One Piece of Powerful Advice for 2026: Seek Perspective Early

Please note, the vessel shown in this picture is not the vessel referenced.

Yachting can be an extremely stressful environment. Crew are expected to maintain the highest possible standards, day after day, often on limited sleep, while living and working in a space that is constantly on, always demanding attention.

When you’re working seven days a week, often for twelve hours or more, it’s easy to develop tunnel vision. Your entire world slowly shrinks down to the boat and the guests. Problems onboard stop feeling like work problems and start feeling like life problems.

This isn’t healthy, but it is very common in yachting.

A few weeks ago, I was doing a deck round, checking general conditions, adding jobs to the list, something I do almost every day. We’d been on charter for a few weeks and fatigue was quietly building across the crew.

I noticed a few small things that weren't up to standard.

It hit me like a knife in the ribs. I was instantly annoyed. The team had been working incredibly hard to keep the boat looking beautiful while also running demanding guest operations. But despite our hard work the boat was still not ‘perfect’. I felt deflated as if none of the hard work had mattered.

I lost my head for the rest of the day. I was short, irritable and withdrawn. The team could immediately sense something was wrong and I could see how my mood affected theirs.

That afternoon, I went out on a tender ride. As we pulled away, I looked back at the boat and had a simple thought: Wow, that is a beautiful boat!

From that angle, of course, I couldn’t see the minor issues and in that moment, I felt a wave of relief. The world hadn’t ended. The boat still looked incredible.

After weeks of monitoring every inch of the vessel, my perspective had narrowed until the boat had become my entire world. Taking a step back widened it again.

I realised I needed to go back to the team and acknowledge my behaviour. It wasn’t fair to let my stress spill onto them.

I see situations like this often in yachting. People get too close to the work, the pressure builds and perspective slowly disappears. Stress filters through a crew quickly. Morale drops. Suddenly everyone is walking on eggshells, afraid to relax or even smile.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

One of the most powerful things you can do this year, when you feel stressed or overwhelmed onboard, is to seek perspective early. Step back, physically or mentally, before the pressure takes over.

The work matters. Standards matter. But perspective matters more.