A week in the life of a superyacht

Interview of the final members of Adela’s crew as they prepare for the start of the Pendennis Cup

The Stewardess:

The crew mess is certainly living up to its name this morning. I’m told Carrie, the stewardess, is somewhere around here, but I was never any good at hide and seek. Sure enough, she pokes her head out from under the huge pile of polo, rugby and t-shirts. “Good morning, had a nice nap?” I ask; she doesn’t seem too fazed by the situation, “Oh, it’s like this every time we race.”

She wiggles herself free and is doing marvelously well to stay so calm, considering the fact that over 30 extra race crew will be arriving onboard on Sunday afternoon for the pre-race practice. She spurts the logistics involved in getting well over 40 people kitted out with the Adela uniform: “I began designing and ordering the rugby shirts two months ago. As soon as our Captain gives me a idea of who will be racing, I begin the huge task of clothing them.”

Each team member needs a race t-shirt as well as a rugby pullover due to the cooler racing climate. On top of that, they need spare sizes, extra uniforms for visitors, friends and guests; soon Adela’s got an order for over 200 articles of clothing; “in one year alone Adela spends over €30,000 on uniforms for regattas.”

One of Carrie’s, and the second stewardess Jess’s largest tasks, on top of preparing the crew’s uniform, is the interior maintenance of a classic re-build like Adela. All the French polished mahogany in the guest areas has to be maintained and every six months, it has to be refinished; Carrie has to organise flying in French polishers especially from France for this huge task.
After this, she moves on to the silver fittings; “I get everything polished properly before our owners and guests come on boards. Taps, soap trays, light switches, cupboard handles, every single finger mark need to be polished away.”

It doesn’t end there, after the polishing is concluded, Carrie cling-films the freshly polished silver to prevent tainting the area with dust, or wear and tear of any kind, be it a water splash, fingerprint or salt-air stain. This is then removed only five minutes before the owners arrive.

Once the owners are onboard, Carrie caters for their every need; she looks after guests, helps unpack the owner’s suitcases and organises dinner reservations at various restaurants. In short, she has to ensure that everything is perfect for the duration of the owner’s stay and make sure they feel as much at home as possible.

Although, with such consideration to the owner’s pleasure and comfort, it’s easy to forget that in seven days, Adela will be racing on UK waters against six other superyachts, each competing for the Pendennis cup. “Yes, it’s a fine balance, we have to be able to go from pure luxury to locking down all the furniture in place and heading out to race in only a few hours; it’s these final few days of pressure I love as we all come together, crew and owner, to give Adela the best possible chance of success in the Pendennis Cup.”

Read full article on Yachting World

Tags: Adela Yacht, Pendennis Cup

Category: Events News