Hi ! I'm looking for a rotational position, either as 2nd officer or as an AVIT/ETO/engineer. I have more than 6 years of experience on private & charter sailing / motor yachs including shipyard & refit periods, a commercial background as well as an Electrical Engineering & Industrial Computing degree. I also volunteered in the French Navy.
N2H is currently being built at the Turquoise Yachts shiyard in Istanbul. I've joined the crew to help oversee the last phases of the build, with a focus on AV/IT and electrical works.
Pure was in the last phase of a huge refit which started 21/2 years ago, undergoing an extension from 82 to 90m. I worked with the long-standing ETO, helping with the various jobs onboard. I was in charge of the AV/IT part, as in overviewing the installation and comissioning of new equipment by contractors. I provided daily help to the crew, transitioning to a permanent IT infrastructure. I was also in charge of rebuilding distribution boards and control panels.
I joined the lovely crew of Deja Too as an extra engineer for a passage from Turkey to Barbabos. I stood engineering watches, helped with planned maintenance as well as with electrical & AV/IT jobs. We suffered some damages on one of our stabilizer fin and had to stop in Madeira in order to carry the needed repairs.
I joined ArtExplorer to help during a shipyard period for warranty works with two main missions. The first one was to help set-up a Planned Maintenance Software called Idea and proceed to an inventory of spare parts. It also covered creating and fine-tuning planned maintenance tasks and training the crew on how to operate the software properly. The second mission was to set-up and configure a NAS for backing-up and sharing files between crew members & management, whether onboard or ashore / on leave. I also helped with the daily running of the engine room.
This was a temporary position to help the engineering department finish a shipyard period. It involved carrying various planned maintenance tasks, help rebuilding the main engines, inspecting tanks, etc.
The Aranui 5, based in Tahiti, is split 50/50 between cargo & passengers. The company that operates her has a contract with the local governement to deliver supplies to the remote archipel of the Marquesas Islands. Over the year and half I worked there as 2nd officer I rotated between 3 departments : navigation, environnement & safety. For eachone of them, duties involved carrying navigational watches, planned maintenance tasks and mandatory checks, ordering the parts needed for the department to run, traning of crew, organisation of drills, leading deckhands during docking & cargo operations, among others. I'll remeber the calls we made in Rapa and Pitcairn islands, as well as the Aranui being turned into an hotel during the surf competition for the 2024 Olympics, in Teahupo'o.
When the 2nd officer resigned the captain offered me to transition from engineering to bridge and take his position to help ensure continuity and smoothness of operations. We went through a couple boss-trips in Indonesia and the Philippines before I left as I had been offered a position on a commercial vessel. I was in charge of all the mandatory safety checks as well as garbage management. My daily duties included watchkeeping, mooring & docking, safety drills, planned maintenance and tender operations. There was a lot of interaction with the guests.
After a much needed break I joined Plus Ultra again for what was meant to be an Atlantic crossing from Gibraltar to Florida but turned into something much longer. All at once half of the crew resigned and we underwent a change of flag & management company. While this was happening we ran the engineering with two people : the chief engineer and I. That was followed by a long stand-by / shipyard period in a remote marina in Panama, bringing forward a few challenges. After about 6 months we had an entire crew again an Plus Ultra was ready to set off to sea. We set course through the Pacific towards French Polynesia. At that time, I had become an "extra" crew member, mostly assigned to the engineering department. I took care of IT, helped in the daily running of the ER and trained new crew members, passing down my knowledge to them.
I joined Plus Ultra as 3rd engineer / ETO. On a daily basis I would help the chief & second engineers run the engineering department. We would organize most of the jobs during morning meetings, though some taks and responsibilities were assigned to me on a more permanent basis : maintenance of generators & jetsurfs, interior & electrical jobs. As the ETO I was responsible for the upkeep of all the AV & IT equipment. The most sensitive and time-consuming task was to manage the internet bandwith. Because of my tickets for both engineering & bridge departments I was soon called to help on deck, especially for tender operations, or during docking & mooring operations. I stood a few navigational watches too. Overall this position involved facing the guests quite often.
Prior to the summer season starting we went through a 3-month long shipyard to set the yacht in a ready-to-go condition. I performed various planned maintenance tasks and oversaw shipyard jobs as instructed. While at sea my daily duties consisted in helping the chief & 2nd engineers with running the engine room. I alsp helped the deck team as needed, especially during tender operations and docking maneuvers. I joined it full time for a couple of weeks. Over 10 days we performed a complete change of all the 15 sails then headed to Porto Cervo and to take part in the Perini Navi cup, which we won !
After getting my tickets I had a bit of free time beforme returning to the academy and decided to volunteer in the French Navy. They offered me to join the crew of the Marne, a resplenishment oiler, for a 21/2 months mission. We were part of the french Carrier Strike Group escort. Our mission was to deliver fuel and supplies to all the vessels involved, allowing them to be at sea for a longer time rather than having to make a call in port. We went through more than 50 resplenishments at sea. I was a watchkeeper and took part in the daily operations of the vessel as well as in every daily safety drills (fire, flooding, man overboard, explosions ...).
I spent 5 1/2 years in the maritime academy, attending all the courses leading the to master & chief engineer unlimited tickets. I studied maths,physics, electronics, fluid dynamics, navigation, maneuvering, general & naval engineering, cargo handling, security, safety and human ressources management, among others. I graduated and got a master's degree in vessel operation & naval engineering on top of my STCW tickets. Time there included a total of one year of cadetship, which I spent on ferry ships operated by Brittany Ferries, sailing between France, England and Spain, and on a patrol vessel of the French Navy.
I joined the department of Electrical Engineering & Industrial Computing and graduated as a technician after two years. The cursus covered maths, physics, communication, electrical engineering, analog & digital electronics, network architecture, software development, PLCs & MCUs programming. The most valuable skill I picked up is the ability to dive deep into hundred-page long technical documentation and learn from it.