Day-sailing Captain Wanted for this Summer in Montauk NY

[David Ryan]

Grab your sunglasses and spend your summer sailing in Montauk! The Montauk Catamaran Company (builder, owner, and operator of USCG Certified Sailing Vessels Mon Tiki and Mon Tiki Largo) is now accepting applications for full time and relief captains for the 2016 sailing season. Mon Tiki is a locally built 40' US Coast Guard Certified 49 passenger eco-conscious sailing catamaran inspired by traditional Polynesian double-canoe designs. Mon Tiki Largo, finishing construction right now and launching this season, will be 63 feet long, 30 feet wide, and be US Coast Guard certified for up to 100 passengers. We run both public trips and private charters for parties and corporate events in and around Montauk. This is a public-facing hospitality industry job, so captains must be friendly and enthusiastic, comfortable interacting with passengers as well as crew. Being an all around water person is a plus, as many of our trips anchor up for swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding, etc. Our guests are entrusting us with their precious vacation time or one-time special event - we want to deliver experiences they’ll never forget!

***You must have a Sailing Endorsement and sailing experience for this job.***

Minimum requirements:

• Current USCG 50 ton Master Captain's License with Sailing Endorsement
• Current enrollment in a USCG recognized drug-testing consortium
• Current 1st Aid and AED certification.

We are looking for both full time and relief captains. Possibility of housing in Montauk for the right person. Our season runs mid-May through early October (weather permitting). Payment is $100 per 2-hour trip, plus tips. Full time captains may run as many as 15+ trips a week.

Our web site is: http://sailingmontauk.com

Required experience:

• Sailing experience required: 1 year

Required license or certification:

• USCG Masters w/Sailing Endorsement

If you are interested please send your resume and copies of your USCG Merchant Mariner's Credential to [e-mail]

We look forward to hearing from you!

[David Ryan]

Agur, required licenses and endorsements or not, if you're been sailing monohulls since you were nine and it took you three years to get comfortable on multihulls you're not the right person for this job. In addition to the requisite papers, we need someone who is a quick learner and adaptable.

Jacque, happy to hear Pilgrim is back in good repair! It was your Atlantic crossing video that inspired us to build Mon Tiki, which has led now to (the nearly completed) Mon Tiki Largo. Cheers!

To all others, the position is still available, with the potential of making $20K-$25K this season making a lot of people really happy on a couple of nice Wharram cats. If you're interest, please get in touch!  [e-mail]

Hope to hear from you soon!

[Budget Boater]

The requirements for skippering a charter cat with paying passengers on 2 to 3-hour trips is CONSIDERABLY different than racing sailboats of any type, or merchant marines. The requirements requested for this position are actually quite minimal compared to what I was required to have 15-years ago as crew on 100 passenger charter cats out of Key West. However, just about anyone can learn how to maneuver a cat in an out of harbor for day trips. Sailing probably isn't even a requirement. After thousands of charter day trips, we may have actually sailed (not motor sailed) less than 10% of the time. 

Personality for day charters is more important than most other things. Someone with a 50 or 100-ton license has already demonstrated seamanship requirements for such a job.

[David Ryan]

For the benefit of our fellow Wharramistas who may not be familiar with the United States Coast Guard licensing requirements:

I hold a USCG 100 ton Near Coastal Masters with a sailing endorsement. USCG Near Coastal Masters with a sailing endorsement requires 720 days sea service, 360 of which have to be on sailing vessels of a tonnage commensurate with the tonnage of the license. Let's look at what 360 days of sailing adds up to in the real world.

360 days underway is about what it takes to do a circumnavigation of the planet earth.

360 days underway is enough time to do 12 passages of similar length to Pilgram's passage from New York to the South of France

360 days underway is enough time to do 28 New England/Caribbean passages

360 days underway is sailing every Saturday and every Sunday, without missing one day, for three and a half years.

And 360 days underway is half of the requirement. The Near Coastal Masters requires another 360 days, 720 days in total. That's working on a motor or sail boat, all day, every Saturday and every Sunday, every week, without missing a single day, for seven and a half years.

Agur, I am utterly puzzled by your responses. The Montauk Catamaran Company is me and my wife. We are the first people to get a lashed-hulled Wharram vessel certified for commercial passenger service in the US. We are the first people get Dyneema standing rigging certified for commercial passenger service in the US. We have build a livelihood for our family, and through a combination of good luck and sweat have created an opportunity for others to have good-paying work making people very happy by taking them sailing Wharram catamarans, and your response has been to denigrate our operation and merchant mariners in general. What in the world would make you want to come on this thread and shit all over it?

As to how much a daysailing catamaran sails vs motors, perhaps the reason the Sunny Days is no longer in operation is because they didn't sail enough. It costs more to motor, and passively deceptive to tell guests you're going to take them sailing, and then spoil their day on the water with the engines grinding along the whole time. That's not how we run our operation.

One more time, if you love Wharram cats, love sailing, and love sharing your passion with other people, we'd love to hear from you!

[Budget Boater]

Not that it matters, but Sunny Days went out of business because the partnership dissolved because one of the owner's could not keep his dick in his pants, not because they motor sailed most of the time. The motor sailing was born of no wind and the desire of the paying customers to reach their destination. If there was wind to sail, we sailed, but that was not usually the case.

As for your operation, there are plenty of qualified captains who I am sure will jump at the opportunity, and I wish you the best. You have done a good job there.

David Ryan said:

As to how much a daysailing catamaran sails vs motors, perhaps the reason the Sunny Days is no longer in operation is because they didn't sail enough. It costs more to motor, and passively deceptive to tell guests you're going to take them sailing, and then spoil their day on the water with the engines grinding along the whole time. That not how we run our operation.

[Jeff Cohen]

David,  hey, you gotta love that internetty thing..!  Attracts all types.    Say, while I won't be signing up as crew this summer (wish I could!), I will be keeping my Tiki 21 on the Niantic River (right next to New London) and plan on visiting you guys this summer!  Jeff.

[David Ryan]

We'd love a visit from you and your boat this summer, Jeff! What fun it would be to see a personal-sized Wharram next to the mother ship! 

friendshipsloop . said:

David,  hey, you gotta love that internetty thing..!  Attracts all types.    Say, while I won't be signing up as crew this summer (wish I could!), I will be keeping my Tiki 21 on the Niantic River (right next to New London) and plan on visiting you guys this summer!  Jeff.

[Jeff Cohen]

David, I'd like to come visit in either 2 or 3 weekends.  Will the new boat be running by then..?  Jeff