Apostolos Korakas, President of HYCA (Hellenic Yacht Crew Association), shares personal experiences and snapshots from his travels at sea.
Being the captain on a yacht as fast as My Toy is a whole different story. The speed is higher, the draft is less and adrenaline is sky-high. You get the speed of a small speedboat and the volume of a 43m superyacht, plus you can go to the shallowest waters where no other yacht can. Speed is all about cruising between islands in very small time frames, usually 3 times faster than with a typical yacht.
In 2021 the Corinth Canal was closed for repairs which meant yachts had to cruise around the Peloponnese, which, in turn, meant more miles, therefore more cruising time. The speed was a huge advantage and allowed us weekly charters from Athens to the Ionian Sea and back. If we were on a “slow” yacht, most of the charter time would be spent cruising which is an unwise thing to do to passengers.
During a yacht charter, things happen that can change your life. Once I had a very nice family on board with two girls, aged 9 and 11, plus a 13-year-old boy. The girls were having a great time with the water toys and the yacht, but the boy was a fully fledged teenager who would prefer to stay alone in his cabin. He didn’t want to speak to anyone, swim or have fun. Actually, the parents told me he had been like that for some months. So I had a new purpose in life: to make that boy come out and play.
During breakfast I asked him if he could help me with my new tablet and he agreed. After our “technical meeting” and getting to know each other, it was easy to get him in the water for a jet ski photo safari. We went around a small island and took a lot of photos. He was so excited. After that, we became very good friends and he would only use his cabin to sleep. This is one of the reasons I love my job; it gives me the opportunity to make people happy.
