What is walking on the pier?
Dock walking is the process of walking a dock, boarding a yacht, speaking to crew on board with the aim of trying to secure any of the following; day job, permanent job or leave them one of your CV’s.
For me, this turned out to be one of the most stressful processes to find a job on a superyacht…
Monday morning 0630, I wake up early in anticipation of the morning ahead. I am living in a crew house with many other ‘wannabe’ super yacht crew members, all eagerly trying to get a job on a super yacht, all competing for the same job on a limited number of yachts. I get up early, I want to be the first to shower (before people start lining up to shower) and shave for my first day walking the Antibes quays. Presentation is important in this industry and my clothes are ironed and laid out the night before. I shower, shave and have breakfast, my appetite is low as my nerves fill my stomach with some restlessness. I pack my bag with the essentials, sunscreen and water, before leaving the crew house armed with a selection of recently printed CVs and references in a tidy plastic folder. I want to be the first out of the crew house and onto the pier in case I can catch any of the first crew on deck.
It’s a beautiful cool morning, the salty smell of the sea lingers in the still air that surrounds the small cobbled streets of Antibes. The sun is about to rise, the sky is clear with white airplane trails that mark the blue background, there is a freshness in the air that indicates that autumn is getting closer and closer. Leaving the cobbled streets behind, I am greeted by a wide selection of moored yachts, all dominated by a beautiful golden fort looking out over the port of Antibes, the rising sun accentuating the golden color of the fort. As I walk along the side of the pier, a scavenger sea scuttles into a hedge dragging some leftover pizza from a torn garbage bag. The water is calm and the town is empty, it is 07:30 and the port is calm.
I walk to the International Pier, the main dock that houses some of the world’s largest superyachts, past the more modest yachts, which are still impressively sized yachts by home standards. My anxiety grows as I approach the entrance to the main pier, my heart racing and my fears of rejection growing ever closer. I walk through the security barrier through an open gate looking like a schoolboy about to start his first day at school, backpack on, clean and pressed clothes and carrying my CV folder; I certainly look like a newbie. As I enter the International Dock I am greeted by a large yacht with the large letters spelling ‘DILBAR’ written across the side in gleaming silver, the reflection of water ripples glistening off the yacht’s hull and the front of the yacht stretching into the distance. ; my heartbeat increases even more and I almost try to tell myself that it’s not a good day to walk the pier and I’ll try tomorrow as it will be easier then… I know I must continue.
Sitting on the dock it’s 07:35, no one around except the security guard and he seems totally uninterested in my intentions here this morning. Sitting by a flower bed overlooking the vast expanse of yachts before me, all moored astern (the rear of the yacht facing the dock), I struggle to comprehend the change of worlds I am experiencing in just two days. Two days ago I was working in an office watching the rain fall outside on a busy street… now I’m sitting, jobless, admiring these incredible yachts, with the blue sea and sky all around against the backdrop of that old golden fort .
Gradually more walkers appear, some seem very experienced walkers, walking with a certain confidence and heirs to knowledge, some I speak to politely and briefly, some people focus solely on the yachts and pass without even an acknowledgment.
It’s 0745 and I decide to walk to the opposite end of the pier and start my tour of the pier from the other end forward, hoping to catch the crews before they’re bothered by the other pier walkers. The larger yachts are at the top, I anticipate these will attract the attention of most beachgoers, so I go for the smaller yachts first (they are still over 200 feet long!). As I walk to the end of the dock, the yachts begin to come to life, the deck crew appearing from the side doors of the yacht, walking up the sides of the yacht towards the stern (rear). I watch the crews come out, a moment I’ve been anticipating for a long time, and my anxiety rises another notch. My heart is now beating at a level where I can feel the pulsing and pulsing of the blood around my body, a sensation I haven’t had since getting up to give the best man speech the month before. My mouth goes dry and I feel the sweat under my armpits, I approach the first yacht, the crew member looks at me, I think I have caught his attention, I smile, before he looks down and goes to the second deck to raise the flag in the back of the yacht, I am sure he noticed me, but my polite English disposition prevents me from bothering him and I am convinced that they must be fully manned and therefore I must look elsewhere. As I walk away, I realize that I have failed the first hurdle in my search for a job on a yacht.
My disappointment mounting but my heart rate easing a bit, I continue down the dock, determined not to succumb to fear on the next yacht, I swear this will be the only yacht I stay away from, a fresh start…
The third yacht, someone is also taking out the flag at the back of the yacht, I approach, again the heart rate increases, but with courage and determination I call the guy, “are you looking for crew?” The guy looks down, smiles, and reports that they’re fully staffed. Although a rejection I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment, I have overcome my fear of applying for a job on one of these yachts and feel a little more prepared to embark on my journey to find a job on a super yacht.
That morning I managed to speak to the crew on five different yachts that morning. Walking back to the crew house, I feel more confident than I had on this morning’s walk and pleased that I managed to turn in some CVs. I have completed my first morning dock walk, now the start of many more dock walks awaits me.
My dock walking skills got better with practice, it took about a week for me to feel confident doing this and for the anxious feelings to go away. The process got better over time, I got smarter about asking if they needed day work or new crew, I also managed to leave more CVs and references with yachts even if they weren’t looking for crew at the time. I always tried to have a polite conversation with the teams before I left, hoping to develop some kind of polite rapport, which I hoped would help me stand out from the crowd. I was surprised to find crews surprisingly helpful and welcoming to me as a dock walker. The reality is that most crews on board will have endured the process of walking the dock at some point and will understand that it is a necessary part of finding work on a yacht, they will empathize with you and help you in any way they can.
My walk on the pier took me to many piers, Antibes, Cannes, Monaco, Nice, St Tropez, among a couple of others. However, the best ones I found were Antibes and Monaco. Many hours were spent walking miles of docks, handing out many CVs, and speaking politely to many crew members. It got daunting at times as no hints of my hard work seemed to emerge. I always tried to stay positive and keep moving forward, even though it was hard at times and I knew the clock was ticking fast, coming to the end of another season; the yachts would soon leave the Mediterranean for the Caribbean.
However, the hard work, persistence, and patience eventually paid off. Got day jobs on a couple of yachts which built my experience onto my CV making me much more employable.
Without realizing it, my days of walking the pier were coming to an end when I approached a yacht not long after it had docked one afternoon. The normal routine of applying for a job followed with polite courtesies, I handed the crew member my CV, he asked about my qualifications and he seemed disappointed that I didn’t have my yacht captain qualification, he goes on to inform me that the Captain only employs deck crew to have this qualification. I left disappointed as the yacht had an interesting itinerary and the crew seemed very friendly on board. The next morning, walking along the pier, I passed the same yacht that I had given my CV to the previous afternoon, the crew member called me and offered me a day’s work. This progressed from a day’s work to a week’s work, leading to a trial period, leading to a permanent job and all this from that fateful day of speaking up and handing that CV over to that person.
It’s such an amazing feeling to land a job on a super yacht, completely free from hours of walking around the dock. Working on that yacht while moving all my belongings on board, while going from walker to full time crew member was a day that filled me with great pride. Coming from an office job some two months earlier and now coming on board to start a new life working on one of the best charter superyachts in the world was an enchanting moment in my life.
Looking back, the walk on the pier was the most stressful part of the job search process. But it got noticeably easier with time and practice, you just have to get over the fear of ordering that first yacht.
As human beings, I feel we need to become more comfortable accepting fear and uncertainty, as it is often the things that make us feel uncomfortable, fearful or nervous that can lead to some of the most exciting changes and opportunities in your life. …
… you never know, that decision you make, conversation or person you meet could change the direction of your life or career and take your life on a whole new and exciting adventure.