My name is Ami Ira, and I’m the President of Bluewater Yachting in the USA.
It all began in 1991, when I was recruited into the yachting industry as a Stewardess while working at Bimini Boatyard in Fort Lauderdale. A Yacht Broker at my table said to me, “How’d you like to do what you’re doing, but on a yacht?” I was instantly hooked! Only wish I had known then how big an impact that person would be making on the trajectory of my life, as I’d love to shake his hand now.
I was hired almost immediately on board a large luxury motoryacht, for a lovely elderly couple from Maine, in the Law Encyclopedia business. We spent the summer in Portland where I learned how to be a well rounded Stewardess, Deckhand, Watch Stander, and Crew Cook, plus “personal trainer” for the Mister who’d had a stroke and needed help counting for his exercises.
After that summer, I met a boy while in the shed at Bradford Marine, stripping, sanding, and varnishing with 18 coats of Epifanes, the cap rail of that same yacht. Since ‘my’ yacht was only used privately for the owners and they had plans to cruise off the beaten path to the lower Grenadines, and ‘his’ was a busy charter yacht which would do the normal St. Somewheres, I just knew we’d never see eachother in the Caribbean unless I, too, was on a charter yacht, so I gave notice and moved on to another larger charter motoryacht. Ironically, the only time I saw him that whole winter was on New Year’s Eve, in St. Barths!
I stayed on board through the following Spring, and decided to come shore based where I would put my Fashion Design Degree to use. A year later, I was ready to come back to working on yachts when I interviewed with Captain Eddie Seesholts, the Owner of Crew Unlimited. I told him I was looking for a 2nd Stewardess position on a yacht 140’ or larger, Charter Only, in the Med Only, and for the Summer Only, because at the end of the summer, I planned to use all my charter tips to support myself while I Apprenticed at the Chanel Couturier in Paris! Little did I know then that not only was I not French and therefore highly unlikely to land that role, but I also didn’t have a Visa even to work in France legally, let alone unpaid and for the top fashion brand of all time, Mme Coco Chanel!
Anyway, Captain Eddie must have though that was endearing, so he offered me a job answering the phones for him on Fridays, so he could have a day off to take his wife to lunch, or run errands, etc. I accepted, knowing a job in the office meant surely I’d hear if my ‘ship had come in’ first. By mid Summer, my dream job had not come along, so I started on Plan B, which was to move to California and transfer into the Contempo Casuals Design team. Captain Eddie asked me if I would mind covering the office for a month before I went, so he could take Mrs. Seesholts to New Orleans to see the Mississippi River Queen, and I agreed.
When they returned, he had gotten pneumonia while they were away, and he stayed home recovering for the week. The next week, he went into the hospital, and they discovered lung and liver cancer, on top of the Emphysema he already knew he had. A few days later, he had Mrs. Seesholts phone me to make sure I was coming to visit him that night, and I was, as he’d become a Grandfather figure to me by then. When he got there, he said ‘Girl, I love ya. You’re doing a great job, and I want you to have the company.” I held his hand and said, “Don’t worry about anything. We can talk about this when you get well.” The next day, he penned a note to Goharik that said, “Get the Police.” He had a living will, and they had him on a feeding tube, which he didn’t want. So, on July 14th, 1993, he passed away, and I was given the opportunity to have my own business at the very green age of 22 and 3/4ths. ;)
Of course, as anyone would, I called my mom and asked her what she thought I should do. I felt obliged to try and carry out his wishes and legacy, but I had plans of what I wanted to do with my life, and Crew Placement had never entered my mind. I still have that note paper, with A - J written down. If A didn’t pan out, then I’d do B, and if B didn’t work, then C, and so on. But then this happened, and with my mom’s encouragement to just give it a go, I told Mrs. Seesholts that I would try. So she added me onto the bank account, which had $12k in it at the time. I immediately gave her a check for half of that, and said I’d run the company on the remaining $6k, until we ran out of money, and then I’d move on with my life.
25 years later, touch wood, we haven’t run out of money. I paid her off in 1999, have had summer offices in Newport, RI for 9 years, in Seattle, WA for 3 years, in Auckland, NZ for America’s Cup 2000, and Antibes, France, from 2009 - 2015. My life has evolved, as has the company.
Two years ago, Crew Unlimited and C U Yacht Charters (the Charter Division for Crew Unlimited) merged forces with Bluewater Yachting International, with head office in Antibes, France, and branch offices in Palma, Mallorca, Moscow, Russia, Davos, Switzerland, and Hong Kong.
My friendship with my Partners there extends 20+ years, as Bluewater was the first company I introduced myself to in 1995 on my first trip ever to Europe. When the MCA rules changed in 1998, rendering higher tonnage USCG Captains ineligible to run the Red Ensign yachts they were currently employed on board, Peter, John, Phil and I, plus Amy Morley, formed a joint venture to deliver the MCA Approved British Business and Law course in Florida, the first in the USA. Together, we solved a major problem for more than 60 500T and 1600T American Captains, and in the exercise, proved we work extremely well together, even with the Atlantic Ocean separating us.
Today, Bluewater Yachting USA serves over 7,000 super yacht owners, 118,000 yacht crew candidates, manages 18 yachts, provides charter marketing for 26 yachts, delivers hundreds of classes to thousands of students, and provides our remarkable ONE Account to 280 yacht owner clients who prefer the best crew placement and training package available in the market. The ONE Account provides full access to search our crew database live for a whole year, paying one set fee based on the number of crew your yacht typically carries. Whatever that fee is, you also receive the same value in crew training credit for use at any of our our maritime schools worldwide. It’s an unbeatable platform, and an unbeatable value.
We aim to be your one place to go for all things yachting. One Company. One Complete Service. Bluewater.
Blue Oceans Yachting powered by Crew Unlimited sells & manages yachts, books charters & places & trains crew.
