Adventure Meets Luxury: Inside the New Zealand Superyacht Academy with Alice Baker and Courtney Te Whiu

Podcast

24 May

Alice Baker and Courtney Te Whiu from the Superyacht Academy

Founders of the New Zealand Superyacht Academy, Alice Baker and Courtney TeWhiu give all the inside info on getting set with a luxury superyacht lifestyle and career.

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In this episode I talk with Alice Baker and Courtney Te Whiu — two great Kiwi mates who worked their way into the world of boat crew and luxury superyachts having the time of their life in dream locations.

With 12+ years of combined experience, and all the what to-do’s and what not-to do’s, they founded the New Zealand Superyacht Academy with internationally recognised courses to kick-start graduate’s superyacht careers.

Listen in to get all the goss on what it takes to find work onboard, perks of the job, what a captain’s looking for in crew, and how much it’s really like ‘Below Deck’.

Travel, fun, money and a whole lot of hard work — find out how it started for these two, and what you’ll get from joining the superyacht academy. If you’re keen to link in with a network of incredible supportive boaties exploring the world on superyachts — get in contact with Alice & Courtney

More information

Explore the Superyacht Courses and have a chat about starting your career on the water:⁠

Website: New Zealand Superyacht Academy
Instagram: @nzsuperyachtacademy⁠

Episode Notes | New Zealand Superyacht Academy

1:10 Early days

2:35 Starting out as crew

5:41 Dockwalking

7:40 The allure of boating

9:30 Surprises of the industry

13:20 Guest & owner experiences

16:40 Prepared for any scenario

17:15 Crew culture

17:50 Below Deck

18:56 Personality & skills

21:00 Perks of the job

23:50 Opportunities

24:11 Age & career

27:15 Roles onboard

27:08 The Academy

31:00 Community support

32:23 Internationally recognised courses

33:30 Specialist industry leaders

36:44 STCW

38:41 Student success

41:00 Caviar

43:21 Wealth management

46:32 Yachting & parenthood

48:51 Where to sign up

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Tara Cooney

Tara Cooney is a New Zealand based sailor, writer, photographer and current Saltwater Journal Editor-at-Large.