Superyacht Captain by Brendan O’Shannassy

Author:Brendan O’Shannassy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Is that the Prince?

After extolling the virtues of soliciting honest and challenging feedback, I confess I still had lapses. ‘Lapses’ is me being kind to myself; there were times in my need to please when I barrelled on regardless of the wisdom provided by the truth-tellers I had surrounded myself with.

We were back in the South of France after passage from the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal, and anchoring off Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat I felt we had returned. I know the area intimately, having anchored here hundreds of times, and when Yvonne and I lived in Nice we often took walks around the point, stopping for a swim in one of the secluded bays. It felt great as I looked to the view to the west, across villas I knew well on the headland, from the bridge of a wonderful superyacht. It was a 100-metre-plus yacht with over 40 crew and licensed to carry 36 guests in open seas. Its delivery marked a shift in the yachting industry, shaking some perceptions with its more rugged approach, and I was proud of this captaincy.

This yacht-owning couple referred to me as the senior captain, a term that does not specifically mean anything – it alluded to my now decades’ experience with complex captaincies. Regardless of its lack of definition, I was conscious of their expectation and tried to set a sound example and freely share the benefit of my experience with more junior crew. On this evening, experience was not really needed: there was a visibly solid ground swell running offshore and a strong south-westerly wind, creating a confused sea. The anchorage at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat was an obvious choice as being the most sheltered. The yacht owners were on board and, more importantly, some of their most favoured guests had made a point of arranging a dinner booking in Monaco to provide a special evening in gratitude for the kindness of the owners in sharing the yacht with them.

We made preparations to depart Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat to move towards Monaco and my nervous anxiety was building. It wasn’t helped when the ever friendly and professional French port pilot boarded and said, ‘But Captain, why would you go to Monaco now? It is terrible and getting worse.’ I rolled my eyes: ‘Thanks, Pilot, I know.’ I had told the guests that Monaco might be uncomfortable but, in a good mood, they wanted to try anyway. They did not wish to drive along the winding, single-lane Basse Corniche from Saint-Jean port all the way to Monaco during peak hour. I agreed the drive would be slow and, against my better judgement, I said that we would work something out for them: after all, I wanted them to see me as the successful superyacht captain.

It is worth departing from the events that are soon to unfold to expand on the guests that evening. ‘Perfect’ may be too great for any one group to live up to, but from a captain’s and crew’s point of view they certainly came close.

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