Captain - Job description

The captain is in charge of the yacht and everybody answers to him. The annual salary can range from around £45,000 to £500,000, all found, plus perks. A captain must have considerable maritime experience and training and must pass some grueling exams to reach his position of responsibility.

They have to be qualified in order to legally do the job and need to log a certain number of hours at sea, must have a varieity of skills and qualifications including STCW 95 Basic Training, Yacht Rating, Master 200gt, Yachtmaster Theory, Yachtmaster Practical, Sea Survival, GMDSS GOC, Navigation Radar, General Ships Knowledge, Oral Preparation, Navigation and Radar, Stability, Medical Care, Business and Law, Seamanship, Oral Preparation (500T), Oceanmaster Theory, Advanced Firefighting, Medical First Aid, Oceanmaster Cert Comp.

A captain not only has to have the above, he must also have a good grasp of accounting as he will be expected to manage significant sums of money and he must also be skilled at dealing with people, both crew and owner/guests. Many captains, while they are good at the practical side of the job forget that ultimately they need to work extensively with people from all walks of life, from new and green deckhands to jaded billionaires and all in between and must be good at dealing with them.

Did you know?
The difference between and ship and a yacht is that yacht is a yacht until it can't fit into a ship.