Running Against the Tide by Captain Lee & Michael Shohl

Author:Captain Lee & Michael Shohl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books

Chapter 7

Don’t Let Your Mouth Write a Check That Your Ass Can’t Cash

“We need a new chef,” the mate said.

Damn.

It wasn’t uncommon to lose a chef in the yachting world. Chefs, in general, are nomadic, temperamental, chaotic, unconventional, and rebellious. They tend to be nocturnal, working all night, partying once the job is done until the sun starts to rise, and then sacking out until the next shift. They’re like vampires who roll out their own pasta.

And that’s just your garden-variety chef, the kind that works in a city and rents an apartment. But yachting chefs? That’s another breed. Those are the group that say, “I love the nights and the chaos and the fast-moving knives, but I’d rather have no fixed address.” This sect particularly embraces the kind of pirate life that one gets working on a boat, moving from one Caribbean island to the next, from one coastal town in Florida to the next.

This is to say, even if they were talented and hardworking, you couldn’t exactly pencil these guys in for forty years of service and a gold watch at the end.

The bad news was that it meant that I needed a replacement chef.

Even worse, this happened right in the middle of a situation.

I was the captain of a 120-foot Broward. The owner, Doug, had very generously offered his financial consultant, Fredrick, the use of the boat for two weeks for his wedding and honeymoon. We were in Maine for the wedding, but we had only a couple of days to get everything prepared before the big event. Then we were going to Boston the following day to pick up the bride and groom and start their honeymoon cruise. Not sure why they weren’t going to stay aboard. Could have been they needed to see some family, or return some gravy boats, or whatever it is newlyweds might do after the big ceremony.

So, I had only a day or two to find a chef who would be diving right into the deep end of the pool.

Picking a chef was part of the job, and the first thing I did was go through my Rolodex of competent people to see if I could find someone who wasn’t currently committed. But that’s the problem with keeping a list of good people—they were in high demand. It would have been a lot easier to find a total fuckup with an open schedule, but who wants a total fuckup grilling your steaks?

I came up empty. Then I started asking other captains, other owners, other brokers if they knew anyone who might be a good fit. I finally struck gold when I talked to Matt. I’d worked with him in the past, and, if I’d been able to make him a better offer, would have loved to have him running the galley. He was a talented chef who got along well with everyone and really brought everything to the table that a captain would want. But even if he was committed to another job, I still trusted his advice.

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