I'm sure Mr Bogart said it and most certainly someone in the A-Team said it. But in the real world no one should ever say it. ...
'Over and out'. This is bad radio practice.
'Over' means that you have finished but will continue after a response.

For example:

Person 1: 'What is the weather like today?' - 'Over'
Person 2: 'Sunny and windy' - 'Over'
Person 1: 'Thanks very much' - 'Out' (the conversation is now over)

To read what the correct procedure for a MayDay call is . There is a correct procedure for making a Mayday call and there is a rule as to when you can make a Mayday call. We will deal with the 'when' part first.

A Mayday call should only be used if there is likely to be loss of life due to the danger your vessel is in.

For example:

The yacht Nonsuch has struck a submerged object and is sinking rapidly.
The skipper decides that his yacht and the lives of the crew are in grave and imminent danger and broadcasts the following message.
If on VHF use Ch. 16 if SSB then 2182khz is the distress frequency.

Proceed as follows:

1. "Mayday mayday mayday,
2. This is nonsuch nonsuch nonsuch
3. Mayday nonsuch and your call sign
4. Position 43.02 south, 81.30 east (the decimal point is pronounced deceemal)
5. My yacht is holed, I am taking on water and sinking rapidly
6. I have 4 crew members on board, the hull is white and the rest of the structure is orange with blue sails.
7. I require immediate assistance - Over.

"Let's break it down line by line.

1. Always repeat 'Mayday' 3 times unless you are relaying the Mayday call.
2. Always repeat your vessel name 3 times
3. Mayday once more - your vessel name and your call sign.
4. Give your position - latitude and longitude and use 'decimal' not 43 - point - 02
5. Report what has happened to your vessel so that the rescuers know what the situation is and can act accordingly.
6. Report your crew number and identification of your vessel to aid search and rescue operations.
7. Indicate that you need immediate assistance.

All vessels receiving this message are by law required to acknowledge receipt of the message, after giving radio stations and vessels closer to the vessel in distress an opportunity to acknowledge receipt first.

All vessels and radio stations that do not become involved in the rescue operation must maintain radio silence until further notice to prevent interferance to the rescue operation.

Vessels or radio stations may act as a relay station for the distress vessel. A reason for this could be that the closest vessel may no be able to assist but the vessel that can assist is out of range.

The relay vessel/station would reply to the mayday in this way:

1. Mayday yacht Nonsuch yacht Nonsuch yacht Nonsuch
2. This is Drillerama Drillerama Drillerame
3. Received Mayday over.

After hearing no other response the master of the Drillermam realizes that his vessel is the only station that received the distress from the Nonsuch and, because the Drillerama is engaged in drilling operations and too far from the vessel in distress, decides to send the following Mayday relay message.

1. Mayday relay Mayday relay Mayday relay
2. This is Drillerama Drillerama Drillerama
3. Mayday Nonsuch/call sign
4. Position 43.02 south, 81.30 east (the decimal point is pronounced deceemal)
5. My yacht is holed, I am taking on water and sinking rapidly
6. I have 4 crew members on board, the hull is white and the rest of the structure is orange with blue sails.
7. I require immediate assistance - Over.

"Points 4 - 7 is verbatim Nonsuch mayday call.
Point 3 has Mayday once which signifies this is a relay call.

If another vessel 'Napoleon' receives the relay call and acknowledges as follows:

1. Mayday (once only since this is a relay)
2. Cape Town radio Cape town radio Cape Town radio (nearest radio station to distress situation)
3. This is Napoloen Napoleon Napoleon
4. Romeo Romeo Romeo Mayday, over.

Cape Town radio will now reply as follows:

1. Mayday
2. Napoleon napoleon napoleon this is Cape Town radio Cape Town radio Cape Town radio

A fishing vessel acknowledges the call by Cape Town radio and responds.

1. Mayday Cape Town radio Cape Town radio Cape Town radio
2. This is Horiki Horiki Horiki Romeo Romeo Romeo Mayday over.

Cape Town radio will reply to Horiki with:

1. Mayday Horiki Horiki Horiki this is
2. Cape Town radio Cape Town radio Cape Town radio
3. All received, please standby.

The coast station will now relay all this information to the Rescue Coordinating Centre (RCC). If not further acknowledgments are received the Coast staion will contact all the staions that have acknowledged receipt individually. They in turn will provide their positions and if they were to proceed to the assitance of Nonsuch their ETA.

Once all the relevant information is obtained the RCC will determine which vessel is closest to Nonsuch and instruct the Master by telegram to proceed to the vessel in distress (the telegram has legal standing being a hard copy). The master of Horiki will now inform Nonsuch that he is proceeding towards his position and what his ETA would be.

The above is taken from the Cape Town Radio 'Restricted RT operators Examination Guide'
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What Your Crew Resume Should Include

What Your Crew Resume Should Include.

First a couple of pointers.

1. Use common file formats like 'doc' 'pdf' 'docx' for example.
   
2. Do not send your CV in Excel format 'xls' your CV is NOT a spreadsheet.
3. Do not send your CV in the body of an email. Attach it to the email. And please dont send your CV attachment with a blank email message or with something like - 'want job!'
4. Do not send your CV with 15mb of attachments with every certificate scanned. If you list your certification in your CV and you are considered for a position your certificates will be asked for.
   
5. A crew agent is working with 100's of emails and attachments....she or he could land up with 100's of mb's in the inbox. First thing on a Monday morning is not going to make your CV popular.

Part A

Your Cover Letter

This letter should be well written, spell & grammar checked. It should have a salutation, not simply 'Hi'. Your cover letter should capture in brief your personality and say what job you are looking for and when you are available.


Sign off with your full name, (first name first) and your contact information.

--

Part B

Your crew photo

CURRICULUM- VITAE

CV’s should generally be up to 2 pages long,
in a word document and up to 200KB’s in size.

YOUR NAME

Personal Information

Date of Birth: Make sure the day and month is clearly defined - what is 02/06/1981? Feb 6 or June 2?
Nationality:
Email address:
Current location:
Mobile telephone: (include International Dialling code )
Visa’s:
Marital Status:
ENG1 Medical Certification:
Driving License:
Mother tongue:
Languages:
Visible Tattoos:
Smoker:

Maritime Qualifications


STCW95 – (Add name of school, and month/year qualification issued)
RYA
MCA
Recreational Boat License
Additional Qualifications (Such as Scuba diving etc)

Profile/Career Objective

A brief outline of the career path you wish to follow, whether you are looking for a permanent or seasonal position, whether you are looking for motor or sail, size of vessel etc.

Previous Maritime Experience – Please list most recent first

Name of Vessel (State whether private or charter)
MY or SY / Length
Dates (Month and Year)
Position held onboard
Brief Job Description detailing your duties.

(If you have significant gaps in your work history please explain briefly what you were doing during this time. You don’t want the skipper to wonder if those missing years were spent in prison.)

Additional Work Experience
Here list any other work experience you may have. Close detail is not essential.

Your Hobbies and Leisure Activities
This tells us a little of who you are and it can give an indication of how well you would fit in with the other crew on the yacht.

References
Please ensure you include the time zone of your referee. He or she will be less likely to say you are wonderful if a crew agent has woken them out of a deep sleep at 2am with a phone call. Include your referees email address too.

Security checks are also undertaken, so criminal records will surface. Read more!

How to Write a Crew Resume or CV

How to Write a Crew Resume or CV.

You can send your resume/CV to every crew agent on the planet, it doesn't mean they are going to read or even open them.

This section covers how to write a resume that Crew Agents will actually open.
Section 2 covers what your resume/CV should include


We get 100’s of resumes each year and it’s fair to say that we have learnt what we like, don’t like and actively dread. Writing a resume in this field plays a critical part in getting you noticed. Your resume is your foot in the door, one that might be 8’000 miles away. It is going to take something pretty impressive to open that door.


Getting Your Resume/CV Email Read


Your Subject Line
‘Yact jobs’ won’t help your cause. Get your spelling right.
It is a good idea to state the position you are looking for in the subject line of your email.
For example: Experienced Stewardess Seeking Motor Yacht position 50m plus


Your Cover Email
Always send a cover email. It is an important way of introducing yourself. Email may be a more informal approach but that doesn’t mean you should forget every grammar lesson and skip the spell check. A blank email with an attachment does not impress or inspire confidence and can be very annoying.


Attachments
A blank email with an attachment will almost certainly never be opened. Don’t waste your time sending it. Write the cover letter.


Don’t send your resume in fancy attachments. For example we get a number of resumes sent for some reason in excel. We can’t open these. If you are unsure simply send it as an .rtf or .doc file.


Say what job you are looking for
It is astonishing how many people actually leave this out. Being female doesn’t necessarily mean you are looking for a stewardess job, you could be one of a growing number of female engineers or Captains.


Desperation
Even if you are experienced at interior and exterior having worked as deckhand, stew and crew chef, don’t be tempted to say you are looking for any of those positions. State the position you would like most.


Keep it short
Bear in mind that your resume is frequently being read on screen so be short, sweet and succinct. Don’t waffle but equally don’t leave out anything relevant. Your resume should be no more than two or three pages.


Fonts and Colours
Use a sans serif type font like Verdana or Arial as these are much easier to read on screen. Don’t change from font to font.
Do not use different font colours and table cell colours. Black with Bold is fine


Proofread x 100
Then ask someone to read your resume. Ideally someone who wont be shy to tell you your grammar is lousy and your spelling is even worse.


White space counts
Readers like clean open spaces. If you have a lot to say use bullet points and keep sentences short but also remember your resume must express your character so don’t be overly abrupt.


What if your name is Suchta Norbert?
I don’t know if Suchta is a male or female name, equally I am not sure if it a first name or second. I do know a man with Norbert as a first name. Make your gender clear. This also pertains to names like Alex, Lee, Robin, Nicky, Cameron, Kim etc.


Don’t include massive scans of documents. Scanned references not to mention scans of all your seamanship papers from when you were 16, 17, 21 etc. Seriously, I am sure if anyone wants to see them they will ask you to send them in.


Photos
PLEASE! No shots of you at the pub clutching a beer with a mates arm slung around your neck. Save those for Facebook. Your photo should present a professional image; a head and shoulders shot with you neatly dressed and well presented with a simple or blank background.

Keep your image size small. No one will thank you for a photo so big that only your nostril fits on the screen.
Equally please don’t send images that are so small that one can only see eyebrows and chin.

Any further advice and comments appreciated.

Next article we will tackle what your CV should and should not include
. Read more!

Why Do your Training in South Africa

Why do your STCW training in South Africa?

I guess the picture above says it all really!

Cape Town, is on the Southern tip of South Africa and is one of the most beautiful locations in the world.

Sailing in the shadow of Table Mountain by day or night is an experience not to be missed.

Table Bay has seen some of the worlds best known yacht races and yachtsman and is a great bay to sail in.

One can set out in a fickle breeze looking for the slightest puff and a few hours later be fighting a 25kt SE on the nose back to your berth. Cape Town is home to the Royal Cape Yacht Club. And one must not miss the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.

Just 60 nautical miles north of Cape Town is the beautiful Langebaan lagoon.

On the left we have Langebaan Lagoon looking north towards Saldanha Bay. If you can find the book 'The Wind is Free' by Frank Wightman add it to your library, you wont be disappointed. Saldanha Bay and Langebaan Lagoon are great sailing waters and are home to Atlantic Yachting and two yacht clubs, Saldanha Bay Yacht Club and Langebaan Yacht Club.

At the southern tip of the lagoon is Kraal Bay the perfect anchorage for swimming, windsurfing or just relaxing. The lagoon itself has many sandbars making sailing tricky for keel boats but the northern end end beyond the island in the picture has excellent sailing
waters.

Club Mykonos is a great holiday resort as well as a marina.

Midway between Cape Town and Langebaan is one of my favourite spots - Dassen Island with its perfectly sheltered anchorage at House Bay. Dassen is an easy day sail from either Cape Town and if the trip is done between November and March you can be sure to have an exciting sail down wind with the local South Easter.

House Bay makes a perfect spot to overnight before leaving for Langebaan the following morning.

North of Saldhana is Port Owen and St Helena Bay (not to be mistaken for the island). This area is roughly 60nm from Saldanha and it too has great sailing waters. Don't forget that with the current exchange rate South Africa is a great place to do your training. If you want to know anything more about sailing in this area please drop me an email.
There is one last thing that needs to be mentioned. With an exchange rate around 14:1 you cant go wrong spending your £'s or $'s to learn the ropes in South Africa. And as I said earlier the sailing is soooo good.

Please add your comments and experiences sailing in South Africa or let us know if you have trained in or around Cape Town.

Read more!

Introduction

Welcome to CrewTraders

Ever had the feeling of 'Hey, Eureka!!
That's exactly what I am looking for!'
Only to find it's 4000 miles away?

Well that is what we had in mind when we developed our map based site.

There you are, you have a great CV and all the skills and qualifications for that great career and you want folk to see it and then contact you. And since this work is definitely of the mobile sort you need to carry it with you so to speak. If you are working from Antibes and move to Fort Lauderdale or the Cook Islands for that matter you can show the 'world', literally , exactly where you are.

Owners, captains, skippers and even crew agents can navigate to anywhere on the map and find suitably qualified crew to fill positions. And the self same folk can add their vacancies on the map too. You, the crew, can see at a glance what jobs are available and where.

As we like to say:
Where crew can find jobs and jobs can find crew.

So how does this all work? Simply and easily in fact.

Once you have registered by clicking 'sign up' - adding your details - clicking 'Click to Register' you can add your job marker.

Simply click 'Add a map marker to CrewTraders'....then

Click one of the 'add a....' links. In this example we will follow 'add a crew job and vacancy'
Now add your marker name. You have to be clever here. Dont just say 'Harry' or 'Jane' or 'Popeye'. Add your job request as well. So use something like 'Samantha - Stewardess' or 'Peter - Captain'. The map markers have tooltips and your 'marker name' will pop up when your (or anyone's) mouse is near your marker your 'name - job' pops up. So captains looking for deckhands for example can simply hover over the marker to see what each entry details.

Next we have a start and end date. Suppose you are doing your STCW'95 and only available at a particular date. Set your start date to the date you will be available. You can choose any date as an end date but you can only set a maximum of 1 year ahead of your start date.

Now the fun part; your map marker coordinates.

Click the underlined link (you can see it in the clip above). A map page will load and all you do is find your location on the map. Either type in your 'town,country' in the search box or drag the map until you find your spot.

Very important! The location you choose is where you are based for work or will be based. Dont use your home address for example.

When you click on the map a pop up opens with coordinates that look like this: 17.978733,9.84375
Copy this into the coordinates box. 'if you are south of the equator there will be a minus sign in the coordinates...dont miss it when you copy.

Now you need to choose your job category. You can pick a primary category; the round check box and any two other square check boxes as sub-categories. Unless you are offering a job dont pick the 'vacancy' marker. This one is reserved for folk who have jobs available.

Next you enter your keywords. These are used in the search box so think carefully about what you add here.

The next two boxes are for a summary of what you are looking for, what you are qualified to do and that sort of thing. Watch your spelling....it's a yacht you want to work on not a yatch. Dont shout.....LIKE THIS ITS RUDE, either.

Next comes your contact info and there is place for your own website or you can put your FaceBook profile URL in here.

The very last box is for your own personal notes; not visible on the map. If you decide you would like to have your own linked web page for your full CV then paste your CV in this box. When we are notified that you have paid the small annual charge we will create your own dedicated webpage linked to your marker.

Right at the bottom you 'click to proceed' and you are done.

Dont go looking for your Map Marker, it wont be the map until we have approved your entry..so dont do your entry all over again. We dont accept job applications for plumbers, dental assistants, hotel porters etc. It's only for jobs on yatchs :-).

That's it folks......next article will be coming soon.
Cheers and please let us know how you find adding a marker and the site in general. Be kind though.....it's the best way to make a better world.

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