Billed as a Knight to Remember, the gala award evening celebrating the Super Yacht Crew awards was indeed a splendid night to remember.
Staged within the Adriatic superyacht village of Porto Montenegro, the Acrew superyacht crew awards were both stunning and all embracing.
Yacht crews dressed to impress wearing outfits that befitted Kings and Queens. Arrayed in Princess party dresses and glamorous evening wear, crew were in party mode having flown in from all around the world, some from as far away as the United States especially for this evening. An especially chartered aircraft, full of party going crew, had flown in from Barcelona the day before and a weekend of fun activities, sponsored and provided by Porto Montenegro, had preceded the gala awards evening.
On the Friday night of their arrival, crew had enjoyed a first night to remember, a special cocktails and barbecue crew party staged in the open air and green surroundings of Porto Montenegro‘s polo fields. The next day, a packed activities program included paint balling, scenic boat cruises on the wonderful Boka Bay, and a guided hike. Other crew flocked to AudioPort eager to try out the new sound studio built, and now operating, in Porto Montenegro.
As evening turned into the night to remember, crew journeyed to Dom Vojske, a building that was once the barracks when Porto Montenegro was a Yugoslavian Naval Station and is now the country’s largest, by capacity, theatre. There crew were entertained by military style bands and traditional folk dancing displays setting the scene for the spectacular that was about to unfold.
Crew award categories included an environmental award, a lifetime achievement award, a mentorship award and professional development award. There were categories for duty of care, entrepreneurship, and social influencing. Individual crew awards included it best Chief Steward, Deck hand, Engineer or ETO. There were awards for the best First Officer, Captain 500gt, Captain 3000gt and Captain unlimited. Finally the best private yacht and the best charter yacht.
Competition had been stiff to win one of the coveted engraved glass discs with all entrants having been first nominated by Acrew and then voted for by the public and industry specialists in a bid to whittle down to a short list of three in each category.
A strong panel of thirty specialist judges form every sector of the industry poured over the verifications and each awarded their vote for a category winner. When those votes were totalled, the winner was selected and the name popped into a sealed envelope to be revealed on the night.
The superyacht Artefact one the Environmental award and crew, who had flown in from Barcelona accepted the award on behalf of Captain Aaron Clark and his entire crew.
Purser Michelle Maree from the superyacht Phoenix II scooped the Purser award, with Captain Kelly Gordon accepting, in true Oscar-winning style her acceptance of the Captain under 500 tons award for her command of the San Lorenzo, Freddy. Accepting her award by video Lauren Wardley won the Entrepreneur award for her work with Ethical Yachtwear. Yotspot the online crew recruitment site sponsored the Best private yacht award in which Eos, Zen and Callisto were nominated. In the end it was Eos that sailed away with the trophy.
The superyacht captain unlimited award sponsored by YPI Crew went to Sebastian Gerads. In his speech of acceptance, Sebastian paid homage to all those who had suffered in the industry through Covid and the Ukraine conflict and dedicated his award to their memory. Captain Sean Read of the Benetti Triumph was on the shortlist in two categories. His yacht was on the shortlist as best charter yacht while he himself, was up for the Captain 3000gt award sponsored by Jotun. In the end he scooped captain of the year but was pipped to the post for best charter yacht by Roma, with Skyfall also taking a podium spot.
Other individual awards were sponsored by the likes of Marina Casa de Campo, Gourmet Deliveries and brokers Cecil Wright. Gold sponsors included IMM, Frankentek, Begum Yachting Liquid Yacht Wear and Dhole Yachts. Without them there would have been no night to remember.
After the awards some 300 or so guests partied the night away at the Buddha Bar Beach in Porto Montenegro and next morning many had cause to recall: it truly was a night to remember!
List of each award category:
- 1. Engineer or ETO
- 2. Deck Crew
- 3. Duty of Care
- 4. Junior Crew
- 5. Mentorship
- 6. Social Influencer
- 7. Entrepreneur
- 8. Professional Development
- 9. Chef
- 10. Stew
- 11. Chief-Stewardess
- 12. Purser
- 13. First Officer
- 14. Captain Master 500gt
- 15. Captain Master 3000gt
- 16. Captain Master Unlimited
- 17. Environmental
- 18. Lifetime Achievement
- 19. Private Yacht
- 20. Charter Yacht
