Curiously, but thankfully, business has ramped up for Invisible Crew since the start of the pandemic. It seems to be applicable to all yachting related businesses. We’re very lucky that way. Demand for Pocket Superyacht management has increased but at the same time operations have been complicated due to travel and visa restrictions. We were confronted with challenges and opportunities all at the same time. So it was time to have a good look at it all!
In the last quarter of 2020 we worked hard to create better structures and an improved service offer.
We analysed what we did well and what we could do better. We eliminated services and procedures that weren’t of interest for neither owners nor crew and discovered new tools such as the PlanM8 app. We will write more about that in future articles. It was a refreshing exercise.
As part of our new team we have the support of Virtual Pursers. This is a young and very unique company that provides admin support with in depth yachting knowledge. Their main market is 40m to 70m yachts where the captains and chief stews can ask the Virtual Pursers to organise anything that can be done from a computer. From any type of admin to high end concierge services, founders Bec McKeever, Dom Smit and their team have it all covered!
We very much liked the idea of having some of their services -the ones applicable to 15m to 30m yachts- available to our clients. They agreed to support this segment of the industry exclusively through Invisible Crew. We’re very proud of this cooperation!
In January 2021 Kirsten McKenzie was hired as my new management assistant. For many reasons she was the strongest candidate we came across.
Kirsten’s yachting knowledge and interests spans all of the industry’s segments from mega yachts over Pocket Superyachts -which we work with- and smaller cruising yachts.
She has worked as chief stew on yachts such as Paul Allen’s 126m Octopus and on Lady Moura. Her husband Gavin is the captain of a 28m motor yacht. While raising their two children at home in Mallorca, Kirsten has supported her husband with admin and recruitement over the last couple of years. This summer, the McKenzies are sailing their Jeannau 45 ‘Una Vida’ around the entire Western Med from Mallorca via the Peninsula, France and Corsica.
All of this experience is 100% directly applicable to her job description with Invisible Crew.
What better way to understand the point of view of our clients than actually doing what they (we) all dream of?!
I am sure that many readers of this article will be entertained, if not inspired by following their adventures on the Youtube channel “McKenzies On The Move”.
But if you think that Kirsten regarded this 3 month adventur as a sabatical, you’re mistaken! She has actually redefined her own job description in this short period from management assistant to manager by taking on more and more responsibilities.
All of this is great news for Invisible Crew and our clients. Now we can help more clients better than ever before!
We currently have ten yachts in our portfolio and some exciting crew opportunities starting in the last quarter of this year. All on three very different catamarans that will all charter. We are recruiting a couple for a Leopard 50 that will be based in the Bahamas, a Captain, Chef and Stew on a Lagoon 620 in St Maarten and a similar team, with the addition of a deckhand, on a Lagoon Seventy8. We invite all viable candidates to send their CV’s to cv@invisiblecrew.com
Jens Ooms
Invisible Crew
+34 647 83 83 68
