Repping a superyacht.

**achenator** · 03-07-2009, 04:36 PM

My job as a Mississippi River ship pilot entails navigating large foreign vessels to and from the port of New Orleans to sea. A normal week would consist of piloting (driving) large oil tankers, container ships and cruise ships. It is a rewarding job and very coveted in the maritime community and I love it and feel fortunate to have it. This past Tuesday, I got to pilot something out of the ordinary , the superyacht Tatoosh. I got a quick tour of the outside, but unfortunately didn't get to see the living quarters. I went straight to the bridge to get underway. She carries a crew of 30 plus up to 16 guests. 40 foot tender, 40 foot sailboat and 6 person helo on board. The chief mate said they came into New Orleans for Mardi Gras for "standby" , they had no guests. Nice handling vessel and SPOTLESS. They keep the boat ready for inspection at all times. We got her up to a bit over 17 knots. They said they never see that speed, but we had the current of the mighty mississippi on our tail. Sorry about the quality of the pics but I didn't want to step on anyone's toes taking pictures.

at the dock

repping

getting ready to depart

**bulliondesk** · 03-07-2009, 05:00 PM

A bit fuzzy but still good reppage!

**Axxlrod** · 03-07-2009, 05:04 PM

Cool yacht. Cool pics. But even cooler job you have. What kind of training/schooling is necessary to do your job? What is the biggest ship you've piloted?

**C-M2** · 03-07-2009, 05:10 PM

Doesn't Paul Allen own that yacht?

**achenator** · 03-07-2009, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by Axxlrod

Cool yacht. Cool pics. But even cooler job you have. What kind of training/schooling is necessary to do your job? What is the biggest ship you've piloted?

A maritime degree from a maritime academy is not required but it pretty much expected. I got a BA from a regular university and worked my way up on various vessels of different sizes for about 10yrs., gaining different size captain's licenses along the way. Most of our pilots go to the different maritime academies around the country and then go to sea for a few years. We have a 1 year unpaid apprenticeship once our new pilots are elected and then a deputy program for the next year after that. We have a commission from the governor but are a private partnership of about 100 pilots. The state has a fee commission to say what we can charge, but all hiring and operations are controlled by us.

I'd say there are a few container ships that we pilot that are pretty large. One of our regular customers is 997 feet long, 132 feet wide with 75000 horsepower. It holds about 6000-7000 20 foot containers if I can recall correctly.

**achenator** · 03-07-2009, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by C-M2

Doesn't Paul Allen own that yacht?

The crew is not allowed to say who the owner is but that I believe is common knowledge.

**Sir.thomi** · 03-07-2009, 08:04 PM

sounds like a cool job - cruising around with all kinda ships you dont own

**///M3TZ** · 03-07-2009, 08:12 PM

Just incase some don't realize how massive this yacht is...

**Chris** · 03-07-2009, 08:49 PM

Holy shit, this thread is right up my alley.

Awesome stuff. I have enough trouble navigating my jetski in the waters on weekends. How you navigate something like these ships is unfathomable.

Thanks for posting.

**Mr. Carter** · 03-07-2009, 09:38 PM

Originally Posted by bulliondesk

A bit fuzzy but still good reppage!

+1

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