This hilarious read will show you another side of the yachting industry. Warning: feelings of jealousy could arise as Mitchell Shelby probably wins the award of having the most fun in the yachting industry!

Looking at your social media channels it is perhaps the fact that you bring so much of your personality to the job that intrigued us. It looks like you’re always having fun, you make time to create good content and it seems your guests are mainly (good-looking!) Gen Z’rs. Are they your clients? 

My guests are a mix of friends I’ve collected along the way and brave souls who discover my trips through social media and decide, “Yep, I’m hopping on a boat with this guy.”

I started Bluewater Breeze Co. in 2022 after realizing nobody was offering private charters for young, adventure-hungry travelers who don’t want to spend their vacation ironing polo shirts.

When I captained high-end luxury charters, guests always fell into two groups:
A) Adults who wanted rosé refills and five-star dining, and
B) Their kids, who wanted to touch every rope, jump in at every anchorage, and push all the buttons.

At 33, I’m still firmly in Group B. I prefer the “let’s see what happens today” crowd, not the “we need to be at the beach bar by 3PM sharp” crew.

How did you get into yachting?

Entirely by accident—like most great stories. I started as a beach-cat captain on Waikiki, where landing a catamaran on a crowded beach while avoiding surfers felt like a high-stakes video game. If you mess up, you get a bonus round… with lawyers.

Then I started doing inter-island deliveries, which led to a liveaboard captain job. One week of waking up at anchor with coffee in hand and a reef 20 feet away and I thought, “Well, I guess this is my personality now.”

What is the wildest situation you ever got yourself into on board? 

Without question: a Waikiki landing during a rogue sneaker set.

Picture this: I’m at the helm of a 45’ catamaran with 49 guests on board—half taking selfies, half asking me where the bathroom is—when a monstrous wave rises behind us like it forgot it was supposed to be in a disaster movie.

This thing breaks over the stern, launches me into the wheel, shreds the bimini like tissue paper, tosses our fuel tanks overboard, and snaps the fuel line. Suddenly we’re a powerless bathtub toy being shoved toward the beach in front of 500 tourists with iPhones out.

My crew activates like Marvel superheroes:

One is calming guests while collecting belongings scattered across the deck.

The other borrows a surfboard from a guy who definitely did NOT expect to join the mission and retrieves the fuel tanks like it’s an Olympic sport.

I rebuild the fuel line on the fly, get the engines running, and somehow we make it in without anyone getting hurt. Guests thought it was “part of the Waikiki thrill package.” I didn’t correct them.

This last year you have been at least in Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands where you met our CEO Jens, later you were in Croatia and Greece… Where else have you been, and what were your personal highlights?

After Greece and Croatia, I went to Turkey—aka the “I can’t believe nobody told me how good this is” of sailing destinations. The food alone is worth crossing an ocean. The people? Even better.

Then I spent September and October in French Polynesia, which is basically where the ocean goes to show off. Every anchorage feels like it’s trying to win “Best Water on Earth.”

Do you already know where 2026 is taking you? 

2026 is shaping up like a choose-your-own-adventure novel where all the options are exotic. I’m waiting for a shipyard to finish a catamaran I’ll sail across the Pacific, and deliver to Hawaii.

Since that keeps me from signing on for a full season, I’ll be bouncing around the Caribbean as a relief skipper—like the substitute teacher of yachting, except everyone actually wants you to show up.

You’re currently working mostly on yachts under 60ft. Do you have any desire to work on larger yachts? If so, do you think you’ll have to become more formal or do you believe owners in this day and age are looking for outgoing crew as part of their yachting experience? 

Let’s just say I don’t exactly have the “classic yachtie look.” With long hair, a mustache, and a shackle earring, I tend to stand out. Some owners see my photo and think, “Absolutely not.” Others think, “Finally, someone fun.”

I’m not opposed to bigger yachts, but if the job requires starching my uniform daily and addressing someone as ‘sir’ while handing them a cucumber water, I might not be the guy.

How do you see your mid-term career evolve and where do you see yourself in 10 years? 

Hopefully with a logbook full of wild stories, a few ocean crossings under my belt, and a questionable tan line. I’d love to be living on my own sailboat—no mortgage, just sunsets, sea breezes, and the occasional malfunction to keep me humble.

What is your favourite cruising destination? 

The impossible question. Every destination is like a totally different character. But right now? French Polynesia wins.

It’s close to Hawaii, the water is ludicrously blue, and the wildlife lineup looks like a roll call for an underwater superhero team—sharks, manta rays, stingrays, turtles. Every day feels like a nature documentary with a better soundtrack.

Anything else you want to share with the Islander community?

Sailors are a special breed—we willingly chase storms for fun, argue about knots, and think showering in the rain counts as fresh water conservation.

Everyone has a story, and I love hearing them. So if you see me on a dock, come say hi. I’ll probably be barefoot, holding a coffee, and trying to look like I know which line I just tripped over.