NEWSFLASH: I FINALLY SAW SHARKS!!!!
Right, back to business. There are a few things to you have to learn when you do boat deliveries for a job. Or in fact any sort of yachting job, be it teaching, chartering, flotilla, skipper, crew or even holiday. However, there are 3 key rules that will serve you well.
The main thing I’ve found, and the hardest of them all for me especially is the golden rule.... Learn to bite your tongue. Smile nicely, nod your head, listen…. go away from the situation, scream in to your pillow, hit a wall, have a smoke, swear obscene amounts, meditate, count to 1000, write a blog. Then put your smile back on, go back to the situation and very nicely and legitimately say “you're a bloody idiot, shut up, jump off the boat and swim the rest of the way”.
We all have people we would rather not spend time with in our lives. Whether it be at your job, in uni, school, at home, even in your group of friends. But the great thing about this world, it's reasonably big. (Although sometimes it doesn't feel big enough and even if that person was on the other side of the world from you, it’s still too close). But on a boat, albeit a pretty large boat, you are confined. In our case 62x24ft. You are in a small space, with not much room to hide, the sound proofing isn't too good, and no matter where you go, someone else is there. If not them, then their t-shirt, or their book, or their shoes. There, taunting you, singing in your ear.
Once you've learned to shut up (Editor - you're still learning, surely?!) it's time to move onto rule #2, which is selflessness. The worst habit of people on this planet is being selfish and it is exacerbated on a boat. Where your provisions are limited, as is the space you have to keep it in and are supposed to last you until you arrive at your next destination, you have to be careful, not just with the actually shopping, but with the way you eat, you drink, and the way you treat yourself. You cannot under any circumstance just go to the shop, spend a few 1000$ on only food that you like, and no one else. I mean what if there was a vegetarian on board, and you only bought meat? or a Coeliac? and you only bought gluten filled products? Its stupid. So you write a little list of maybe allergies, and food people really DON’T like, and maybe something that they really like. Don’t get me wrong, you can't be fussy. You can’t be so fussy that you don’t eat anything but plain pasta with oil. (If that is the case, make your own bloody food and leave out of it). One of the many things I thank my parents for teaching me is ‘eat the food put in front of you and be grateful, or don’t eat anything at all).
So once you are selfless and quiet, it's time for rule # 3 which is don't disrespect the order on board and those in their various roles. I am fully on board with the saying ‘Respect is Earned’. Now, if you have come board as a crew member, you have a skipper and then you have a first mate. You might even have a second mate. But they are skipper for a reason. Just like at your work, you have a boss. You know why he is your boss? Probably because he/she is better at your job than you, they have been doing it longer, they have earned that position, they have more knowledge than you at the moment. Just like if you work hard enough and long enough, you will too maybe one day be the boss. Frankly even if you don't quite know why they are your boss, there is nothing likely to change it overnight so live with it. If you are the boss at your job, that's great and if I joined you at work, I would expect to answer to you accordingly and you can teach me whatever it is you do (Editor - I'm not sure you want to learn about spreadsheets but I can if you want)
On board, the boss and decision maker is the skipper or captain. Don't waste your time and energy (and theirs!) with constantly finding excuses of why this and that? Trying to undermine them will lead to failing and looking like a wally. Instead, try to learn something from them? Ask them questions? write notes? accept being taught? And if nothing else, understand that you cannot under any circumstances wrap a line around the winch anticlockwise.