MEET THE CREW SERIES - Hugo Ortega, Yacht Captain

Hugo started his previous life as a mechanical engineer. As a first-generation Hispanic American, his parents pushed him to follow “the American Dream.” One day, he woke up and realized that he hated it. He threw everything into a storage unit and spent 14 months traveling Eastern Europe and Asia. Then he fell in love with traveling, and while in Myanmar, met a South African yachtie.

Traveling with him changed Hugo’s life, and what started as a “gap year”, inspired by his new mate’s bar stories of working on superyachts, has become a full career. Hugo continued traveling and spending lots of time in Asia and, 3 continents, nearly 10 years and 60 countries later, he’s still there. Read his interview below: 

1.  What was your position and boat name?

I started as a deckhand on a 50m yacht called Tsumat. I spent a large amount of time aboard an 88m Fountainhead, working from deckhand to 2nd officer. I’ve also worked on the 55m Fortunate Sun as 2nd officer. I temped on a lot of vessels throughout COVID-19, but my last position was captain aboard a 90ft called Muse.

2.  How long have you been working in the industry? What types of vessels have you worked on?

I worked on Superyachts for over eight years in the deck department. I only worked on motor yachts ranging from 26m – 88m, but my favorite size was 60 to 70m.

3.  What did your working day consist of?

My last few roles were captain and first officer. My day-to-day largely consisted of driving the yacht, passage planning, scheduling guest and vessel ops, running the deck team, and guest service.

4.  What was your biggest challenge on a day-to-day basis?

I think the biggest challenge of working on yachts is the crew. There are so many nationalities, cultures, and upbringings shoved into such tight spaces that you’re bound to have disagreements, arguments, love affairs, and every bit of drama you can imagine.

Knowing when to let things go and adapt to other crew are the hardest skills to master, but essential to survive in yachting.

5.  What is the training needed to get to your position?

My licenses were a chief mate 3000 GT, officer of the watch 3000 GT, USCG 200T master, and MCA 200T master of yachts. It takes many years of experience for each one, but I needed to attend courses in my off time and collect sea time to qualify for each next license.

6. What is the biggest lesson you learned onboard?

As I mentioned, my biggest lesson is to be adaptable. In yachting, we repeatedly throw ourselves into completely foreign situations where nothing is familiar. The ability to react and adapt quickly sets apart successful crew from those that leave within the year. I think that this emphasis on always being uncomfortable and needing to learn has helped me in this new business and new industry.

7. What is your favorite memory from the ship life?

I love the camaraderie of working at sea. While working on the deck of an 88m called Fountainhead, I worked with six different guys. One summer, the stars aligned, and we had an all-star cast, and we all got extremely close. 

It felt like “Band of Brothers,” and I think we all would have worked together for years if we could. Whenever we went out, we created great memories but generally always had huge laughs and great banter.

8.  What inspired you to start a Superyacht Sunday School?

I think I was inspired to create Superyacht Sunday School because I’ve always been a teacher at heart. At university, I tutored students for my engineering classes. Before yachting, I taught English while traveling abroad.

It was natural for me to start teaching yachting-related information at some point. I completed my licensing quickly and saw how others struggled to understand the best way to progress within the industry or climb the ranks. This got me thinking there was an opportunity for someone to fill this need.

During COVID-19, I decided I wanted to try to create an income online and move back to the land. At the same time, I kept seeing new crew members being lied to by various schools and deceived regarding job opportunities in the yachting industry. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to pair my knowledge and passion with a huge need in the industry.

9.  What are the core mission and values of your school? How do you contribute to the development of aspiring crew members through your initiative?

The core mission of Superyacht Sunday School is to empower new crew to make the best decisions they can in the industry. There’s a lot of knowledge that is only gained after years of struggle, and I want to raise the bar, so that new crew have this experience from the beginning.

I want the new crew to not go through any of the heartache that many of us struggled with at first. More importantly, I also want the new crew to not spend thousands of dollars on unnecessary training that only puts them deeper in debt and no closer to landing a job.

10. Were there any unexpected obstacles, and how did they shape the direction of your initiative?

Unfortunately, yachting can be a pretty old-fashioned industry with some serious negativity from many of the older generation. I received a lot of pushback and naysayers, but thankfully, I’ve always been someone who does whatever they want, regardless of what others think.

I continued to push through, develop my business, create content, and let the audience speak for themselves. I think my honest, straightforward, and authentic approach resonates with a lot of people, and because of that, I’ve been able to start a great following.

11. Could you share a success story of a student who has benefited significantly from your Sunday School?

One of my students, Adrian Ramos, came from a commercial background. He was an engineer on tanker and cargo ships. After struggling for six months applying for a job in yachting from Mexico, he was beginning to give up on his career switch.

I worked one-on-one with Adrian, and we rebuilt his CV, clarified his goals for yachting, corrected his job search and applications, and within a couple of weeks, Adrian was flown to Saint Martin for his first job.

It’s been a year since Adrian has crossed the Atlantic twice and worked his way up to an engineer on a 50m yacht after starting as a mate on his first 35m yacht. His quality of life is super high now, and he loves yachting!

12. How do you stay updated on the latest trends and developments in the superyacht industry, and how does this knowledge influence your teaching?

I’m very active on social media, I’m a member of Nautilus and the PYA, and I’m still connected to companies and crew within the industry. I’m also active in countless WhatsApp groups that circulate all new info. Whenever something is relevant for the crew to know, I pass it to my audience via socials and email, an audience of ~20,000 people.

13. In your opinion, what are the key skills and knowledge areas that aspiring yachties should focus on in today's industry?

The new crew should focus on getting life experience and as much customer service as possible. I come across many 18-year-olds wanting to work on a yacht, but at that age, it’s hard to know what you’re even good at.

Make sure to try as many jobs as possible and see what skills you possess, and THEN think about how those can transfer into yachting. Get experience working in hospitality, so you’re familiar with dealing with guests. I highly value crew with bartending and restaurant experience, especially when applying for stewards/stewardesses. So, it’s never going to be a bad idea to get this type of experience.

To read more stories like Hugo's, visit our blog, and to have an interview with Crew Pages send us an email at [email protected].