Amelia Hilton Pierce: Yacht Crew from 2016 - 2024
I left the yachting industry in December 2022 after starting my first dock-walking experience in 2016. Whilst working on various yachts of all shapes, sizes and itinerary’s I had the most amazing time growing up in this industry. However, I started getting to 27, 28, 29 and I felt like I was missing something. I felt like I needed a change, and this need for an exit plan became more & more urgent the closer I got to 30. There were a few things that suddenly started to feel more important than those ever present golden handcuffs. These were family connections, friendships, romance, routine, autonomy and boundaries.
Family
My friends at home all started to get engaged, married and having babies, and I felt like I was still living quite a young lifestyle, with few deep connections with my peers. My sisters kids were growing up a ton and each time I’d come home they’d grown, they’re personalities were developing and I felt like I was missing out on experiencing their childhoods with them. I’d be this cool auntie that popped in every few months, and would spoil them with gifts, but was never present for their birthdays, Christmas’s, or special events. As we get older inevitably our parents are getting older too. I started getting these deep feelings of guilt - What would I do if something happened to a parent or a grandparent and I was away and something happened to them. What if something happened to a family member, and I hadn’t seen them in nearly a year. Would I then be left with feelings of guilt surrounding my career choices for the rest of my life?
Romance
Dating is hard at the best of times, you get told to not mix with the crew, but inevitably this happens more often than not. You’re then stuck on a boat that you potentially don’t enjoy so that you can be with your partner. Being single and trying to date at home is awful, who wants to be with someone that goes away every 2 months? During busy guest trips you can barely speak to them & they don’t often understand why. You go out with the crew and boundaries are blurred with one too many work flirts that could potentially escalate to a guilt-ridden situation. I personally would love to find a partner, but working on yachts has made this a little more tricky for me. I knew that yachting wasn’t my forever, and I’d seen too much to ever trust a partner that worked on a yacht that I wasn’t also on.
Friendships
When I left yachting, I’d had it planned for a few years. I bought a place in a brand new city, where I didn’t know anyone my age, so that I could be closer to my sister and her children. I’d never realised how tricky it was to make friends as an adult. Most friendships come from school, or from work colleagues. I found myself on bumble BFF thinking surely there’s better ways to make friends. Friendships, especially new ones, are hard to maintain when you’re constantly going away for months at a time, and your missing those key moments where you can really connect with people. Friendship is so important, humans are social creatures and we need to be able to find our tribe. I had a HEAP of friends from yachts, most of them still in the industry, but the ones that had already left, were back in their home countries which usually were either the opposite end of the world, or halfway round. I’ve been lucky enough to make some really great friendships on yachts, but most of them have turned into really lovely pen pals since moving home. Being at home for the last few months, being able to partake in community activities and joining team sport groups have been integral in being able to make some ‘home friends’ which are blossoming into strong connections.
Privacy & Boundaries
I’ve had quite a few very un-boundaried experiences with both owners, guests and crew. Since leaving the industry and living in the ‘real world’ do I only now notice and reflect on times where I lacked massive boundaries in my life. It’s an amazing feeling having personal space at home rather than being a single bed bunk bed cabin, and having every space on the boat crowded by people. Privacy has become extremely important to me in my daily life now, not having the entire crew know your every move, and having personal and physical space from toxic characters. I’ve realised that a lot of the behavior from both crew & guests are wrong on so many levels. The amount of harassment, bullying, discrimination and unwanted sexual advances in the yachting industry are ever present, and this behavior is not okay in the ‘real world.’ Yachting has this little bubble where people are allowed to get away with doing and saying anything they want, and there is a huge lack of respect of other peoples boundaries.
Routine
Everyone’s heard about how boring that Monday - Friday 9-5 routine is. Everyones doing it, and it sounds awful. Therefore I found it strange when I felt like I was craving it. An effective routine has been proven to reduce stress, it encourages healthier sleeping and eating patterns. I was getting a bit tired of ever changing boat plans, guest trips and crew dynamics and found it quite draining. I found myself daydreaming of a life that appears to be quite mundane and habitual. I wanted to be able to understand the new popular meme’s I was seeing online during my 5 minute break guest on, and my lack of presence in normal pop culture at home was making me feel quite disconnected. I realised I hadn’t even watched the news in months and I had absolutely no idea what was going on the in the world.
Independence
I often describe myself as hyper-independent. I’m more than happy to take myself off on a solo trip travelling around a new country, to go shopping by myself, to take myself out on big walks and joining new sports teams by myself. I enjoy being independent and yachting’s given me the financial freedom to just go and do whatever I wanted to do. However, in terms of autonomy, I felt like I was lacking in some areas involving yachting. Have you ever walked into the crew mess really craving a certain dish, and your presented with food that is absolutely not what you want? I had this too many times, when crew food would swap between Moroccan, Greek, Mediterranean, Turkish, Middle Eastern, and these all started to blur into the same thing, I would often leave hungry and annoyed at my lack of independence. The same goes for being at anchor, and having to stick to someone else’s timings for tender runs, or not being allowed to leave at all. The joys of going land based, are that to an extent you can do whatever you please, at any time and this gives a beautiful feeling of freedom.
These are just a few reasons why I chose to make the move to land-based living, and I feel SO much more myself for doing so. The yachting industry is incredible, and gave me amazing oppourtunities allowing me to be in the position I am currently. It’s a big step to say goodbye to those golden handcuffs and join the general public in paying tax, commuting, rainy UK weather, but for me, I’ve done my time, and I am so much better off at home.
If you can relate to any of the above, and are thinking about leaving the industry but are not sure where to start, then contact me today for a 30 minute consultation on how we can get you where you want to be!
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