BLAKE CHISHOLM

SUPERYACHT DECKHAND

Can’t sit still? Forever dreaming of the water?
Meet Blake Living-His-Best-Life Chisholm, the stoke-machine that turned
his love of the ocean into a career aboard luxe superyachts in warm
European waters. Extreme wealth, extreme fun, extremely beautiful places –
and extremely hard work. He shares his decision to drop out of uni, moving
to other other side of the world without a job and the perks that
accompany the ‘grafting’ of being a deckhand.
Dive on into the Below Deck life legends, it’s a fun one!

Hello, you absolute legend. You must have the most Instagrammable job in the biz! Tell us all about what you do.

Hello, my name’s Blake! I’m a deckhand on yachts and superyachts.

Let’s start at the start! How did you get into it?

I’ve been living on the water since I was like six years old. Mum and Dad always had a tinny or a little runabout boat, and we used to go wake-boarding every Saturday morning. So, I’ve always loved the water.

When I finished high school I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Mum and Dad were pushing me to go to university, but I didn’t really want to do any of the courses. There was a maritime college in Tasmania – the Australian Maritime College – so we kind of just put two and two together. I was down there for 3 years.

I love Tassie, Launceston is incredible but I wasn’t liking the course. I had one year to go, and I was like ‘nup, nup, this isn’t for me’, so I dropped out.

Were you super confident about dropping out at the time? How did you feel?

I had a plan – drop out of university, get my certificates and try and work on boats. I was a little bit anxious but I just wasn’t liking it. The job that it entitled wasn’t anything that I really wanted. Like freight forwarding – importing, exporting, all that sort of stuff. It was kinda interesting, but working in an office all day on a computer? Nup. That’s not for me.

After that, I got a certificate, it’s called an STCW, and a general purpose hand, which are certificates that mean I can work on a boat. Then I started working on the Manly fast boats. I was just working on the ferries – putting people on, taking them off – for nearly two years. It was getting boring, doing the same thing everyday. So, a friend who was back in Sydney from working in Europe convinced me to just go and have a go at working on the superyachts.

Had you been to that part of Europe before?

Never. I didn’t know anyone over there. I just took the plunge. I went in 2017 and spent three years over there. It was pretty crazy.

So how did you go about finding a job on a superyacht?

If you wanna go looking for a superyacht job in Europe, you go to two places. The first is in the south of France – Antibes. There’s hundreds of superyachts, like massive ones – 100m. Huge! Like, unbelievable. The second place is in Spain, Palma, which is on Mallorca, near Ibiza. That’s basically the same, there’s hundreds of yachts. They’re the two places you need to go to.

How you start is – you’ve gotta go there without a job. You’ve gotta rent out a place and sort of… hope for the best. It’s weird. You have to do this thing called ‘dock walking’ where you have your CVs and you walk along the dock handing them out to all the captains on all the boats. You’ve gotta dress the part. You’ve gotta wear a button-up collared shirt, with shorts and boat shoes and you’ve gotta shave. You feel like the biggest loser.

Haha, that’s crazy! It reminds me of when I was 16, walking around Westfield handing out resumes!

It’s pretty crazy. It’s kind of old school. Also, there’s agencies – people that will help you out. And there’s websites, like Yacht Spot, where you make your profile and have your resume on there. There’ll be boats that are looking for deckhands and you just apply if there’s a job you’re interested in.

The hardest thing with yachting is starting out in
yachting. Getting that foot in the door. But, once
you get that foot in the door, the world is yours.
You can get any job that you want.

So how’d you land your first job?

So I spent 24 hours in Antibes and then I got a call up from a friend of mine saying that they needed deckhands for a temporary position, like two months. They were in the Netherlands, so they booked me a flight from Nice to the Netherlands and I started working on a boat there.

Pretty quick job hunt! God!

Yeah it was crazy. I started working on a 50m boat there and then we had to take the boat back to Nice, so we had to do the passage all the way through the English Channel – it was like 14 days.

Were you experienced in boat journeys like that?

Nope. No. *laughs* That was my first time. They asked me, ‘do you get seasick?’, and I go ‘nooo, I never get seasick’. They were like ‘Yeah. OK. You will’.

As soon as you leave the English Channel, you’ve gotta go around Spain, around Gibraltar area where there’s open waters and there’s big swell. We copped three, four metre swell for about four days. I was pretty seasick.

That’s my worst nightmare. I’d be scared shitless.

It was absolutely horrible. But, I learnt the trick – you’ve gotta keep your mind active. You’ve gotta be working and you can’t just be thinking about it all the time.

Once you start thinking about getting seasick,
you’ll get seasick.

It’s a mental game.

It’s a big time mental game!

Good tips! So tell us more about the boats you work on.

They’re yachts… and superyachts. They’re quite big obviously… ranging from 30m to 180m. Apparently there’s a new yacht that’s being built that’s going to be 220m. There’s some crazy boats that you see out on the water. It’s incredible.

So tell us, what does being a deckhand involve? Is it exactly like Below Deck on Netflix?

Haha! You should actually watch it because it’s pretty much my job. It’s 100% it. They kinda exaggerate everything, but it’s pretty accurate. All boats are different, but we all kind of work the same way. So, it’s either the boss is gonna be on [the boat] or the boss isn’t gonna be on.

When the boss isn’t on, you just kinda upkeep and maintain the boat. One of the main jobs is washing the boat. It’s like washing your car – you start from the top and you work your way down. When you work at the top, you have your harness gear and you’re hanging from the side of the boat washing it. It’s pretty cool! I used to be scared of heights and now I’m not. I’ll just hang out there and have a great time.

But when the boss is on, you’ve
obviously got to give him the service.
Whatever he wants, you give. You cant say no.
If they want something, you give it to them 100%.

That’s a wild dynamic to work with.

It’s crazy. Like if they want jet skis, you pull out the jet skis. Some of the requests are just ridiculous. The WORST job, the WORST thing that a boss could ask for, is to pull out the slide. You can have a blow-up slide from the top deck and it goes down into the water. It takes about three hours to setup. Then they’ll use it for five minutes and get over it. Then you gotta pack it away, which is another two hours. It’s five hours work for 5-10 minutes of fun.

If I’m looking for a job, the question I’ll always
ask is if they have a slide. If they say that they
have a slide, I’m not working on that boat.

You’re just slowly working out your non-negotiables!
I’m not working on a boat that has a slide.
That’s so funny cos you’d think it’s the other way round.

So the boss is the owner of the boat?
Yep. The owner either has a private boat, or he can charter it out. You can get people that just rent the boat. It’s pretty crazy. I worked on a charter boat for one year and it was a 50m Feadship, and for a week’s charter it cost 550,000. Euros.

Euros!?

Euros! So it’s probably like $800,000. Just for 7 days.

For a week’s holiday. That’s insane. So is the person who’s hiring the boat the boss, or is the boss also on board?

No, the boss isn’t on board. When someone charters the boat out, it’s theirs. They are in charge and we’ve gotta do whatever they wanna do, cos they’re paying the money and we’re getting the tips as well. It’s all cash in hand and we had an eight-day charter once and we got 6000 euros each… for eight days!

That’s insane. Wait! In tips!?

Yeah, just in tips.

WHOA. So what’s the arrangement… is food and board part of your contract?

Everything’s for free. You sign up for a year or two years, it depends on the contract. You get paid monthly and it’s tax free. Pretty incredible. Whether the boss is on or off, we have free food and accommodation. We have a chef. Like, I didn’t make myself lunch or dinner for about three years.

OMG! So, that’s crazy! No wonder people are dying to do it!

Yeah, it’s great. You can save a lot of money.

And you travel a lot right, to the most beautiful places! Do you have a standout place you’ve worked?

That’s a hard question. I don’t have a favourite place. The Greek Islands are nice but it gets super windy. Like really bloody windy. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to is Positano in Italy. It is stunning, it is so beautiful there. When the sun’s setting and it’s just the typical coastal town, that’s just old school Italy. It’s fantastic! I loved Croatia; Barcelona was awesome.

When the boat is docked, can you go out?

Yeah! You can go drinking, you can go partying. You can do whatever you want. But someone always has to be onboard. So you can’t all just lock it up and leave. We call that someone that has to be ‘on watch’. Someone needs to watch the boat just in case something happens, like if the line snaps and the boat drifts off or something.

I’ve heard horror stories of people working really long hours, have you had that experience?

Yeah. I’ve heard some horror stories about some boats. Some of the crew just get treated like shit. Some of their working hours, it’s just ridiculous. You barely have any breaks.

Everyone thinks you don’t really work hard. Like the pictures
that I put up on Instagram, everyone thinks that you’re not really
working hard but you are. You do graft. You know, if a boss
wants a three month trip, you have to work for three months
and you don’t have a day off.

But when that three month trip finishes, the day the boss gets off… eveeeeeryone gets drunk. That’s Below Deck. It is 100% Below Deck.

So what’s the vibe socially? What’s the crew size? Is it super intense all living so closely?

It’s pretty brutal. The crew is international. It’s mainly English, Aussies and a lot of South Africans because they get paid more comparably. Like, a South African doctor doesn’t get paid as much compared to a South African yachty working in Europe.

You’re living in close quarters, you know, so you’re not gonna get along with everyone obviously. It’s like someone that you don’t like at work, but at least you only have to spend eight hours with them and you can kind of avoid. But on a yacht, if you clash heads with someone… you’re working with them, and you’re living with them. It makes it worse.

I’ve met some of the best people ever in yachting but I’ve met some of the worst people ever in yachting. I could be that person as well hahaha, I don’t know.

Is it a bunk bed situation?

Yeah. The captain obviously has one room to himself but then everyone else shares cabins, usually two beds in each room.

Sometimes it gets a little bit like high school. You get a lot of singles as well. So if there’s a guy that fancies a girl and the girl hooks up with another guy on board, the guy will get jealous, and vice versa. It just gets really awkward in, we call it the crew mess, where you sit down and watch tv and stuff. So awkward. I’ve seen some good fights as well, some very good arguments.

It’s so insular, and its own little world, you’d get so wrapped up in everything. And you can’t get off! Nightmare!

And the thing is, you can’t keep a secret
on board. Everyone will find out. It’s ridiculous.
It’s crazy. It makes it fun though.

Tell us a hectic story!

I’ve partied with a billionaire. That was incredible. We were in Monaco, one of the guys I used to work with invited me to go and have a few drinks with them. My friend, the first officer, he used to train this billionaire and they became friends. I was umm-ing and ah-ing about going and he goes ‘Blake, come and have a drink. You’re an idiot if you don’t come’.

So we rock up… there’s Casino de Monte Carlo and next to it is this very famous café, Café de Paris. The wealthy of the wealthy go in there.

They told me ‘Blake you need to wear a button up,
you need to look nice’. I was like ‘I don’t have nice things!’

As soon as I get into the café, everyone’s looking at me. I just wasn’t a part of it. So anyway, we all sit down and we’re drinking martinis, then all this really nice red wine comes out. It was the best red wine I’ve ever had in my life.

So we finish there and his Bentley comes along, he picks us up. We’re in this $500,000 Bentley, I’m in the front, and I’m looking around like… oh my god! We get to this amazing Italian place and we’re eating $300 steaks and more red wine. All of these 11/10 women walking around, trying to talk to me cos they think that I’m rich.

So yeah, it was a massive night. I haven’t drunk that much red wine in a fair while. Drinking with a billionaire. We were talking about his tigers, and he was a caretaker for a prince. That was one of the biggest nights I’ve ever had.

Just the top .1% That world and level of wealth… compared to Australia, is it the same vibe here?

Yeah, it’s different in Australia. It’s a lot more relaxed. Working over there, it’s a little bit more intense, more formal. Most of the time you feel like you’re more of a servant, just a number and you don’t really mean much to the boss. He doesn’t know you by name or anything like that. But over here it’s a little bit more personal, which is kind of nice.

My previous boss that I worked for in Sydney Harbour,
he knows your name, he doesn’t want people to leave, he’s quite
family orientated. It’s nice working on superyachts here.
It’s a different vibe.

Sounds like a less stressful environment, but probably less party. Is it just extreme everything over there, good and bad?

Yeah, over in Europe, everything is times ten, it’s ridiculous, it’s crazy over there.

Why do you love it?

Why do I love it? I’ve always wanted to work on the water. I’ve just loved boats. It’s such a fun job. I could not work behind a computer all day. It’s just not me. I’m too energetic, I’ve always wanted to do something fun. And to do something different. I think it was just a good fit. And I love the toys too much.

Have you done that jet pack-esque thing? With the water spraying out?

Yeah! Flyboards! I’ve done that, so much fun. Every boat has it. You hover and people can do backflips and stuff. You’ve gotta keep your knees straight, if you bend your knees, you’re gone! It’s so good.

All the yachts have those sort of toys on board.
It’s unbelievable. Most of them will have at least
two jet skis, stand up paddeboards. Some have
a submarine! Just because they can. It’s ridiculous.
Some of them, if they have too many toys onboard,
they’ll buy another yacht to hold their toys.

A storage yacht.

They call it a shadow boat. An 80m boat will have a 40m boat that will hold all their toys, extra tenders and all that sort of thing. And they’ll anchor 100m away.

That’s staffed as well?

That’s fully staffed as well.

God, how the other .1% live! You’re obviously so stoked, and rightly so, but are there any aspects of it that you think need to be improved?

It honestly depends on the boats you’ve been working for. They are all different. But, yeah some of the boat’s working hours… you do, you graft a lot. Some of the boats you can be working 16-18 hour days sometimes, for months. And you see patterns… there’s a lot of crew politics going around, but you can’t really change that.

What’s the hierarchy on board?

So obviously, the owner is the boss. But then there’s the captain, the first officer and then it depends on the size of the boat. There might be a second officer. You’ve also got your engineering side, so you’ve got a chief engineer and the engineering team on the boat.

Wow! A whole range of jobs, a little fully-functioning world…

You’ve got the chefs; the stews that clean the inside of the boat. You’ve got a chief stew, then the second stew, third stew, and then the deck is the same. You’ve got a bosun and then a lead deck hand, then a deck hand. There’s different levels.

But the main person is the captain. He’s god. Whatever he says,
you’ve got to respect it. They’ve all had the experience and
they pretty much know everything.

That’s what you want to be?

Yeah, but it’s a lot of responsibility. It’s basically a trade. You need to get the experience first. You need to do certificates and courses. The more you have, the better you’ll be.

Do you learn a lot about the boats just by being there, absorbing it?

Yeah. Just by being there. When I first arrived, you’re green, you know nothing. Like, you learn all those simple things, like coiling a hose into a circle… then you work your way up. You start understanding how a boat works, how it drives. Also you learn about the weather and the impacts of bad weather. Just all things that can affect the boat. There’s a lot.

So are you looking pretty dapper when you’re on deck?

Yeah you gotta look good. Your shirt’s tucked in, you’ve gotta be shaved, you can’t have a beard. Most of them are quite strict with tattoos.

What advice would you give someone who wants to get into it?

Do it! Haha. I couldn’t recommend it enough. I did it when I was 22 and I think 22’s the perfect age. Risk it. It’s so much fun.

The things you experience and the cultures you see,
the friends that you make, is ridiculous. I’ve made
the best friends ever. There’s going to be a day that
I get to travel again and I’ll get to go see where
all my mates live. It’s the best thing.

I’ve never really liked living in a bubble. I can’t sit still. I can’t stay in one place, and moving around, it’s fantastic! I couldn’t recommend it enough.
Do it.

Post-covid, are you itching to get back over? What are your future plans?

I don’t know. I’ve always, I have that niggling feeling of going back, I really do want to go back. But also, you’re living out of a suitcase basically, that’s your life. And you get to a stage, or a certain age, where you can’t be living like that. I’m kinda keen to go back but I don’t know yet… I’m thinking about it. You do miss your family and you don’t see much of them.

It’s so funny how you age and you realise things you previously loved aren’t that great anymore… Like living out of a suitcase or staying in cheap hostels!

We used to go out for a weekend, and we’d book a flight on the Friday night, fly out to Berlin or Amsterdam or whatever, and book the seediest hostels for like $5 a night. Some of the beds are barely beds. They’re just concrete, it’s just shocking. I think back and it’s like why did I do this? This is ridiculous!

For the thrill!

Yep. I want to go back now, talking about this!

To sink further into the superyachting world and learn how get on board (🌚)
click here, or for a better squiz at these glorious boats dive on into this hashtag.

Interview Haylee Poppi & Grace MacKenzie
Edit Grace MacKenzie

Images Blake Chisholm