How I Got into Superyachting – Ude’s Story

I decided that freedom and independence living a life less ordinary was for me. Earning great money while visiting amazing locations. Being paid to snowboard on the slopes in winter. These are what makes this life is so much more fun and exciting. Life as a Yachtie and working as a ski seasonnaire ticks all the right boxes for me.

Starting life as a seasonnaire

Growing up I enjoyed the wonders of travel and living in different cultures. I lived for months at a time in Botswana and Indonesia. This really motivated me to search for jobs abroad and find a way of living a life less ordinary. My first taste of this lifestyle began when I applied to work for a UK based ski company five years ago.  After returning back home, I realized that I wanted more of this life. I set off and did the certificates needed to work in the superyacht industry. I followed this with a trip to Antibes in the south of France to scout for work on superyachts.

Yachtie life on superyacts

The South of France is known as one of the recruiting grounds for work on superyachts. Its possible to find work by walking the docks, handing out CV’s and scrolling Facebook groups. I got day work in the marina’s which generally involved cleaning the exterior of boats. This was a great way to get my foot in the door. With some experience now under my belt, I was able to add this to my resume and create a profile so I could appear on agency websites as well.

After applying for many jobs, I evntually found one! I travelled to a wet and cold Ireland for my first full time position on a luxury 38m sailing vessel as an engineer and deckhand. From there I sailed to Portugal then on to the Greek Islands for most of summer 2021.

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Highs and lows of yachtie and seasonnaire life

As I’d never worked on boats before, the learning curve was massive, not just as an engineer, but as a deckhand too.  Living away from home for long periods I found admin things like organising bank accounts, and receiving post, while on a yacht impossible to do. Being away when your friends and family have special celebrations is also hard to take. Despite all of these difficulties this life has always been worth it for the enjoyment of the lifestyle.

One of my favorite memories was climbing the volcanic island called Stromboli, just off the coast of Sicily. We took the tender to the mainland at 2.30 in the morning so we could climb to the summit to watch the sunrise.  As the captain and I climbed up the track, the orange glow of the eruption was a sight to behold and the sunrise was just magical. 

Lifestyle differences

This kind of lifestyle has opened up experiences that have been so vastly different to working in the UK. Sailing from Ireland, accross the Bay of Biscay was one of my fondest memories. Terrified during a storm at sea, with 5meter waves and 50 knot winds then marvelling at the dolphins riding the bow waves.

I’ve met so many like-minded people who enjoy the same life, and love doing fun things like surfing and exploring places.  Switching between being paid to ski and being paid to sail around the world is my perfect life.  

I met my girlfriend in Portugal who had worked on super-yachts herself before. We ended up working together on the same yacht and we now work as chalet hosts together in France.  It’s great that we can share the adventures together and look forward to the end of the winter season when we take a break and find work on the yauchts again.

What advice can you share with others?

The best advice I can give to someone wishing to live and work either on yachts or a ski season would be, put yourself in a yachting hub/ski resort to find work. Network by socialising and meeting others in the industry (crew houses for yachting are a great place to start), and finally, don’t give up!!  

If you have a sense of adventure, and a resilient and open minded attitude you will benefit from the opportunities presented to you when looking for work.  You not know when you’ll get hired, but enjoying the journey, and persisting with your efforts will definitely pay off. If you love doing drone footage I would highly recommend getting a good quality one because you will capture so many more incredible experiences.