I am totally obsessed with the TV show, Below Deck. Although the interior and deck crew work long hard hours it looks like an amazing lifestyle for adventurous people who want to travel, party and earn decent money.
I even looked into how you go about working on a super yacht and of course it's a process of training and work experience and I'm guessing only the lucky few end up on the most amazing vessels. I'm guessing a mum of 7 in her 50's would not be top of their recruiting list, especially since I have fibromyalgia and couldn't cope with all the steps, the long hours or any rope hauling.
My husband quite fancies being in the Navy and every time he sees a recruitment ad on TV he expresses this desire for a life on the ocean waves. He has a beard and somewhat looks the part but the small fact that he is too old and not healthy enough doesn't seem to sink in.
I love boats which is ironic since I've always lived a good distance from the ocean. Even a trip on a canal boat seems exciting to me and I love a ferry crossing too. I'll confess a fondness for the less than glamorous Gosport Ferry which goes from Portsmouth to Gosport and back multiple times an hour for the cost of a fancy coffee and on a sunny day you can often spot me on the top deck pretending I'm somewhere more glamorous.
One glorious summer weekend I got to spend a weekend with friends in a gorgeous "upside down" house which allowed me to survey the sea and a variety of boats while eating breakfast in a sunny kitchen. It's one of those joyous memories you can hold tight through the tough times.
My friend whose family owned the house planned a picnic on their boat which was moored offshore. We needed to take a small rowboat to the bigger vessel. I had all the gear and no idea - think more stripes than a tribe of tigers. I was very keen to help and slightly put out when I realised my friend, an experienced sailor, considered me unfit to even touch an oar.
The morale of the story is if you want to mess about on the water you need to get trained and if possible, qualified. I know you can hire boats but for fast-paced fun and a potential income why not sign up for Power Boat 2 training? Also known as Powerboat Handling Level 2 this is a popular qualification teaches all sorts of skills from anchoring to knowing what to do if someone goes overboard. All skills useful for a career as a deck hand on Below Deck! Apparently it suits experienced sailors and complete land lubbers alike.
So if you want to graduate from slowly guiding a swan shaped pedalo round a boating lake to adrenaline filled wave dancing, this might well be the course for you. And if you graduate from power boats to luxury super yachts and you want a stew with more enthusiasm than expertise, you know where to find me.