Last month’s news was that the crew on the 31m M/Y La Dolce Vita had to abandon their burning yacht off the Florida Keys before fire totally gutted it and the yacht sank. Other than the watches on their wrists and the smartphones in their pockets, they may not have managed to take many other of their personal belongings with them when they abandoned the yacht.

This was not a unique occasion when yacht crew have been unexpectedly separated from their personal effects in a traumatic manner. A brief online search will reveal a series of other yacht fires and founderings, including some very large yachts. Recently, the 75m S/Y Enigma burned out and sank off Langkawi. The 60m M/Y Yogi sank in heavy weather in the Aegean in February 2012.

Nearly 5 years ago, the IMO issued guidelines to all its member states aimed at introducing Electronic Certificates to the maritime industry. The aim was to reduce the administrative burdens caused by reliance on traditional paper certificates. e-Certificates are intended to eventually replace paper certificates across the industry.

Crew retention is generally perceived to be one of the biggest headaches in the yachting industry, yet cited as one of the most important factors in maintaining an efficient and happy ship.

Resolutions, detoxes and diets...How's it going? Are you living in a haze of green smoothies and dawn yoga sessions, or have you fallen off the wagon and eaten half the crew mess Pringles?

With thanks to ECPY for producing the draft report and the new link to our webinar from 29 March 2021.

After two years of discussions, the main orders prohibiting mooring in the French protected areas of the Mediterranean have been published. This means that yachts will have to anchor further from the shore and beaches. The three main yachting associations: PYA, ECPY and GEPY met recently with the services of the Maritime Prefecture, to discuss the new regulation and its implementation.

Read the letter from our CEO about the Joint Statement on prioritization of COVID-19 vaccination for seafarers and aircrew.

On the morning of February 24th, Captain Simon Johnson was lining up MY Go in preparation for the 10.30am bridge in St. Maarten. If you’re in the yachting industry, you’ve probably been hiding under the proverbial rock if you don’t know the rest of the story.

IMO Resolution MSC,428 (98) requires all SNS systems to include measures to ensure cyber security by the 2021 annual verification date. 

The paper side of this requirement, namely the insertion of new procedures into a current SMS, or the writing of a separate cyber SMS, only goes part way to meeting the intent of the IMO Resolution. The operational aspect is another story. 

The superyacht industry has been paying closer attention to diversity and inclusion, with a focus on equality and creating a more sustainable industry. However few articles have reported on navigating the barriers and successes of building diversity and inclusion strategies into yachting companies.

Hill Robinson and Sanlorenzo are concluding the/2021 Sanlorenzo Crew Academy, which has seen eight cadets complete 600hrs of classroom and on-board crew training.

The next stage is gaining valuable operational experience on board, either assisting the Interior or Deck departments.