The bottom is black sand from the volcano, so night diving is really cool. There are stunning, winding roads, and just looking at the Pitons is magical. The main airport at Vieux Fort at the southern end of the island is a 45-minute, gorgeous drive from the Pitons and Soufriere Bay, which has a concrete commercial dock. Better for guests to fly into the airport at Castries, take the 30- to 40-minute drive to Rodney Bay and see the Pitons by boat. The marina at Rodney Bay has proper concrete
docks and a marina village. It’s my first choice. The staff is superb. Even a very big boat can anchor out in Rodney Bay as it’s very protected. St. Lucia doesn’t have a lot of great beaches, which is why it’s not as popular with guests. You have to send guests to the chocolate inn, Hotel Chocolat. They grow the cocoa and roast the cocoa there. You can take a class to learn how to make chocolate. The Dasheene Restaurant there is where all the great photos of the Pitons are taken. I highly recommend calling Ben (bensconcierge. com). He’s got an extreme amount of charm and warmth. He rents jeeps, villas, and will be a driver. The St. Lucians do their Carnival all summer, from early May to mid-July. The Jazz Fest (early May in 2017) is fantastic and brings people from all over the Caribbean. – Capt. Herb Magney of M/Y Island Heiress
Locals make it fun Rodney Bay is a great little marina with all sorts of local/cute little stores along the marina front. It is well run and with super staff; we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there. Don’t miss the Gros Islet Jump Up (street party) every Friday night (walking distance from the marina). It’s a fun mix of locals and tourists. It’s safe, but watch out for the deep gutters on each side of the street. Gros and Petit Piton are very scenic. Anchoring on the north side is a great day trip. There is tremendous snorkeling and/or diving here, but it is not well protected for overnight. Hiking up the Pitons is possible but arduous and dangerous. Guests will definitely need a guide and a stout heart.
As our agent, we used Benny at Harmony Yacht Services, who coincidentally lives on the beach at the Pitons anchorage. He took great care of me and my guests with transportation, provisioning, customs/ immigration and all the little things. I understand that Ben’s Yacht Service is also good. – Capt. Mac McDonald of M/Y Lady Lola
Watch the winds St. Lucia is best avoided during Christmas winds, December through February. The Pitons anchorage is beautiful, but you will drag like crazy and mooring buoys are small so only good for smaller boats. Petit St. Vincent and nearby cruising is also beautiful but tender fuel can be an issue (hard to get and therefore expensive). – Capt. Martyn Walker
Fishing in Panama is fantastic The Pacific Coast of Panama has excellent fishing, big game fish as well as bottom and inshore fishing. The best times are when it hasn’t been raining much – so the summer/dry months – but the fishing really is good year round. The same is true of that whole region on the Pacific side of Central America. Having a major airport in Panama City means it’s easy to get there from anywhere, and there are flights to Las Perlas. Guy Harvey wrote about his more than 20 fishing trips there in the book “Panama Paradise”. – Capt. Ned Stone
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September 2016 The-Triton.com
Narcissists don’t care, so know how to spot, deal with them Crew Coach Capt. Rob Gannon
I was speaking with a client recently who expressed concerns about dealing with a spouse who she believes is a narcissist. This term narcissist or narcissism – has been front and center recently. (Critics have labeled a current U.S. presidential candidate as a classic narcissist.) This condition is real, and it can be quite damaging to those who exhibit it and others. So what is it? How can we recognize it? How do we deal with it? The word’s origin is from Greek mythology where the handsome young Narcissus falls in love with his reflection in a still pond. This isn’t just self-love. The key to the Narcissus myth is that he failed to recognize the reflection as his own. So with a narcissist, there is a disconnection with the true self. This differs from egotism, which is all about the self and a self-centered mentality of separateness and superiority, a belief that one truly feels better and more special than others. The narcissist needs to act special and craves the approval and adoration of others. The true self is lost and now it’s all a big cover-up, filled with the pitfalls of a constant cover-up. There is certainly a level of egotism in narcissists but not necessarily vice versa. I know, this runs pretty deep but hang with me. Let me break it down in one statement; narcissism is egotism on steroids. All of us have an ego, and we use it and manage it (hopefully) in a healthy way. There is healthy self-love and selfesteem. There is healthy self-confidence and, yes, even healthy selfishness. It is quite a bit harder – well, darn near impossible – to have a healthy narcissism. It’s a disorder; it can come from early abuse and trauma that places it beyond our “fixing” or “changing.” Narcissists need professional help but here’s the catch: they think they are perfect and awesome so there’s no reason for help. I have written about the ego in the yachting industry previously in this space, and I think we can all recognize it and its effects. But here’s how to recognize it. Narcissism is marked by a profound lack of empathy, a fundamental inability to understand and connect with the feelings of others. Narcissists react poorly and sometimes viciously to criticism or anyone simply disagreeing with them. They crave
attention and even adoration. Not just recognition, but way over-the-top recognition. Also, because they lack empathy, narcissists can be hurtful and are prone to seek revenge for perceived slights. They also know how to push other people’s buttons to bring them down to their misery level. Sounds like a party, doesn’t it? It’s not, and anyone who has had to deal with a narcissist knows how difficult it can be. So how do we deal with a narcissist?
First off, recognize and have some understanding of what dealing with a narcissist means. Don’t expect them to just change. Remember, this condition goes deep; we will not fix it. It might work to give them some of the food they live on – a little attention and stroking – but beware, this is like a coiled snake so don’t get too close. Be as kind as possible, but be aware. If the situation becomes unacceptable, it’s best to step away. Watch for the toxic energy spreading. It’s hard to miss. Let me end by offering this little test
to see if someone is a narcissist. It’s useful even for someone unfamiliar, just to find out where they’re coming from. It’s a question that can tell a lot. Ask the person, “In what ways do you need to grow or change?” Once you understand the narcissist, you will know what you’re looking for in their answer. Enjoy the voyage. Capt. Rob Gannon is a 30-year licensed captain and certified life and wellness coach (www.yachtcrewcoach.com). Comment at editorial@the-triton.com.
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September 2016
From the Bridge Dirty little secret: Law-abiding captains just trying to be safe GUNS, from the cover are identified in an accompanying photograph. The topic of guns on yachts is not often discussed publicly, but every captain had a story, whether his or a colleague's. And the captains said the topic is complex due to many variables: different owners, travel destinations, types of yachts and number of crew. One captain said a big challenge of weapons onboard is that it is an inherent part of yachting and travel. "Each state and each country has its own laws," he said. "We have to deal with this on a daily basis. It is just a chore." There are different opinions as to how captains handle whether to have guns, who can use them, how to train crew and how to adhere to diverse laws. "I've carried guns onboard boats, officially and unofficially," a captain said. "There are times when you need to have a gun onboard." "I have guns and no one knows," another captain said. "I would never tell just everybody," a third captain said. “But I would tell some crew, the engineer and mate, ‘Here it is if you need it’.” "It's been this dirty little secret," a fourth captain said. "Everything we do is regulated and regimented and we're thought to be procedure-driven people.
But there has not been enough of a 'When a gun is out, it gets fired,” he collective effort to address this issue." said. “And at the other end, somebody is The captains also talked about the dead. That's the purpose of the weapon; it strict laws in several places such as isn't to scare anybody. If you have taken Mexico, France and New York. the gun out of the holster, you need to be "It's hard,” one captain said. “If you mentally prepared not only to fire, but to have a gun in Mexico, you end up in a kill." Mexican jail.” Most of the group has had firearms "We don't want to do anything wrong training. One captain explained how an but at the same time having a firearm instructor shared photographs of people onboard does make sense to me," another who had been shot and killed. He wanted captain said. “So, consequently, you the class to see what they are capable of are putting lawdoing when using abiding captains, a gun. ‘But there has not been crew or owners “Some of the in a situation that really gruesome enough of a collective effort to is very awkward. photos had people address this issue.’ People are driven retching," the to do the wrong captain said. "But thing." it shows that using "It's just a zoo,” the first captain said. firearms requires extensive training." “It's a shame we don't have a structural Several captains have taken their crew policy for every country in the treaty to to gun ranges for practice to safely and say we're going to have guns and have properly use the weapons. Some take all training, like STCW." of the crew and some just take officers. "There is a serious lack of continuity But they agreed firearms are not for every – in white-list countries, at least – that crew member. there is a rule for everything else we do "Some people won't be able to pull the in class and flag," another captain said. trigger," a captain said. "You don't want “Why is this a gray area in yachts?” to just give a gun to anybody." And that's not what this industry is about, another captain said. Caretaking guns onboard "People don't get involved in yachting There is a lot more to having guns because they want to be armed and than just buying one and having it brandish a firearm," he said. "Not only do onboard, a captain said.
you need to be prepared to shoot people, you have to be prepared to be shot at. "If you visibly show a firearm, you could be shot at, and we're not trained for that," this captain said. "We're not mercenaries. We're not trained to be soldiers. We're yacht crew." One of the captains who does have guns onboard said his safety meetings and security drills take two days. "Even a flare gun is a firearm,” he said. “It has characteristics like a gun and fires a projectile. It's a firearm. And we don't get enough practice with those." A captain said flare guns are on every vessel and can be dangerous if crew don't know how to use them, but even that training is not easy to accommodate. "You can't just go shooting flares; you have to coordinate with the coast guard," he said. "You can take them to a firing range. You can't shoot up, but you can shoot straight out and crew can get an idea what it's like."
Clearing customs
Traveling with a gun onboard a yacht requires captains to decide how they will handle compliance with laws and regulations that vary by state and country. One captain illustrated with his story of clearing customs in Canada years ago. "I declared a shotgun and it was a big deal; it was very serious," he said. "Officials tagged it and allowed us through, but then they searched the entire boat. It was a four- or five-hour deal. They tell you that when you clear out, if that tag is removed, you go to jail." Some countries remove weapons and hold them in custody until the yacht leaves the country. One captain has learned how to navigate that system with the many guns that belong to the boat. "So many, in fact, that I keep copies of all the serial numbers, how many rounds of ammunition and use it as a handout when we travel, like in the Bahamas," he said. "Several times they made me seal the gun locker and they check it when we leave." One of the captains said he had declared his weapons in the Bahamas and was glad they had counted his ammunition. "There was a shooting in town that matched the bullets I declared," he said.
September 2016
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From the Bridge "They came to count my bullets to make sure it wasn't from my boat." When authorities require a yacht to turn in weapons, that affects the yacht's travel plans. "If you have to turn them in, then you have to leave by the same port, which we usually don't do," a captain said. Sometimes it is easier to get rid of a gun when entering a new port, according to several captains. They told of instances where they have tossed their guns overboard instead of declaring them to authorities. One yacht owner kept a cheap Sears shotgun onboard, a captain said. "He said, ‘If we're pulling in, then we'll throw it over’," the captain said. "Then next trip, he comes down the dock with another one. He figured that's a cheaper way to do it than dealing with fines or going to jail." "People either lie that they don't have them or they declare them, either way it's such a hassle," another captain said. When guns are onboard, they need a safe place to be stored. Several captains said they use a gun safe or locker and most are hidden or not visible to guests. "It also has to have a method to seal it," a captain said. "A lot of countries require you be able to seal it according to their requirements." Such diverse laws add a layer of complexity to a trip and several captains said they usually secure help. "A good agent is important, they are good with how to keep up, how to know current laws," a captain said. "Our DPA [designated person ashore] has a complete setup to brief us, and our security company keeps us informed," another captain said. "Plus you can go online with the State Department for details."
Recreational guns also a concern
Even when guns are onboard for reasons other than security, there are issues. A captain illustrated with a story of an owner who wanted to fish. "The owner comes out of the salon with shotgun and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ " the captain said. The owner explained he would shoot large fish when they were reeled in. "So we're drifting, the wife is falling asleep, he starts to fall asleep and I'm watching," the captain said. "All of a sudden there's an explosion." The owner had fallen asleep and accidentally pulled the trigger on the
Attendees of The Triton’s September From the Bridge luncheon were, from left, Capt. Larry Hastings of M/Y Buck Passer, Capt. Bob Moulton of M/Y Comanche, Capt. Parker Stockdale of M/Y Anodyne, Capt. Greg Clark of M/Y PHOTO/DORIE COX D'Natalin IV, Capt. Rusty Allen of M/Y Natita and Capt. Paul Stengel. shotgun. "He blew a hole right through the transom," the captain said. Another captain worked on a yacht with a skeet shooter, a recreational shotgun to shoot clay targets. The guests and crew would practice off the stern when out at sea. "One day, a nearby sailor thought we were shooting at him," he said. "The coast guard came to check us and followed me all the way back to port." One captain who chooses not to have guns onboard said increased
communication, tracking, security companies and other technologies preclude the need to carry guns onboard. "Today there is no more advantage to have them," he said. "If you have an armed aggressor onboard, why escalate the situation?" The captain said the idea is to get through a situation without anyone getting hurt. "In my opinion, de-escalating is the way to do that, keeping the aggressor as calm as possible," he said. "It sounds like a passifict’s attitude. I would feel like
blowing their heads off, but that's not a way to save crew." Most every captain nodded and said that guns or not, they have set up their crew with non-lethal options. "Piracy drills are the norm these days," a captain said. "We teach everyone how to use Mag lites, how to be aware, what to look for, and we carry pepper spray and stun guns onboard." "Our policy is to present overwhelming force, all crew with all the
See GUN, page 42
42 From the Bridge
The-Triton.com September 2016
Despite contracts, rules guns make way onboard GUNS, from page 41 lights and stun guns," another captain said. "Everyone always has their radio on and all the guys muster with lights." But training is still most important, they all said. "Awareness is your first line of defense," a captain said. "If you teach crew to recognize the threat long before it becomes a threat, you don't need that weapon." All of the group agreed.
Put that in writing
To break down the details of regulations, several captains clarified that firearms are regulated in several ways, such as in yacht charter and crew contracts. "It is in the MYBA contract; it states no contraband at all," a captain said. "You have authority as captain to terminate a charter and put the people ashore if they bring guns. They forfeit the charter." Despite rules against guests bringing firearms on a charter, half of the captains at the table have had that scenario happen to them, but they have secured the weapons or had them removed. "We had people bring guns, but the charter was not cancelled because of the way we handled it." Weapons are also addressed in crew contracts. "It says no guns, weapons, knives, clubs and things like that," a captain said. "I may let someone have something like that, but I want to know about it." One captain said he had a crew member that came onboard with a big
sword he bought in Singapore. "Did you ever think I might not allow that onboard," the captain asked the crew member. The crew member had not considered the crew contract. The captain made the choice to wrap up, tape and lock away the weapon until it could be removed. Some firearms are the captain's personal guns, some stay on the yacht and some belong to the owner. "I used to carry weapons because as a U.S. citizen, it's common sense and prudent when traveling internationally and on the high seas," a captain said. "But onboard in the past, they were not my own." "We don't have guns now, but when we have, they are always the owner’s," another captain said. And then there is the issue of whether the guns are legal, as in the case of the yacht owner jailed in New York. "I have to make sure they are all permitted," a captain said. But there are still gray areas in reference to each yacht's specific operating procedures. Some captains clearly define the yacht's rules and others do not. "I have a policy that designates who's able to use the firearm, that they've gone through some kind of training we have mandated, and it designates where they are," a captain said. "Only certain people have access to that cabinet, and no guests are allowed to bring weapons." Yet, that isn't so simple either. "I don't have a written policy because I don't want to contradict myself," another captain said. "Hey, you guys aren't
allowed to do this, but there's an AR-15 in my room." Another captain said he does not have a written policy because most of his security problems don't warrant a gun. "We've had intruders come onboard in different places," he said. "Usually they're drunks with liquid courage. They want to be on the back deck and take pictures. "I just ask, 'Can I have your address? I want to come look in your window’," he said. "People don't think of a yacht as a person's home." All of the captains agreed that having, managing and regulating firearms onboard comes with a lot of variables. "I love my country, but we're probably the worst for miscommunication in the industry," an American captain said. "Customs does one thing in Miami and another in Maine. It's always something different." One captain said he would like to see, "captains take time to write a letter and try to rectify this weapon situation". "Maybe it would just stay the way it is," he said. "But someone ought to be smart enough to have a situational plan and say this is how we should do it. I don't have an answer, but it needs to be controlled." "And if we do, we create policy and make it uniform." Dorie Cox is editor of The Triton. Comments on this story are welcome at dorie@the-triton.com. Captains who make their living running someone else’s yacht are welcome to join in the conversation. Email us for an invitation to our monthly From the Bridge lunch.
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September 2016 The-Triton.com
Learning to delegate is more than ordering others around Taking the Helm Paul Ferdais
Delegation is one of the essential skills of effective leadership. However, many leaders have difficulty delegating. For whatever reason, leaders can be unwilling or unable to delegate, which greatly limits their chances for success. The alternative to delegating is to do it all yourself. Leaders who try to do it all themselves end up with so many things going on that deadlines pass and tasks don’t get accomplished. Without the ability to delegate effectively, it’s not possible to become an effective leader. The starting point is thinking through the job: what has to be done, when it has to be complete, and what standard of quality must it reach. Unfortunately, many leaders delegate first and think through the job later. A main feature of delegating is setting clear expectations at the beginning. When people know exactly what is expected of them, they have an opportunity to perform at a high level.
They have an opportunity to give the kind of results their leader is looking for. In addition to setting clear expectations up front, here are some steps to use when delegating.
Six keys to delegation
Step 1: Select the right person. Match the job to the skills, abilities and motivation level of the person. This doesn’t mean the person can’t handle a challenge, but it’s important not to give him/her jobs that are so beyond their current abilities that they have little chance of success. Step 2: Ask the person to paraphrase back the expectations. Don’t ask, “Do you have any questions?” The right answer to that question is “no” and gives no insight about the person’s understanding of the expectations. A better question to ask is, “So I can be sure that I’ve been clear and there are no misunderstandings, can you please repeat back what I’m asking you to do?” Or ask, “Based on what I’ve said, what do you think I’m looking for?” Step 3: Ask how the person will start. If the person gives an answer that
indicates he/she knows what to do, then let them go and do the task. On the other hand, if the answer will not lead to success, step in and offer help. At this point, the leader must determine how involved to get. Perhaps coaching is all that’s necessary, or maybe the person will need a complete refresher. Step 4: Monitor the tasks. If the task is ongoing, meet regularly to review the work. Waiting until the end to give feedback just means that mistakes may be difficult to correct, if at all. It is important to distinguish between monitoring and micro-managing. Let the team know you want to meet to make sure no one’s wasting time and energy doing something incorrectly. Step 5: Give honest feedback. Don’t say something is fine if it is not. Step 6: Let finished work stay finished. Resist the temptation to edit or give feedback on work that is correct but wasn’t done your way. The work is correct. If you want it done your way, even when another way works, it makes sense to do it yourself. Think of delegating as a form of succession planning. Since anyone can
be in an accident and unable to perform their work, someone else should be able to take over. Sure, when someone else performs tasks you’re used to doing, the format may change, the order may vary or the personal touch may be slightly different. So what? All that matters is that the job is done to the level expected. Delegating involves assigning new projects and responsibilities to individuals or a team and providing the resources, direction and support needed to achieve the expected results. It’s one of the best ways to promote the people coming up behind you. Delegating is more than merely telling someone what to do. Delegation starts with leaders creating an environment of trust and dialogue that reflects their confidence of coworkers and the tasks that need to be accomplished. A former first officer, Paul Ferdais is founder and CEO of The Marine Leadership Group (www.marine leadershipgroup.com). Comments are welcome at editorial@the-triton.com.
44 Triton Networking
The-Triton.com September 2016
Network with Longbow Marine Triton readers are invited to join us on the first Wednesday of the month (Sept. 7) at Longbow Marine, a yacht chandlery in Ft. Lauderdale. Started by industry veterans, Longbow is a repeat Triton Networking host. Take a minute to learn more from owner and engineering specialist Simon Addrison. Q. For those who haven’t heard of Longbow Marine, what do you do? Longbow Marine is an all-around chandlery offering worldwide service. We support yachts in every department, and specialize on the engineering side. The most challenging thing we do is source parts and products. I spent about 10 years on yachts, and when you run a boat, you know everything about that boat, bow to stern. When you work in a business like this, you have to know every boat. I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about boats until I started doing this. It’s humbled me, really. Q. When captains and crew call, do they know what they need, or do you have to start from scratch? It’s a 50/50 split, I’d say. A lot of them will have the part numbers and relevant information, but for a lot of engineers and captains, the paperwork is just not available. The manuals get lost along the way as boats change hands and ID markers are painted over or removed. The move toward having everything digital has made it a lot easier to know which equipment is on the boat, but there are still a lot of times where the crew have no way to know. So many things are custom built to order in yachting. Unless you can scrape off years of paint to find a serial number, we have to keep digging until we work out the exact match or replacement part. Q. Captains and engineers can buy the parts they need themselves. Why use a chandlery? You really save a lot of time and money using a company like ours. Yes, a boat can get its own parts directly, but that means time away from the boat. Let’s say a boat is at Derecktor’s and you need to go to the hydraulic shop and the machine shop and the parts store and the hardware store. You’re going to spend an hour going to each of those places, with the traffic and everything. That’s a lot of time away from the boat. The guy the captain needs to send will be the chief or the second, and you’re paying that guy a lot; he needs to be onboard overseeing the refit. The other side of it is that crew like to get off the boat now and then, so they are happy to run over to the hardware store or the parts store. Then they just
call us for the more challenging stuff that they can’t find. But that’s fine with us. You have to prove that you can do the hard stuff, then they can see that it’s easier to use us rather than driving around finding things themselves. Couple that with the support we offer once the yacht has left Ft. Lauderdale and we are in a position to make life a lot easier onboard when it comes to resupply an rdeplacement parts. Q. Why start a chandlery in Ft. Lauderdale? Because everything is here. The shipyards are here, the marinas are here. There’s easy access to the Caribbean. Cargo flights are quick and easy. You might think being around a manufacturing hub would be better, but it’s not. So many manufacturers have warehouses here. Miele makes their machines in Germany, but they have a warehouse in Florida. Q. How do you set yourself apart from the other chandleries? Our engineering knowledge and our personal service. We’re not a massive company; I control everything firsthand. Every order that comes through comes in front of me. That makes it easier for me to make sure the company is on track. Q. What’s the best part of your job? Solving issues. You absolutely never know what is going to land on your desk in the next 30 minutes. We had a client recently that hit bottom down island and damaged their props. We got the call about lunchtime on a Thursday. We had the props taken off, delivered here, reworked, and back to them by Sunday in time for them to make their scheduled Panama Canal crossing. It’s always a challenge. It’s all about logistics, having some pull with manufacturers, and being able to expedite things. I love it. Q. What’s the one thing you wish captains knew about Longbow? Our capabilities. We offer a really personal service. We try to know the boat inside out so we can make the captain, mate and engineer look like superstars. Mark your calendar to network with us on Wednesday, Sept. 7, from 6-8 p.m. at Longbow Marine, 1305 S.W. First Ave., Ft. Lauderdale (33315), about a block north of Tap 42 bar and restaurant, just west of Andrews Avenue. For more information, visit www.longbowmarine. com or contact the company through info@longbowmarine.com and +1 954616-5737.
Triton Networking 45
September 2016 The-Triton.com
Network with Crew Unlimited Join us as we take Triton Networking to crew placement agency Crew Unlimited on the third Wednesday of September (Sept. 21) in Ft. Lauderdale. Yacht crew and industry professionals are invited to the casual event where CU President Ami Ira is expected to reveal some breaking news. Until then, learn more about Crew Unlimited from Ira, a former chief stew. Q. Tell us about Crew Unlimited. Crew Unlimited was started in 1983 by Nord Pedersen and Jude Rilling, and Capt. Eddie Seesholts bought it in 1986. We place crew in all positions on luxury yachts, and we book luxury yacht charter vacations. Q. There are a lot of crew agencies and most new crew visit them all. Is that the best approach? I wouldn’t recommend crew visit all of them, but it’s important crew not put all their eggs in one basket. Instead, register with just a few agencies. Pick the ones with professional offices, professional staff, a long history of success, and a great reputation. People like to do business with people like themselves, so crew should go in and meet with the placement team. See who they click with, then cultivate those relationships instead of trying to be everywhere. And whomever you register with, do it 100 percent. Unanswered questions make crew appear as though they lack attention to detail, which this industry does not tolerate. Q. Advice for mid-career crew? It’s not who you know, but who knows you. Crew must get to know their placement coordinator so we can make the best recommendation to the right employer when the time comes. Crew who are only an email pen pal, those who never call or show their face, will not have a placement coordinator go the extra mile for them. Think about it. What if a client asks us, “Have you met him/her?” The placement coordinator isn’t going to lie, so she will have to answer, “yes, but it was a few years ago.” That’s not a good enough answer. Help us help you. Come in regularly and keep your profile up to date, even if you’re not looking. Q. What advice do you have for those who do the hiring? The same: Take the time to get to know our placement coordinators. Come into the office, have a cup of coffee, interview job candidates in the office, and just spend time face to face with our staff. We “get it” 100 times better with those clients than we do
with the ones who simply shoot off an email with a job description attached. Q. Do you want captains to tell you when a candidate didn’t work out? Yes, especially if it is a candidate that we presented, but also if it’s not. Agencies that don’t check references are definitely a problem, as are captains who hire from any source that hasn’t checked the candidate’s references, including hiring off the dock without doing due diligence, as they make it possible for the bad eggs to continue. Q. Should crew agencies play a part in recruiting Americans? There is a shortage of experienced American crew, but no shortage of new interest in the industry. Unfortunately, when an agency is engaged to source crew, because there’s a fee involved, it’s a position for someone with extra experience in some category or another. What I would like to see is an apprenticeship program for entry-level American crew where they can learn on the job (like everyone else does) but be given a chance before they’ve necessarily gotten their STCW and met the minimum six months mark that so many clients seem to require. Q. How does CU stand out? We’re honest, we work hard, and we expect the same from the crew we represent. We respect the jobs crew hold on yachts, and listen when they talk. We also advise well, when asked. We kind of feel like the custodians of the industry in the regard that turnover is what makes owners sell a boat. If we can help lower/eliminate turnover by helping our clients hire the right crew from the beginning, then we’re ensuring our own job security because the owners will stay in the business of yacht ownership. Q. What’s next? Now that we’ve launched our new website, we will begin working on an apprenticeship program for entrylevel crew. We also plan to develop a mentorship program for captains to mentor those with less experience. And … drumroll ... we will be growing internationally in a big way, but everyone will have to come to our Triton Networking event to see what’s really next for Crew Unlimited. Join Crew Unlimited for Triton Networking on Sept. 21 at their Ft. Lauderdale offices, 1069 S.E. 17th St. (33316). No RSVP necessary. Just bring business cards and be ready to meet new people and expand your network of professional colleagues.
46 News
The-Triton.com September 2016
Trust, tolerance exercises turn separate departments into a team TRAINING, from page 1 As an example, she described what happened immediately after the course, late on that Friday afternoon. “We all worked late to catch up on some things, put the tender away, things like that,” she recalled. “It was close to 6 when I finished, and I looked outside and saw the deckhand chamoising the tender. I thought, ‘Oh, I think I’ll go help chamois.’ ” She laughed telling the story. “I can’t tell you the last time I wanted to go out and chamois the tender.” When she went outside, the second engineer was already there helping – two departments that rarely conversed outside the crew mess – and within about 10 minutes, the engineer came out. “It’s like we all just said, ‘Oh, there’s more work to be done’,” Capt. Hast said. “Nobody was complaining that it was 6 o’clock and time to go. ” Capt. Allen’s course – which he has dubbed Yacht University and whose curriculum was created by former yachtie Eric West – teaches leadership, work and
business ethics, and team building. Crew are asked to interview each other and tell the group about the other person, and to tell short stories about themselves, Usher second Eng. Tim Murphy said. “We learned a lot about each other doing that,” he said, noting that personal conversation wasn’t usually what crew talked about off charter over beers. When asked what surprised them about the training, Murphy and Chief Stew Mimi Adams both said it was how open everyone was. “I was surprised at the openness of everyone to share intimate things, everyone’s willingness to just jump into it,” said Murphy, who worked on yachts on and off over the past 10 years. They both also know it will change how they operate going forward. “We’ll trust each other more,” Adams said. “Things don’t go well when people feel they can’t rely on each other. When you know the people you work with, you work better as a team, whether they’re in your department or not.” “We’ll be less likely to be irritated when something doesn’t go right, and
instead we’ll be more willing to step back and not react,” Murphy said. Perhaps one of the biggest impacts on the crew might be how it made them feel. “It kind of shows us how much they care,” Adams said. “We’ve all talked about it. It was such a nice gift. It left us feeling really positive.” This kind of training “is sorely needed in yachting, bringing in someone to facilitate teamwork and leadership,” Murphy said. “Crew turnover can be an issue. But if you take a little bit of time to invest in teamwork and leadership, you can keep crew longer.” That will be the true test, Capt. Allen said, to see if his crew stick together. “Crew retention is the big one,” he said. “And then we’ll see how those new crew develop as crew members and how they advance.” Fleet Miami has a unique program of nine boats where crew can begin as entry level, but then move up on other vessels to become heads of department and eventually captains, if they want. Capt. Allen plans to present the course to the industry at the Fort Lauderdale
International Boat Show in November when the industry comes together in South Florida. “I really think that Glen and Eric are on to something,” Capt. Hast said. “What this training does is it makes you appreciate the person you’re working with. It’s not brainwashing you to be a team member. You genuinely see the value and uniqueness of the person you’re working beside.” At the end of August, Usher headed out for a week charter in the Bahamas and then up to New England. “I’m optimistic that this feeling of camaraderie will help us through the tough times,” Capt. Hast said. “I’m very, very, very optimistic.” Capt. Allen is, too. “One thing that came to light at the end of this course is that two other yachts docked at Pier 66 came up and asked us how they can get this training,” he said. “That shows me the direction we need to go with this.” Lucy Chabot Reed is publisher of The Triton. Comment at lucy@the-triton.com.
Calendar 47
September 2016 The-Triton.com
Upcoming Events EVENT OF MONTH
Sept. 17 International Coastal Cleanup. www.oceanconservancy.org
Sept. 28 - Oct. 1 26th Monaco Yacht Show, Monaco
Sept. 17-18 Bart’s Bash, worldwide. Races in memory of America’s Cup sailor Andrew “Bart” Simpson. andrewsimpsonfoundation.co.uk
This year's show to add extra berths and a reorganized exhibition area for 120 yachts from 25-100m (including 40 new launches) and 580 exhibits. www. monacoyachtshow.com
Sept. 17-25 Interboot Watersports Exhibition, Friedrichshafen, Germany. www.interboot.de
Sept. 2-4 MYBA Pop-Up Superyacht Show, Montenegro. Show is open to all MYBA-registered yachts over 20m, charter agents and brokers. www. mybapopupshow.com Sept. 6-8 Seatrade Europe, Hamburg, Germany. www.seatrade-europe.com Sept. 6-9 SMM, Hamburg, Germany. Shipbuilding, machinery and marine technology international trade fair. Smm-hamburg.de Sept. 6-11 Cannes Yachting Festival (Festival De La Plaisance), Cannes. Nearly 600 boats, 150 world premieres and 450 exhibitors are on display. www. salonnautiquecannes.com Sept. 7 Triton networking, Ft.
Lauderdale. Join us and Longbow Marine for our regular first-Wednesday-of-themonth event from 6-8 p.m. See more details on page 44. All captains, crew and industry professionals welcome. www. the-triton.com
Sept. 8 The Triton captains luncheon,
noon, Ft. Lauderdale. A roundtable discussion of the issues of the day. Active yacht captains only. RSVP to Editor Dorie Cox at dorie@the-triton.com or 954-525-0029. Space is limited.
Sept. 9-11 Wilmington (N.C.) Boat Show. www.wilmingtonboatshow.com Sept. 9-11 Louis Vuitton America's Cup, Toulon, France. www.americascup.com Sept. 15-18 46th annual Newport International Boat Show and Newport Brokerage Show, Rhode Island. www.newportboatshow.com Sept. 16-25 Southampton Boat Show, Southampton, UK. www. southamptonboatshow.com
Sept. 18 Yachts du Coeur Event, Port Pierre Canto, Cannes. Yachts visit the marina for collection day to donate food from yachts to a local food bank. www.yachts-du-coeur.com Sept. 20-22 International Marine Electronics Conference & Expo, Naples, Fla. www.expo.nmea.org Sept. 20-25 56th annual Salon Nautico, Genoa, Italy. www.genoaboatshow.com Sept. 21 Triton networking, Ft. Lauderdale. Join us and Crew Unlimited for our third-Wednesday-of-the-month event from 6-8 p.m. See more details on page 45. www.the-triton.com Sept. 25-30 World Maritime Day. www.
imo.org
Sept. 27-Oct. 2 Eurasia Boat Show, Atakoy Mega Yacht, Istanbul, Turkey. cnravrasyaboatshow.com Sept. 28-30 ACREW professional development seminars, Monaco. www. acrew.com Sept. 30 AYSS MonacoNet, Monaco. Networking for members of AYSS, captains and industry professionals at the Monaco Yacht Show. ayss.org.
MAKING PLANS Nov. 3-7 57th annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show World's largest in-water boat show with an audience of 100,000 at seven locations with 3 million square feet of display. This year includes nearly 1,500 boats with approximately 1,000 exhibitors with goods valued at more than $4 billion. Download MyBoatShow for details. www.showmanagement.com
48 Write to be Heard
The-Triton.com September 2016
T
riton columnist and charter Chef Mark Godbeer shared one of his favorite shots from yachting. What do you do at work? Share your photos of crew life, onboard with your crew mates or out in the world as you cruise. Please send to editorial@ the-triton.com.
Lack of passion frustrates; be realistic on Cuba communications No passion, need not apply
I just do not see many young crew out there with the passion or interest in becoming a professional yacht captain/engineer/mate/chef/head stew [Publisher’s Point: “Frustration pushes captains to brainstorm training solutions,” August issue]. I think you need a blinding passion for boats, living on a boat. The money is secondary. I suggest this career path to many young adults I meet but few will heed my advice to start with the STCW. At least 20 years ago, I started moving up in size of yachts I was running. I got a larger ticket and started dealing with crew. The crew issues were horrible. Back then, it was drugs and inexperience. I had to fire two sets of crew in succession. Even today, some captains get out of the business because of the crew issues. I decided that I would take the easy road and only run vessels my wife and I as a team could handle. This locked us into the 70- to 90-foot range, and we have done this for now for 35 years. It’s worked out great with long-term vessels. Capt. Tedd Greenwald via the-triton.com
Dispel expectations for serious crew
The problem is expectations. Very few deckhands will become captains and very few stews will become chief stew
and marry a captain. The industry does not dispel those expectations because they provide relatively inexpensive lower-level crew. We call those positions entry-level somewhat incorrectly. Melvyn Miller, yacht owner via the-triton.com
Proof of legality, SIM enhance trip
Capt. Todd Rapley wrote a good article [“Know what to expect to enjoy a visit to Cuba,” August issue]. I’d like to just add this information, which is based on our frequent trips to Cuba (at least one each month). l U.S. insurance companies such as AIG will issue vessel insurance to Cuba but you must provide them with proof that your trip is legal. l I use my iPhone with Verizon in Cuba (roaming). It works fine but is very expensive. If you will be there awhile, it is better to get a local SIM card. l Email does work in Cuba, but they definitely block some sites. Marina Hemingway wifi (at the hotel) works, but it can be slow. l The Port of Havana (and the cruise ship terminal) is out of bounds to private yachts without special permission from Port of Havana. Unauthorized yachts entering will be met in the channel by security vessels. Varadero has state-of-the-art facilities and both electricity and water are no problem. Same is usually true in
Hemingway, although power for larger yachts can be problematic. I think Capt. Rapley’s advice about having patience is key to having a nice and relaxed visit. Pushing will not make anything happen any faster, and could have the opposite effect. Paul M. Madden Managing partner, Paul Madden Associates via the-triton.com
Owner understands we can all learn
I am so impressed with the way this article was written [Ownre’s View: “Instead of under promising, try over delivering”, August issue]. Only an experienced owner like this could share with such candor and understanding … that rarely anything in yachting is definitive, and that all of us can continuously learn a thing or two. Daphne d’Offay Charter broker via the-triton.com
Engineer’s humor, ability missed
I worked with Mike [“Project foreman, engineer McCaskill dies in Bahamas”, August issue] on the fire system installation on M/Y Serque back when he had a pony tail. He was a pain in the ass, and he would laugh at that. I would tell him the cylinder is 29 inches and he would say, “no problem, I have 24 inches.” Drove me nuts. But he was already engineering, moving a
stringer or a pipe, or making it work in his head, two steps ahead. He was always friendly as could be, every time I saw him. And as busy as he always was, he took the time to catch up. It was very shocking to hear of his passing, way too soon. Next time a customer wants to work me to death, I will think of Mike and say no. Norman Benoit Marine Fire Equipment via the-triton.com
Outside business challenge show
Regarding your story [”After denials, industry seeks clarification on cruising license”, August issue], I have no dog in this hunt, but one could surmise the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show may have been an influence regarding foreign-flagged for sale boats in the area. In other words, boat manufacturers have made a big investment in this show and probably feel harmed by competition gathering for free outside. Hopefully, Reeder’s view [Trey Reeder, director of the yacht division of customs brokerage firm Howard S. Reeder] will prevail, and a foreign boat captain with a cruising permit and a boat for sale in the harbor might still go to the boat show and buy a new boat, and everyone lives happily ever after. Thomas Toedtman Senior professional engineer, retired via the-triton.com
Write to be Heard 49
September 2016 The-Triton.com
Update on viral illnesses in the Americas and the Caribbean By Dr. Spike Briggs During the past few years, several viral illnesses have become established in South America, the Caribbean and increasingly in North America. The main ones are dengue fever, chikungunya and, more recently, Zika. There is a common factor here: the mosquito Aedes aegypti. We are all used to covering up at night to avoid getting bitten by the mosquito Anopheles that spreads malaria. The problem with Aedes aegypti is that not only is it somewhat active at night, it’s mostly active during the day. And therein lies the problem. It’s too easy to get bitten during the day by an infected mosquito, and subsequently to contract one of these viral illnesses. The most important defense – and probably the only defense at present – is to avoid getting bitten. The gold standard is the insect repellent DEET (diethyl-meta-toluamide). It is not easy to know whether someone has contracted one of these diseases. Each has a spectrum of symptoms that overlap with other viral illnesses and can even be confused with normal flu-like symptoms. Blood tests can be performed, but these need to be performed in a clinic or hospital and are not completely reliable. These three illnesses are usually selflimiting in the majority, and treatment comprises controlling symptoms such as fever, arthralgia (joint pain) and myalgia (muscle pain) using paracetamol (acetaminophen) and staying hydrated.
Dengue fever
Dengue fever, also known as breakbone fever due to the sometimes severe joint and muscle pain, has no specific cure. It is spread by mosquitos active during the day (Aedes aegypti and other species). It’s range is in the tropics and subtropics. A vaccine was introduced in December. Further vaccines are under development. Symptoms usually become apparent from three to 14 days after the infecting bite. They include fever, arthralgia and myalgia, headache, occasional nausea and vomiting, and a rash generalized over most of the body. Treatment is usually just supportive (hydration and paracetamol). Serious complications result in fewer than 5 percent of sufferers but may include hemorrhagic fever.
Chikungunya
Chikungunya also has no specific cure. Like dengue, it is spread by mosquitos active during the day (Aedes aegypti), has a range of the tropics and subtropics, and is spreading into North America, Europe and the Far East. Symptoms usually become apparent three to seven days after the infecting bite and include fever, arthralgia and myalgia, headache, occasional nausea and vomiting, and a generalized rash. Treatment is usually just supportive (hydration and paracetamol). Serious complications are unusual, but joint pain can be prolonged, possibly leading to chronic pain syndrome.
Zika
The Zika virus originated in the Zika Forest in Uganda about 60 years ago. It is a viral illness with no specific cure that is spread by mosquitos active during the day (Aedes aegypti). There are also reports of spread by sexual contact. Its range is in south, central and north America, Caribbean, Samoa and other Pacific Islands, and it is spreading quickly. Several cases have recently been reported in Miami. Symptoms are usually mild, and become apparent a few days to a week or so after the infecting bite. They include fever, rash that becomes generalized, transient arthralgia and myalgia, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon. Serious complications are the risk of birth defects (microcephaly) and Guillain Barre Syndrome. Further research is being undertaken to establish the links between these two diseases and Zika. There is no treatment for this virus, and risks are greatest for people of reproductive age.
More information
l NHS travel advice, www. fitfortravel.nhs.uk/destinations.aspx l Center for Disease Control, wwwnc.cdc.gov/Travel l WHO International Travel and Health, www.who.int/ith
Dr. Spike Briggs is medical director of Medical Support Offshore, a global medical provisioning company. Contact him through Info@msos.org.uk.
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54 Triton Spotter
The-Triton.com September 2016
Cape May, Miami, Ukraine Mate Catherine Stowe works with Capt. Andy Sherman on the 87-foot Johnson built M/Y Grumpy. She sent this photo from Cape May, N.J. “I read The Triton faithfully from cover to cover,” she said. “Our owner read it, and I couldn’t get it out of her hands.” The Triton touches all kinds of readers. Justin Robinette, who owns an aluminum recycling plant in Tennessee, recently flew down to South Florida to visit friends and play with boats. He took his Triton back home, saying one final good bye to Miami from his Beechcraft King Air airplane.
Boyd Tomkies carried his Triton to the Kharkov, Ukraine, for the Brig 25th anniversary and dealer meeting. The company sells rigid inflatable boats.
Do you read The Triton on smart phone, tablet, laptop or in print? Show us by sending your Triton Spotter to editorial@the-triton.com.