Four crew with four products
And one big goal for a cleaner world. B1
News and views from Miami
It’s a crew’s mess New column cooked up just for crew. C7 Vol.8, No. 12
www.the-triton.com
March 2012
Crew career path depends on moving up, on I interviewed the first officer of a large yacht in Antigua in December, but before I could write about him, he’d moved on. When I asked why he resigned, he said he had some classes to take for the next phase of his license. From the Bridge Unlike many Lucy Chabot Reed land-based careers – which often not only support an employee’s efforts
Crew and yachts at their best. A16-17
to educate themselves but also pay for it – yachting’s career-minded crew often resign to take classes and advance their careers. Why does this happen? And, with captains often complaining about the lack of loyalty and longevity among crew, why do they allow it? “They [mates] need to move on,” one captain said at this month’s From the Bridge luncheon. “I’m training them to move up in their career. If they don’t leave to take a bigger job after a couple years, there’s something wrong with them.”
“If he’s got himself a new ticket, he probably will be looking for a new, higher position, anyway,” another said. “A second engineer who takes time off to get his ticket, there’s no way he’s coming back to you,” said a third. As always, individual comments are not attributed to any one person in particular so as to encourage frank and open discussion. The attending captains are identified in a photograph on page A14.
TRITON SURVEY
Do you think it’s important for crew on power boats to know how to sail? No – 33.8% Yes – 66.2%
See BRIDGE, page A14
– Story, C1
SNOW CREW
Europe experienced some of its coldest weather in decades and coastal towns across the Med saw snow in February for the first time in decades. The 124-foot Moonen M/Y Northlander is wintering in Zadar, Croatia. Chief Stew Kasey Smith adds a new crew member to the team, complete with chamois mop head and blue-tape smile. See more snowy shots on page A8. PHOTO/CAPT. TED MARSHALL
Capt. Rowe, 68, mentored crew through the decades By Dorie Cox Capt. Ted Rowe left a legacy throughout his decades working in the yachting industry. Some of the lessons he shared with crew and coworkers have been revisited since his unexpected death on Feb. 3 at his home in Ft. Lauderdale. He was 68. Edward “Ted” Bennett Rowe III had worked as a charter captain during his 45 years in yachting. He was the fleet captain for Broward’s Destiny yachts and he worked for Whittemore and
Williams and Broward Marine. At one time, he owned the crew placement agency Hassle Free, served as president of the Charter Yacht Brokers Association and most recently worked for Holland America Cruise Lines. As an old-school captain, he made an impact on many people, several of whom are considered some of today’s prominent industry professionals. Bob Saxon, a veteran yacht manager and industry leader, said Rowe was the second captain he ever met back in 1971.
Saxon clearly remembers the first lesson Capt. Rowe taught him. “It was my first day in Newport and someone said I should meet Ted, so I went to his yacht and walked right on,” Saxon said. “I hear ‘freeze, get your hands up’ and ‘turn around slowly’.” Saxon turned around to see a man wrapped in a towel aiming a .45-caliber gun at him. “To this day, I refuse to walk onto a yacht without first getting permission,” he said. Saxon described Capt. Rowe as an
old-school yachtsman who excelled in protocol. Capt. Rowe learned the rules when the industry was young; back when owners really loved boating, their boat, and their crew, Saxon said. Back when it was not so much a business, but a leisure pursuit. “He was a man with an acute sense of propriety, very dignified and always appropriate,” Saxon said. “He was a true gentleman. He always impressed and followed the rules of yachting. Yachting
See CAPT. ROWE, page A18