Charter Crew Duties
The psychology of a crew could probably be an entire field of study. The stages I’ve found with crew, detailed below, directly impact their level of involvement and how much gets done onboard. There’s no “one size fits all” solution here, but there are considerations in mind if you take a more structured approach.
Note, the following article is geared toward non-professional captains (i.e., those captaining with friends and not customers) doing localized/regional charters. I’m sure professional captains who are working with a delivery crew or other work oriented circumstances over long distances will want to include/modify these duties. But, for the rest of us who want the recreational approach let’s first start with a crew and captain’s mentality.
Phases of Crew and Captain Development in Regards to Daily Duties
New Crew
First time the captain is chartering or the crew’s first time on a charter boat. Very eager to help, learn about sailing, systems, docking, etc. Captain eager to explain everything but takes on a significant workload.
Semi-Seasoned Crew
Crew and captain have been chartering once or twice and feel like they’ve seen it all. Captain tries offloading work to others, with good success. Overall, still a high level of engagement and excitement.
Seasoned Crew
Depending on the crew’s interest in sailing, this is where things can go wrong. Some members think others have duties covered, captain believes the skill has improved, and ultimately a lack of responsibility leads to missteps.
Seasoned Captain and Crew
A seasoned captain knows how to avoid the mistakes that can occur in stage 3. They assign the duties that need to be done to individuals and hold them accountable for inaction. Nautilys has provided a Daily Duties sign up sheet that captains can use to assign the most common duties to crew. This is available in the Downloads section or it can be accessed here.
Considerations when Assigning Daily Duties
Medical Constraints
This should be on the top of a captain’s mind. Does a crew member have a bad shoulder that would prevent them from hauling lines? Don’t assign them to deck duty. Does a crew member get seasick easily? Probably best to not have them cooking too much while underway. Health factors come first.
Safety Duties
Outside of regular conditions, do the conditions you are sailing or boating in require additional duties? For instance, if you are going through shallows with dense coral reefs or rocks, a lookout on the bow is needed. Or if there is thick fog you likely want a lookout with an air horn.
Frequency
We don’t need overkill on cleaning certain areas, but it can depend on number of people onboard. If it’s a 42’ catamaran with 5 people versus a 56’ catamaran with 12 people, there will be significant differences in usage that demand different frequencies of cleaning. Also, if it’s early summer and you are sailing near an area with a lot of pollen, you may want to do deck scrubbing more often.
Accountability
Having a public sign up list that is hung in the boat is ideal as it lets everybody see their duties AND other people’s. If for some reason no one is making lunch, it’s pretty clear who should be!