Zup! With the holiday charter season rapidly approaching and crew scurrying to get their fridges stocked and locked it is time to continue thinking about what type of style suits your boat best.  There are lots of factors to take into consideration here. I am talking about plate up versus family or buffet style.  What I have found works best for me is a combo and the introduction of a "tapas" style type service, where plates continuously merge their way onto or near the tables of your guests/owners, etc. Many chefs will not condone the use of a family style > more

So, I've been to two interviews in two days, one of which was in New York.  As an ironic universe would have it, as soon as I make plans to go home, I get calls about jobs.     On Monday, as I was checking on my resume in Smallwoods, a captain asked me if I was a stew and if I could cook.  The next morning, I met him for an interview and a tour of the boat.  The first interview in three weeks, and the third since I'd been back in Fort Lauderdale.  That captain graciously took me > more

Is it me?  Or does it seem that there so many crew agents sprouting up, we will soon have one each.   Imagine that, each with our own private agent. Every time I open a magazine or view a yachting website there seem to be another 200 new crew agencies, each offering what all the rest should have been offering but have so far failed to do, or that's what they say.  I am getting all sorts of people asking me for references from my old crew members.  Of course I don't want to let my old shipmates down but > more

  The French have a word for it, as they say. A truly fine wine will “inhabit” you. Somehow it will linger in your senses, sort of like an echo, reverberating long after the actual physical sensations of the aroma and the taste and the mouth-feel have run their course.   I know, I know – but in this case it is actually true. It’s something I’ve only experienced on a handful of occasions. The wines that produce this eerie sensation – and it can still be with you the day afterwards, and longer even than that – are at > more

Next port... Monaco! Climbed up the hill for one afternoon break to Monaco's castle that overlooks the more modern parts of town.Looking down onto Monaco Harbor.There I watched the changing of the guard... er, well, got to see a lot of people watching it their cameras with their arms in the air. Ah, technology.Ducked into the aquarium.Watched people watch fish. I did watch the fish too... probably for longer than I'd care to admit. Their fluidity is so calming.Meet Mr. Pinecone fish! I found him quite amusing."Nemo! Nemo! Nemo!"After the aquarium, I walked the streets of old town for a > more

Phwoaaaaaaaaaaaar, get this, down in the port today, minding my own business, a guy siddles up to me all quiet and polite - shaggy locks and weather beaten brow says he's a sea dog. He's German, it turns out. He asks if I am from Dockwalk and i say 'yes' defiantly, ready for the worst.  'I have a question for you, he whispers,' 'Go on,' say I bravely. 'How is it that I can get hold of a Dockwalk T-shirt?' he asks. 'Lord, love you', think I - as i try to remain upright and look nonchalant, 'You have to > more