Salty Podcast #71⛵️Below Deck S12 - Hugo Ortega | Reality TV drama vs.Real life at sea 🌊

📅 Wed, 6pm CT 8/20/25
📍 Live on @SaltyAbandon (FB, IG, X) + @SVSaltyAbandon (YouTube)
▶️ Playlist & past episodes: https://tinyurl.com/SaltyPodcastPlaylist

Dive into the fascinating world of luxury yachting with Hugo Ortega, a 500-ton Superyacht captain, mentor, and the new bosun on Below Deck Season 12. In this candid conversation, Hugo reveals his unlikely journey from dissatisfied engineer to commanding multi-million dollar vessels, offering a rare glimpse behind the curtain of an industry that caters to the world's ultra-wealthy.

Hugo shares the pivotal moment when, feeling trapped in his corporate engineering job, a chance encounter with a yacht crew member in Thailand completely transformed his career trajectory. This meeting sparked what would become a remarkable maritime journey, eventually leading to his founding of Superyacht Sunday School – a platform dedicated to helping others break into the yachting industry without making costly mistakes.

The economics of luxury yachting are nothing short of staggering. With weekly charter rates starting around $200,000 for a 180-foot yacht (before fuel, food, and extras), clients willing to spend upwards of $300,000 for a single week's vacation expect nothing less than perfection. Hugo details how crew members benefit from this lavish industry, potentially earning thousands in tips alongside their base salaries, while navigating the unique challenges of living in close quarters and catering to extraordinary requests – from flying in $25,000 meat orders to arranging impromptu carnivals complete with fire breathers.

For sailing enthusiasts, Hugo offers valuable insights on how skills from the superyacht industry transfer to private sailing ventures and charter businesses. His engineering background proved unexpectedly valuable in his maritime career, highlighting how diverse experiences can strengthen one's sailing journey. Whether you're dreaming of working on luxury vessels, starting your own charter business, or simply enhancing your sailing skills, Hugo's practical wisdom and entertaining stories provide both inspiration and actionable guidance.

Ready to explore if the yachting lifestyle might be right for you? Or curious about the real differences between Below Deck and actual superyacht operations? This episode delivers honest, expert perspective on an industry few truly understand. Subscribe now and join our community of passionate sailors and maritime enthusiasts charting their own unique courses.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Hugo Ortega
• 6:44 From Engineer to Yachting
• 14:34 Leadership Journey in Yachting
• 22:55 Superyacht Sunday School
• 31:56 Captain Skills and Experience
• 46:26 The Business of Luxury Yachting
• 57:02 Career Paths in Yachting
• 1:07:03 Below Deck Reality vs. Actual Yachting

Transcript

Capn Tinsley: 0:04

Tonight on the Salty Podcast. My guest is Hugo Ortega, a Superyacht 500-ton captain, a mentor and the new bosun on Below Deck Season 12. He's also the founder of Superyacht Sunday School, a platform that helps people gain the skills they need to break into the yacht industry. And, because this is a sailing channel, we will tie all of this together and discuss how these skills can strengthen your own sailing journey, help chart your own course, whether that's entering the yachting business, sailing around the world or starting your own charter business. And, of course, we'll be talking about the difference between the reality show and real life aboard a luxury yacht. But before we get underway, if you are enjoying content on this channel, please like, subscribe and share. It really helps grow the channel. I'm your host, captain tinsley of sailing vessels, salty, abandoned and island packet 320. And this is the salty podcast, episode 71. Uh, please help me. Welcome, hugo ortega thank.

Hugo Ortega: 1:04

Thank you for such a great introduction.

Capn Tinsley: 1:07

Yes, yes. Well, I'm excited to have you here. I appreciate you reaching out. This is awesome, yeah excited to be here.

Capn Tinsley: 1:14

We're live on four platforms right now Facebook, youtube X and Instagram. And if I could go live on TikTok, they're just kind of funny about the rules, so, but we'll be posting your your clips to that. So, okay, we're going to talk about. We're going to go in a few different directions here. First, I like to start off with a few background questions. Your story starts with an engineering degree and you had a solid career path right. What made you realize success didn't equal happiness? Go ahead.

Hugo Ortega: 1:50

Well, I went to college and I think maybe, like a lot of your listeners, it was especially coming from the US at the time. It was just a focus that everyone had. Right, if you want to be successful, go to college. It's going to open up so many doors and it did. It's probably not the doors that I wanted to go through.

Hugo Ortega: 2:04

So I got into this engineering job. I was four years in after my degree. I already knew I wasn't really liking it. Started working, then I found out I really wasn't liking it and I'm just thankful that at the two-year mark I just realized man, this isn't for me. I don't like the nine to five, I don't like being in the office. I don't like being in the factory. I don't like the nine to five. I don't like being in the office, I don't like being in the factory. I don't like engineering. I like to problem solve, but I don't like engineering. And you know I'm sure we're going to get into it. But I went on this big travel adventure and that's what got me ultimately onto this other path. So it's just recognizing that, hey, if I don't like where I'm at, let's just go find somewhere else.

Capn Tinsley: 2:40

Well, I bet that makes you where you can fix things on a boat.

Hugo Ortega: 2:43

Yeah, yeah, the problem solving and what I got from engineering is great because I'm one of the few captains I feel like that can communicate with the chief engineer and I understand what he's saying and he can do things that I don't do, but I understand why he's doing it, so it leads for a really good, healthy relationship Perfect.

Capn Tinsley: 3:00

That is perfect, Because I am not a mechanic and I wish I had those skills. I just get out the credit card and called someone to come fix my boat Right, you said. Depression nearly consumed you. How did travel and that first encounter with a yachty become the spark that changed everything?

Hugo Ortega: 3:22

Yeah, sorry, I was breaking up. I think you were asking me about that first instance.

Capn Tinsley: 3:25

Yeah, Well, when you met the yachty I think you were you had some depression and then you encountered a yachty and something sparked interest in you.

Hugo Ortega: 3:34

Right, exactly, exactly. So when I was working I got pretty low when I was working in that job and thankfully a company ended up buying us out and well, I say thankfully, but we all got laid off. But that was really the spark and kind of what snapped me out of my funk, because I was kind of it was a blessing, right?

Capn Tinsley: 3:51

Yeah, it was a blessing in disguise.

Hugo Ortega: 3:54

And after I got over the initial shock, I knew I'd always wanted to travel the world. And you know better than I, when you're just working a 9-to-5, you don't have a lot of vacation time. That's why we ended up getting into boating and getting off the grid, because you need more time to enjoy and to travel. So when I went around, I always started backpacking. I went through Eastern Europe and then I ended up in Southeast Asia and I was inside one of my hostels in Thailand and that's when I met the first yachty.

Hugo Ortega: 4:21

He was a deckhand and when he started telling me about his life and he started showing me photos on his phone of being in the Bahamas and riding jet skis in the Mediterranean and crystal blue waters, and I was really dumbfounded because I didn't even know that job existed. And at the time I don't even think the show which we're going to go into later as well Below Deck wasn't that popular or wasn't around. And when he showed me that other world, I really couldn't look back. I was like, well, I already love traveling. I might as well try traveling and making money, because it's way more than what I'm doing right now.

Capn Tinsley: 4:53

Wow, that's awesome Because, yeah, I used to have a job that was more it was in the hospitality industry, which I think a lot of yachties come from, that right, some come from the hospitality industry the hotel industry.

Hugo Ortega: 5:09

Right, exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah, you'd be surprised. I think most people that get into the industry, especially on the stewardess or steward side, are really just hospitality workers, whether it's, you know, fine restaurants, whether it's working in hotels. I mean, at the end of the day, we are kind of like a, you know, a floating hotel that's on the water. So people that have hotel or management or hospitality skills in general, that's all going to be exactly what we need on board. We just, you know, throw a few ropes, lines and motors in the mix.

Capn Tinsley: 5:38

Right, okay, and responsible for people's, so okay. So, looking back, do you think being pushed into engineering gave you skills that later helped in leadership and problem solving at sea? Did any of that help you?

Hugo Ortega: 5:52

I would say definitely the engineering skills. Like we said, I think, at the beginning, what I wanted to do was become an engineer on a yacht and just the way it all played out, I ended up going the captain route Instead. I kind of realized I wanted to be outside. Played out, I ended up going the captain route instead. I kind of realized I wanted to be outside. I didn't want to be in the engine room, I wanted to, you know, feel the sea breeze which you can probably assimilate with that. But in terms of um, leadership, yeah, I think that as well. I mean, I've always been a bit mature for my age, but the company that I was working for I was in kind of being groomed for a management or a leadership type of position. That was the program I was in. So I think leading teams and being in charge of budgets and all of that like, even though it's a different skill, in a way it's also exactly what's made me better at what I'm doing right now.

Capn Tinsley: 6:37

Yeah, well, I mean it was a noticeable change in episode six when you came on and you were just like this is what we're doing, and people were like I like this guy. You were so calm and you knew what to do and you had great leadership skills.

Hugo Ortega: 6:54

That's awesome, thank you.

Capn Tinsley: 6:56

You're welcome. So you climbed from deckhand to bosun to captain. What leadership trait made the biggest difference for you on that journey?

Hugo Ortega: 7:03

leadership trait made the biggest difference for you on that journey? I would probably. You know, on the one side, I would think I would like to thank. You know my organization skills and you know I like things to be done a certain way, like SOPs, all of that and I think that comes back from engineering and using that right or left side of the brain.

Hugo Ortega: 7:19

That's very analytical, but I think also people skills, to be honest, you know, being someone that can be approachable, being someone that someone can talk to, and and also just being willing to learn from other people. I think that's probably helped me get the furthest in my career, because at the beginning I didn't know anything. I mean, I was coming. I was coming from being a desk jockey or a manufacturing engineer, like I didn't know anything about boats, I didn't know anything about line handling, and I think if it wasn't for having such an agreeable personality, I think it would have been a slower climb or maybe I'd still be an officer right now struggling for that first captain position. But I had the right mentors and I think that started out by having the right disposition and then thinking that I had something in me that could be taught.

Capn Tinsley: 8:02

I had something in me that could be taught. Okay, so as a bosun, you're running deck operations under pressure. Well, I do might have already covered this from one skill, from that role that you think every sailor or aspiring captain should master.

Hugo Ortega: 8:19

Well at the bosun position.

Hugo Ortega: 8:21

It's an interesting and fun position because the bosun is kind of at least in yachting.

Hugo Ortega: 8:26

It's like the last time that you're still spending the majority of your time on deck, like I still do some paperwork or safety related things, but for the most part you're out there with the guys and gals fixing things, doing things. So it's very much so you know organization and your day to day kind of planning skills and that even if you're in the bridge, that's the same skills that you use to organize contractors, to plan when you're going into the shipyard. Right, it's all that logistical side and I think that's probably the most I still use. Like, yeah, I go occasionally on deck now and if the deckhand or the mate are having trouble doing something, of course time to show them how to use the Sika gun, time to show them how to do some light carpentry. So that's still useful. But I think at that point, transitioning from bosun into captain, it's more the organizational side, the operations, and kind of understanding the budget, what we got, how we're going to make things happen and deadlines.

Capn Tinsley: 9:19

You're a captain's dream come true. Well, especially going through that bridge in St Martin.

Hugo Ortega: 9:28

Right, right, yeah, the bridge is super tight. I think I do. Watching back, I was actually remarking the same thing to my girlfriend. I was saying you know, it's really helpful, I think, to be a captain that's telling the other captain what we're seeing, because if you've never driven the boat, you don't know that the captain's looking to know when they can swing or which distances matter, and I think I was good at that before. But I think after driving boats then coming back down, it's like okay, it's second nature. I know he's going to want to know this. I know he's going to want to know that.

Capn Tinsley: 10:00

Yeah, you said said the stern has passed the end of the bridge. Is that what you?

Hugo Ortega: 10:05

said Correct.

Capn Tinsley: 10:06

And the other guy never said that and he was loving it, the captain was loving it. So let's see, I have been through a bridge like that, but not in that big of a yacht. I have taken my boat through a bridge like that on the west coast of Florida. So let's see, um, you're run, you're under pressure when you say, when you're the bosun I would say so yeah, it's like you.

Hugo Ortega: 10:37

You, well, you. You have a lot, of a lot on your plate, right at least in that position on that boat. That's 180, 180 foot of yacht with three people under you. That's not a small feat. You've got a lot to do and a lot of manpower to allocate. Even though it's just a middle management type of position, there's a lot on your plate there.

Capn Tinsley: 10:56

Yeah, you're in charge of safety and everything for all the toys, all the water toys and the people that are when they're out there. You guys are in charge of keeping everybody safe, right.

Hugo Ortega: 11:08

Yeah, yeah, that's definitely true. So it's yeah, there's a lot at stake there, so it's good. Like you said, there's 10 guests, three crew under me, 180 foot of boat and probably 30 million worth of damage and sunken costs we can have. So there's a lot.

Capn Tinsley: 11:23

Yeah, okay. So the yacht building, the yacht school Okay, let's talk about that. What inspired you to launch your yacht school after nearly a decade in the industry? Was it a decade after being in the industry?

Hugo Ortega: 11:36

So I've got over a decade now. I think the school is getting close to the three-year mark. So let's say, let's just round and say it was at the seven-year mark. It was while I was doing my first captain position. So after already doing that for almost a year, I had always been thinking about it.

Hugo Ortega: 11:52

But I just realized like, hey, you know, there's so much that I'm still learning. But there, you know, just like I wish there was someone to teach me those things and there are occasionally, but most of my career has been a lot of mentorship and if I can't find someone, then going off and learning it on my own. And I just realized that there's not really a centralized place that caters to yacht crew. Right, we're like this weird sliver inside the maritime industry. We're not a cruise ship, we're not a small tiny motorboat, we're just this thing and there's a lot of rules and things that go on to it, but there's just not a formal process of like, how do I get into it, how do I become the best yachty I can be and ultimately in the position I'm at, now, and how can I be competitive in the yachting, and even worse when you start going into it.

Hugo Ortega: 12:37

it's not only that we don't have that many places to go for good information, it's also that there's a lot of disinformation. There's a lot of lack of information.

Hugo Ortega: 12:46

So then people make bad decisions in terms of how they try to get into it and I realized that look, I am barely in this right. I stumbled upon a guy who was doing it. He told me about it. I banked it all, I bet the farmhouse, so to speak, and I went and did it.

Hugo Ortega: 13:01

But there's so many people that maybe they wish they could do it, or they're trying to do it, but they're not really knowing which lever to pull. What's going to make the most difference? Is this even going to work? Because I mean, when I was starting out, like I remember at my going away party, I was in Houston, I was working on gas, and I think half the people there thought I was crazy. Like they were there, you could tell their faces when I was like, oh, I'm going to go work on super yachts, they're like, wow, this guy is checking into some mental institution, you know, and and that feeling of loneliness or isolation, it's, it's, it's palpable, it's, it's, it's strong, like my parents were like, what the fuck are you doing? Oh, sorry, I don't know if I can swear.

Capn Tinsley: 13:37

That's all right, no problem. They're like what the hell are you?

Hugo Ortega: 13:50

doing. You have an engineering degree so I figured there's a lot of people having these conversations behind closed doors and they need a place like I just paid for you to get this degree.

Capn Tinsley: 13:54

No, thankfully, at least I paid for it.

Hugo Ortega: 13:55

But uh, yeah, all right, I just thought I I thought that there needed to be a better way and that's what kind of got me on this train and I I've always been tech focused because I'm an engineer, so it started like as a passion project and then it kind of became a little bit more than that and started growing.

Capn Tinsley: 14:09

Well, you know I'm a real estate agent and my clients that I sell golf front condos, like second homes, investment properties and the engineer clients are. They can be difficult because they want so much information and they're going to analyze everything. But, when they make a decision. It's solid, but they want to see everything and that's good. That's good. Some people don't even look at it.

Hugo Ortega: 14:36

That's the biggest issue. It's funny you say that because that's exactly how I am, but in terms of some people not looking at it like, another thing is I couldn't tell you how many yacht crew don't ever read their contract. I think maybe by and far 90 percent of the people I talk to when I go hey, you look at the contract. They go, oh, and that's one of the big points too, I wanted crew to understand what is in your contract, why is it there and what should you be looking for, and how can we kind of decrypt the legalese so you know what the hell you're signing, because so many people have problems with that. So that's.

Capn Tinsley: 15:09

Are they all?

Hugo Ortega: 15:09

different. Well, there's standards of what they should have, but technically, if you're a small private boat, then there's a lot of leeway on what you can do compared to, like, a really big or commercially run yacht. So there is variation and it's good to know and spot things ahead of time, because sometimes it's just a conversation and then they realize, oh yeah, like this person knows what you're talking about, like that they need better terms rather than being for lack of a better term, being taken advantage of.

Capn Tinsley: 15:36

Sure, and that happens.

Hugo Ortega: 15:38

Yeah, yeah, I mean, yachting is a worldwide industry and the thing is, you know, to push people into a very professional super yachting type because we're protected by a lot of rights, but maybe if you look at the boat behind me, that's less than 100 foot. If you're just a local that decides to start working on that and you guys just work out some kind of cash agreement, that's a lot different than what we do. So knowing that you can go from that to maybe this and what's regular and what's right, like that, it's a big deal and I think it's just education.

Capn Tinsley: 16:11

Okay, yeah, that makes sense. So someone starting with zero experience what's the first realistic step your program helps them take?

Hugo Ortega: 16:19

The first thing I like to do, and one of the immediate things, is, you know, we hop on a call and I also give them this questionnaire to kind of unload everything that they've done. Like, I look at the resume, their CV, because everyone's starting from a different place and even though you know, like people like me, I had no experience at all. I had some hospitality. So we start putting together your CV or your resume, because that's the first thing that people leave for last, actually. But I think it's good to do it at the beginning, because then we look at it and we can see OK, you're lacking in this. Maybe it's a good idea to go freelance or do this in the meantime.

Hugo Ortega: 16:56

Like, for example, I had one guy he worked in IT his whole career and he had never even set foot on a boat and that's fine, there's people that make that work but he wanted to be more competitive. So thankfully, since we start from that at the beginning, I sat with him and I was like, look, there's a few different websites that you can go to. You're already in Europe. You can even just freelance help deliver some sailboats or just go see if you even like boats. So by doing that then it helped him later on, because then he goes through the course, he gets the right certifications.

Hugo Ortega: 17:23

And then when he gets to the actual marina and he's looking for work on a yacht, they're like, okay, this guy's not just, you know, a Swiss, um it guy, he actually has already been been, you know, meet on a sales ship, he's already washed a boat, he's already, you know, not just willing, but he has some skillset. So you know, for some people it's that, For some people, I recommend them go work in a bar or a restaurant for a little bit, just to have some customer service. It's different advice for everyone, but if you start from the beginning imagining where you want to go, I think it's easier to set goals.

Capn Tinsley: 17:58

Well, that's a good idea. Someone's asking a question. It's a good idea to first find out if you get seasick right, because some people don't even know it, they get too far into it. Oh, so the question.

Hugo Ortega: 18:11

Cv stands for curriculum vitae, which is a resume. And to the seasickness thing. It's actually funny because I think on yachts we're actually quite blessed because we're the least prone for seasickness, because the yachts typically especially if they're above, even above, like a hundred foot, you typically will have some kind of stabilization, either stabilizer fins or a sea keeper or or something. Right, because the people that ride our boats the guests, the guy who owns this boat like he doesn't like rocking, like he's not in it for the same reasons that you are, so they want the most stable ride that they can get. So we pay big money to make sure that the boat's not rocking too much and we pick the anchorages that you're not going to rock too much.

Hugo Ortega: 18:51

And then, on top of that, if it's going to be really bad, I'm like, hey, boss, we're going to be getting hit this passage with five foot seas, you're not going to feel comfortable. I mean, we'll just change the dates or go somewhere else, because they also don't want to damage the boat, because we have expensive artwork, because we have expensive custom whatever decoration that you can't just pull off the shelf, so they're really flexible. And if you tell them, hey, it's not a good idea. This isn't going to end well, they'll just go okay, let's move the trip, Because on top of that, these guys are the ones who run the businesses, so they can move their life however they want. They'll be like okay, I'm just going to go hang out in Saint-Tropez for another week, I'll see you guys down there. So it's nice because if you're prone to seasickness, you don't even go into rough seas that often Very, very seldom.

Capn Tinsley: 19:38

Okay. Well, Danielle, from over on Instagram says you're a real asset to this season. Your experience really shows.

Hugo Ortega: 19:46

Thanks.

Capn Tinsley: 19:46

Danielle. She's a friend of mine, she's a fan.

Hugo Ortega: 19:51

That's awesome.

Capn Tinsley: 19:54

Okay, so I do have a question about. I've never been on a cruise ship. It's just not really my thing Just to go get on there with another bunch of Americans and go to Alvar experience on my own boat and go there and experience the country and the people. I've heard of people getting seasick on a cruise ship. So the yachts are I'm showing some ignorance here. They're better, they've got the stabilizers and everything more so than a cruise ship you think.

Hugo Ortega: 20:28

Well, what I can say to that is like everyone, no matter what I think everyone has a limit to, they will eventually get seasick, right, Like even the most hardened person. If you put them in the middle of a hurricane at some point, you know your balance comes off. Your balance comes off. But some people are crazy, prone to it, to the point, like you said, that they're seasick on a cruise ship which I think probably like 90% or 95% of people would never right, Unless it was so bad that you know honestly something crazy is happening.

Hugo Ortega: 20:57

But those things are so stable, especially the newer ones, they fit like 10,000 people on them. So if you feel like you get seasick on a cruise ship, then yeah, you know the stabilizer is probably not going to be the solution, but if you're anyone, else not the career for you.

Capn Tinsley: 21:11

Okay, yeah.

Hugo Ortega: 21:12

But the thing is, for most people they're not going to go through it. Or if you get seasick on yachts, it's going to be very few times that we're put into that situation and, you know you, there's always medication for it and a bunch of other remedies that people use Like. I've had a lot of crew that they make do in a yachting career just fine with the occasional seasickness, and you get used to it too.

Capn Tinsley: 21:31

Sure, okay, so you teach new crew to avoid expensive mistakes. What's the most common and costly mistake beginners make?

Hugo Ortega: 21:41

Well, one of the big things. And for whether you're American Americans, probably less so, because I think there's less maritime licenses. But you know, when you're coming from different parts of the world, there's a lot of different courses and certifications you can get in the world of boats, right, and a lot of people they go by what they see in some blog or what someone says and they actually end up buying so many more courses, what someone says, and they actually end up buying so many more courses and and a lot of them like, either they have nothing to do with super yachting or they're just not necessary, or even they weren't for you at this stage in your career. They were actually for later. So I see, sometimes people drop, you know five thousand.

Hugo Ortega: 22:15

I've had a crew member that dropped almost ten thousand dollars in a bunch of different packs and courses and things that they were told to get, and then you see, hey, hey man, you could have done that for you know a couple thousand in your country, or even less, you know fifteen hundred bucks, and at least if you would have spent that money instead just like focusing on trying to get some some work, you would have started building your CV, as we were saying, or your resume and that would get you so much further. Because these people are sold these promises that like kind of almost like, the more you spend, the faster you'll find a job, and it's not true. You know, up to a certain point you need certain licenses to be legal, to be on the boat, but you don't need to go and, you know, buy the whole catalog because it's not going to help you. You still are, still say, day one, stepping on a boat for the first time so in this case, you don't always get what you pay for.

Hugo Ortega: 23:05

Right.

Capn Tinsley: 23:07

Okay. So, Danielle, I just copy and pasted this from Instagram. This is about the show, so if we can answer this, great. I've got a below-deck question. Should you have been the one? To tell Captain Kerry about Scottish and the guests, and do you now think he crossed the line? Are you allowed to answer that just now?

Hugo Ortega: 23:27

I think maybe it's best if we set that one for the end when we're doing the below deck segment, just to be on the safe side.

Capn Tinsley: 23:33

So, for people who don't know, because I haven't said it, we have the representative from Bravo coming on when we talk about the show. That's a requirement and that's great. That'll be exciting. We'll get to meet the rep from Bravo. So, danielle, we're going to save that question. And she also says I am too old, 55 years young, to start a career in yachting. And she has a question mark.

Hugo Ortega: 23:57

So am I too old? She's saying, or she thinks she's old, but she wants to just confirm.

Capn Tinsley: 24:00

I think she wants to know. Can I do?

Hugo Ortega: 24:02

it the, the oldest or youngest, however you want to say it. The oldest young person or the youngest old person that I've helped is pretty much at the cutoff of of about 50. And it's not to say that you couldn't later, it's just it's. It's just getting harder and harder at that point. Right Cause, like in your forties, I know plenty of people that they're sailors or you know, their body's still running on all cylinders, they look young in the face, like there's no aging there. And it's not to say that you can't have 55. Right, there's so many different types of boating and there's sailboats in the Caribbean and there's so many things.

Hugo Ortega: 24:36

But I like to tell people like 45 to 50 is my sweet spot for, like, when you should consider switching. If you have it in you and you really want to do it, go for it, of course. But I just think unless you get in quickly at that point, then you're kind of on a your, your window is getting smaller and you don't have that much experience yet. Like, once you're in, like, let's say, I could ride this off into the sunset if I want. Right, I'll have my licenses, I can. I can be 70 and still be captain a yacht, but I'd be having a different conversation with myself starting at 55, because it might have been hard to accrue the same kind of experience. So I think it's not impossible. But after 50, it does get a bit harder, and the oldest that I've helped get in is probably 45 to 50. I have seen a 50-something-year-old deckhand and it's just less. That's what I say Not impossible, but just taper expectations?

Capn Tinsley: 25:27

Would it depend on maybe your one or two person on a yacht, a smaller yacht, but the setup you have on below deck I can see why an older person that just you know it'd be too much. You know, with the tight quarters, no privacy, I think the older you get you're like I'm not sharing a room with anybody. I think that's okay If you're like in your twenties, you know you've got a little more tolerance yeah, you've got a little more tolerance for that.

Hugo Ortega: 25:56

Yeah, I think, like you said it, if you're on a you know, for lack of a better term a below deck type of yacht, like a big white boat, as we call them that, I think if you want to be 50, you should probably be a chief right, like a chief engineer or a chief officer, or the captain. You wouldn't be starting there. But if for, like you said, a small, small yacht like or maybe even like wow, that was bad. Like that one, you could do it right. You never know, that might just be a captain and like a deck.

Hugo Ortega: 26:21

One stew or stew slash deckhand, exactly exactly, and that would be much easier to get into, and then maybe you can go and become captain of that and then you just jump the whole thing. So there's ways to do it and that's what I try to help people find, like what works best for you, because it's not the same as everyone.

Capn Tinsley: 26:37

Okay, let's see For sailors dreaming of starting a charter business, because we got to tie this into uh. What specific skills from your school could prepare them to succeed with clients, crew and operations?

Hugo Ortega: 26:55

I think. I think, uh, like I mentioned in um in the course, I kind of like to give a a holistic or like a full explanation of the yachting industry, because you know whether you want to be, if you want to be crew, it's still good to know who your management company is and why they exist and how the recruiter makes money, and you know how you fit into the puzzle. You know what. What does the charter broker expect of the boat? What are the implications of that? When we have a charter, what's going to happen? What's the normal tip? So I kind of go into a lot of all that stuff.

Hugo Ortega: 27:28

But one of the biggest things about my course and it's not just a course, it's not even just coaching with me, it's a community. So you've got a bunch of other crew in there. So it's really cool because everyone in there is they're already invested in their career, right. So you've got like this group of people that do care and do want to know more and are hungry for knowledge. So that's like the best place to continue getting more information and working with. And I can't tell you, you know, when you are dealing with other people that are kind of at your level, you just or even more, you kind of like just get a lot smarter really fast. So even for me you know being a captain and being connected to people ahead of me it lets me kind of download that information faster. All being said, you know the concepts of charters, how they work, sample contracts, all that stuff I cover and we talk about, and again you have this mastermind of people that are also going through that that can teach you more.

Capn Tinsley: 28:23

Okay For sailors looking to cruise the world. What lessons from your school transfer directly to passes making and managing their own boats? Because you mentioned in your email to me I thought it was interesting from episode 36 of Salty Podcast you said while Shane and Amy shared their cruising adventures in episode 36, I would offer a yacht captain's insider perspective from someone who guided white boats through these waters professionally for years. Can you tell me more about that? That was interesting, sure sure.

Hugo Ortega: 28:58

So I figured we could talk, you know, a little bit more about sailing the Caribbean or going through a lot of these places, but probably from a different vantage point, like as a sailboat, and going to some of those marinas, let's say, and even cruising the Bahamas versus what yachts typically do, and going down to the Exuma chain. Everything from logistics how we actually run these things and how we do, I'm willing and also the marinas that we go to. Everything's a little bit different. So I figured we could talk a little bit about your caribbean experience or just kind of go back and forth about that, because, um, yeah, the thing that's cool about yachts is just they're not only are we like a big enterprise, but we actually really affect whatever local infrastructure that we plug into. Like there's so many businesses that revolve around yachts, right from the floristry to the people that bring us the food to when we buy fish.

Capn Tinsley: 29:51

Like everything is on just such a big scale. It's interesting. Yeah, so in St Martin you could even create your own carnival for your boat. That was amazing. I was like, oh, this isn't going to be good. And then, all of a sudden, the fire breathers and the walking on the stilts and the band. The band was awesome.

Hugo Ortega: 30:11

The band was really good. Yeah, I think that that's. That's one of the funny and cool things about yachting is, you know, there really is no request that's too large. And I mean, if we've I've I've been in the Bahamas and you know we're we've got a certain type of of meat or or food item that the boss really wants, and I mean we fly things in sometimes that's the scale of how it is. You know, I've flown in a $25,000 meat order from South Florida into certain ports because that's just what they wanted or that's what we needed, or we were out of certain things. So it's just an interesting lifestyle.

Hugo Ortega: 30:48

Like you know, whatever your opinion on it is, it's still just logistically it's a lot of hocus pocus to make the magic happen. I remember even when we were in Canawan, which is a small island in St Vincent and the Grenadines same thing it was COVID and we couldn't leave and I can't remember why. We really were kind of stuck on that island and up to a certain point we were just. We were literally flying in supplies, we were flying in water equipment, water toys, whatever, because we still had guests aboard, but we really were completely cut off from the outside world. So it was just literally flying in private planes that had the stuff that we needed, and it's just to make, to make that happen. It's, it's a really. There's a lot of hands and a lot of feet moving on the ground to do that.

Capn Tinsley: 31:31

That's good. So the, the communities there are can make. I've I mean, I've watched the show over the years and every kind of you know, request was made and and they made it happen. Things were being flown in lots of money spent. They made it happen. Things were being flown in lots of money spent.

Hugo Ortega: 31:49

Yeah, if you want to feel poor work on a yacht, it's a really humbling experience.

Capn Tinsley: 31:54

Can you give us an idea on how much it costs for three days on that yacht?

Hugo Ortega: 32:01

Yeah, sure thing For say four people Say four people.

Hugo Ortega: 32:08

So if you're going to rent a charter yacht that's about that size, like that saint david, you're looking at, let's say, it's about 200 000 for the week, and that's before we talk about fuel and all the other um, what do we call them? All the like additional expenses that I get accrued. So if you're looking at a daily rate, what you're looking at uh, what man. You know what they say when you're looking at being someone's looking at you, you're worse at math, so, so, you're looking at what like um I'll figure whatever.

Capn Tinsley: 32:34

What do you want me to figure?

Hugo Ortega: 32:36

well, let's say three days of that. So you're going to divide by seven months by three. But anyway, you're looking at probably about 70 000, right, if you're looking at three days per day.

Capn Tinsley: 32:44

Now, does that include food? No, so I was saying for like for like three nights you're looking at three days a day.

Hugo Ortega: 32:46

Now, does that include food? No, so I was saying for like three nights. You're looking at probably like 70, 80 thousand, depends on. The boat is older or newer, but on the show you can take it per day. But in real life and real yachting you typically wouldn't like that. That boat would never charter per day, it would be per week. So you'd look at seven, 10, 14, 28 days. That's kind of how we would roll. And that's again before fuel, before dockage, before food, before anything like that, like any incidentals. That's just to have the shell of the boat sitting there without spending any fuel, without doing anything else.

Capn Tinsley: 33:22

That's amazing. So what? If so? Joyce from from Instagram says love below deck, love all these videos, thanks, joyce. So so the? So what? What do you think the total would be? I guess, well, it depends on the person's taste if they just want hamburgers and fries or if they want lobster, and so it's all based on what they what on what? The preference?

Hugo Ortega: 33:45

sheets say. So it's all based on what the preference sheets say, correct. But most people I've never been on a charter where we didn't pull out all the stops on food. Even if people have particular tastes like, oh I don't like shellfish, that's fine, we're going to still get the highest cuts of all the other meat and we're going to have the best fish and we're going to have, you know, everything's going to be to yachting level. So even if you, so even if the preference sheet says cut corners here or whatever, we're still going to spend a lot on food. So let's say, if you're spending $200,000, and let's say the bill depends on how much you cruise, honestly, but I'd say you're looking at, I would be expecting that bill to be closer to $300,000 than $200,000 by the time you're signing it.

Capn Tinsley: 34:28

That is crazy money.

Hugo Ortega: 34:30

Yeah. Hugo, that is and that's and that's that boat. I mean I've had friends that work on, you know like not. What do I want to say? In American, 300 foot or more, like you could be looking at several million per week. You could be looking at 1.5, two, two and a half, 3 million per week on the right, on those type of yachts and as far as the crew goes, do they make anything other than let's say we're not talking about below deck?

Capn Tinsley: 34:57

let's just say it's not below deck and then we'll talk about below deck if we can, just on a yacht like that that's not being shown on TV. Do they make any kind of salary or hourly?

Hugo Ortega: 35:12

On yachts, yeah for sure, we're not slave labor, we're getting paid. So don't worry, we get base salaries. And then on top of that we get the tips. So any kind of yacht, let's say entry level, for like deck cannons too we try to shoot for it's anywhere from like 3,000 to 4,500. That's what I'm seeing. A lot of new crew. It depends on where you are in the world, what size yacht, but that's kind of like entry level and it just goes up from there.

Hugo Ortega: 35:36

But that's they're making that every, every month, whether it boats use, whether it's sitting on the dock, whether it's moving, you, you, you. It's just that's how it is. That's like the, the base salary. And then you know there's so many factors that go into that, after licenses, career and then right negotiation skills. But people start going up from there. And then when you throw in charter, I mean people are doubling or tripling, tripling their salary. Um, with the tips, cause you can be making 3000, I've made 5,000, I've seen 10,000 on a certain charter per week, per person, yeah, per person. And if you're talking over the summer, that you have, let's say, two charters per month, that deckhander, that stew, is coining some good money. And well, that's why I'm here and that's why so many people are here.

Capn Tinsley: 36:20

Right, and so what about the engineer and all those guys that we don't see very often on the show? Do those guys get any of the tip?

Hugo Ortega: 36:28

Yeah. So basically, on a boat, everyone who's working should be getting the tip and it should be even For the industry. That's pretty standard, like even if you're the captain versus the deckhand. It's not that we're going to say, oh, I'm making 10 or 12 and he's making three, like no, it's split down the middle.

Capn Tinsley: 36:46

So the captain gets that too, yeah, Nice.

Hugo Ortega: 36:49

Yeah, you could make an argument that hey, well, the people on the ground are working harder. But I think it's just easiest to not pick and choose. And we're a crew, we're one team, one family, and we just cut it and split it evenly and you know, everyone's got their reason to be here. No too big or too small, Everyone's pretty integral, right? The guy who's driving, woman or man who's driving it in, is just as valuable as the person who's cleaning up after everyone eats.

Capn Tinsley: 37:15

Like without anyone, the whole thing collapses 100%. I think the captain deserves it. I mean all the work he's put in to get that job and the fish stinks at the head. If it's a good experience or a bad experience, it all goes on the captain, so I definitely think he deserves it. So when people are figuring a tip, is there some suggestion made to the clients?

Hugo Ortega: 37:38

It's like percentage-wise or something. This is a really interesting question. It's a really delicate topic in the yachting industry and I'll give it from a crew perspective and then I'll give it. Don't be cheap, you know it.

Hugo Ortega: 37:55

I think this tip standards follow really like american custom, like I think everyone's saying basically, okay, if someone tips 10, then it was like completely okay, kind of in the bad side. If it's 15, it's like okay on the good side. 18, you think it was pretty good. 20, wow, that must have been, you know, pretty the good side. 18%, you think it was pretty good. 20%, wow, that must have been pretty damn good. And then whenever I see more than that same as if in a restaurant, you're like, wow, that must have been out of this world. I would never shoot for that one and don't even assume the 20.

Hugo Ortega: 38:20

I think if you try to go in and look at it, it's going to be 10 or 15, then you're either delighted or you're like, okay, we're right on the money. And if you're looking at it from the broker's perspective, when they're trying to sell as many charters as possible, I mean they'll tell you tip is optional, throw 5% in there if you want, because they want you to just book another charter. But that's why the dance is always in the middle. The crew wants 20, the broker wants zero. So 10 to 15 is a good place to meet in the middle.

Capn Tinsley: 38:47

Well, what does it matter to them? If the guy tips 20% Doesn't hurt him, right.

Hugo Ortega: 38:55

I guess they just think that then you'll have more money to book another charter, I guess, because if the charter was only I don't know 200 grand versus 240, I don't know. It kind of doesn't make sense when you think about it logically. But they're just trying. They know that people want the lowest price and you know they're competing with other brokers that are cutting here or getting deals there. So you know, the sales game is always different. The crew, the crew is always the last one at the end of the stick and they're always going to want. You know, crap rolls downhill. Well, peyton, just showed up.

Capn Tinsley: 39:27

Oh great she doesn't have her camera on, but so we're getting close to those questions. But let's see, let's see what else we got here First sailors looking to cruise the world. Which lessons from your school could transfer directly to that. I might've already said that, Did I already?

Hugo Ortega: 39:47

ask that one. You did, but we didn't talk about it so much. But you know we, we do prep for you know a lot of the exams and a lot of the certifications that later lead to captain licenses. And again, like we I was telling you before that something is. You know, I started out doing this more so to get people into yachting and now, as we have people that are progressing in their careers, like the content is also maturing with them and with the audience that we've got. So that's what I'm busy doing now and putting in now, like we have a we, we kind of we roll on like the.

Hugo Ortega: 40:16

The British licenses are internationally. That yachting kind of follows the UK more so than you know the U S coast guard licenses. So there's certain courses, like the Yachtmaster or some of the RYA courses where you know we do talk about, you know navigational skills or meteorology or just general ships knowledge, like all those things do transfer over. Like, even if I'm applying it to a yacht, a hand-bearing compass and doing a dead reckoning is going to be, I'm going to use that a lot less than you, of course, because I've got all this fancy equipment, but we're both learning the same skillet because, at the end of the day, you know, sailing is sailing or, in my case, motoring. But you know what I mean.

Capn Tinsley: 40:55

Yeah, so we have to, we have to learn all that, and and uh well, I took ASA 101, 103 and 104, and we covered it there. You know chart plotting. And then of course for the captain's license. There was a serious section on that. Thankfully I made 100 on that section Nice.

Hugo Ortega: 41:14

That's perfect.

Capn Tinsley: 41:18

I was a nervous wreck, so I'm going to show your website here real quick so people can come to this website.

Hugo Ortega: 41:31

It's Super Sunday School, super Yacht, super Yacht. Yeah, sorry about that. This website, it's super sunday school, super yacht. Yeah, sorry about that. No, it's okay, it just sounds like a church service without the yacht um, so that is an interesting name.

Capn Tinsley: 41:38

So there are courses on here.

Hugo Ortega: 41:40

Tell me where to go so you're already on it, so that super yacht sunday school. That's the home page. Um, like I was mentioning before, the big thing about it is this is all about I want to learn.

Capn Tinsley: 41:50

Not want to learn.

Hugo Ortega: 41:50

I want to teach and educate the next generation of yachties, so really, we have so many resources on there that are free, including in the other page. It was like a masterclass.

Capn Tinsley: 41:59

Hey, I'm Hugo from Superyacht Sunday School. How to work on a yacht.

Hugo Ortega: 42:02

I'm walking you through how you can become world traveling super yacht crew without any boating experience.

Capn Tinsley: 42:08

I didn't have any, and so many other yachties don't either on top of that, yawning is one of the most underrated careers that you're just thinking about. No one knows exists, and I'm gonna be walking you through step by step.

Hugo Ortega: 42:17

It's really good about helping you kind of self identify, because you know there's a lot of commitments that get into this type of lifestyle, and that's the free training that we have, like Like I walk you through like what you can expect, what the salaries are going to be, why it's so great, and and I think that's a really good place for people to get their feet wet and just see like, am I really cut out for this or do I really want to do it Because it is an absolutely amazing career and experience. But it's also not for the faint of heart, right. And if you're not, if it's, I have a good friend that says if you're not, a hell yes, then it's a hell no, so it's. If anyone is curious or even thinking like, could I do that, I recommend uh, check out the free training and that master class is gonna walk you through what you need to do to find a job all right.

Capn Tinsley: 43:01

So if anybody's thinking about this, let me put up your email, because it also has the website in it and the domain Perfect Hugo Ortega at SuperYachtSundaySchoolcom. So if you're thinking about it and maybe you're thinking about sailing around the world, but you're like I don't have any experience doing any of that this would be a great place to start, wouldn't you say?

Hugo Ortega: 43:24

I'd say so my first Atlantic. Well, all my Atlantic crossings have been on a yacht, but I mean, I went from having never really stepped foot above anything more than a ferry. And you know, now I'm captaining yachts and that doesn't mean you have to be a captain, but I think it's a good way to see the sea and also to make money. Back when I started, I just wanted to travel and earn money, and this was a lot more money than teaching English in China and it was a lot more easy to do than getting certified to do something across the world, you know. So it's a really quick and easy way to get to see a lot of cool places and places that you not only are they cool, but you might never have been there because they're so expensive. You know, Monaco for the Grand Prix that was my first season Saint-Tropez, Cannes during the film festival All these really cool experiences to see, not just by water but by yacht.

Capn Tinsley: 44:10

Yeah, you mentioned in that episode you were talking to somebody and everybody went whoa. You just dropped some wisdom on the table, like where have you been, where'd this guy come from? You were talking about how you learned to be around so many different types of people from so many different areas.

Hugo Ortega: 44:28

Yeah, yeah, uh, what was? It was also a quote that, uh, one of my first chief officers told me he was just saying that you know we, we get paid good money in yachting and as we were just talking about. But you know it's, you know we, the reason we do isn't just because the charters are hard, it's because you know life at. The reason we do isn't just because the charters are hard, it's because you know life at sea, which you know isn't always the easiest, is moments of loneliness. You miss holidays or you miss other special events and their payoff is great. But you just have to know that it comes at a cost and the cost is worth it, or else we wouldn't be here, but that's.

Hugo Ortega: 45:02

You know what it takes to be a professional. That's what it takes to be great in this industry is to realize all that. And you know we are from different backgrounds. You're from South Africa, you're English, I'm American or, oh, I also speak Spanish as my mother tongue. So all these reasons that we shouldn't really like make sense and make it work. But if we can, kind of some really great things that are outside most people's skill set or even most people's like desire, and I think that's the beautiful part about this industry that you see cool places, you change as a person and you also meet so many people, and it's not just the impression that people leave on you, but even the impressions you leave on them. As we all kind of you know, help enrich each other's lives.

Capn Tinsley: 45:42

So the people that are are in yachting when they maybe they age out or they get burned out, whatever. Where do you think they normally? What's the next step for a lot of these people? Like, maybe they don't become a captain on a super yacht? What like eddie? Remember eddie from season one, two and three or whatever, correct. He was running about a tugboat somewhere.

Hugo Ortega: 46:06

So he had his well, the US Coast Guard license that he has I'm not sure if he has his 100 ton or what he had, but it also covers the tugboat, so he's doing that. So that's kind of the obvious thing. A captain can phase into other types of captains. I know captains that now drive ferries or tow boats or whatever. But let's say, if you want to make a life on land, there's the easy answer. First you could stay in the yachting community and become a recruiter, a broker, a manager, a service provider.

Hugo Ortega: 46:36

There's so many engineers that go man. I thought I was making it when I was the chief engineer. Now I'm on land sending that invoice back to the yacht, and now I'm making more money than I ever did because I'm on land sending that invoice back to the yacht. And now I'm making more money than I ever did because I'm running my own business or freelance business, just fixing the same problems for more. So that's a route for engineers. But I mean, the cool thing about yachting is that some people also just save so much money that they're able to kind of go chase what their original dream was. Oh yeah.

Hugo Ortega: 47:01

I just saw on Forbes they published an article. I just saw on Forbes they published an article. It was a super yacht captain and chief stewardess that quit yachting and they opened up this luxury boutique hotel. I'm not sure if it was. It was somewhere out west, I don't know if it was California, but something like that and that story is really common. Like I have a lot of friends that now have an Airbnb business or properties that they want.

Hugo Ortega: 47:21

That's because it's hospitality, that makes sense and you know other people start businesses. You know I started this where I'm still in yachting, but there's a lot of other businesses. It takes a special person to get into yachting and that mentality will kind of keep working with you, like you can kind of keep doing other things. Or you a lot of people buy property. Like I said, it's a few things, but hospitality or working in hotels, that's also something a lot of chief stews get into it. There's really the sky's the limit. I've seen event planning, everything.

Capn Tinsley: 47:49

Yeah and so on. Below Deck. It's a six week gig, right, do a lot of them. Just they leave there and they go get on another boat somewhere.

Hugo Ortega: 48:01

It's a mix. Like I left Below Deck and I came back to work on Superyacht Sunday School and it probably was about six months until I started working on a yacht again. Some people hop off and go directly to working on yachts. I mean, I think some people even already have their job and that was like their vacation time, like I've kind of seen a little bit of everything. And then some people go off and you know they take a break because it is a. It takes a lot of energy to do that experience and that's the good thing about yachting too you can take a break between working. No one's asking. Blocks of time that are missing in your resume is pretty common in yachting.

Capn Tinsley: 48:37

So is there a lot of jobs available in this.

Hugo Ortega: 48:40

I'd say the estimates show that there's probably about 100,000 crew in the super yacht sector, so that would be yachts that are over 80 foot or 78 foot, I think is the cutoff, and up, and the thing is that the number of yachts is just growing, like again. Whatever you think about the industry, like it is growing. There is a more discrepancy in wealth than ever and there's more and more of a need for crew as these yachts are getting bigger and bigger.

Capn Tinsley: 49:06

There's a lot of people's. Industries are getting phased out, you know, for reasons of AI or whatever technology, but this is an industry that's OK, right, it's growing yeah.

Hugo Ortega: 49:20

I would say for the foreseeable future, because we are such a luxury and boutique thing like yes, I mean, I think maybe one day Elon Musk or his grandkid creates a robot that's just as nice to serve you and, you know, there's no need for a stewardess or a steward.

Capn Tinsley: 49:36

And you can't put that slide out. Come on, you can't put the slide up.

Hugo Ortega: 49:40

Yeah, true, but for the most part, I think this is an industry that's going to need the human touch especially at this price point Wow.

Capn Tinsley: 49:48

So anybody that's looking for a job, this might be for you and I like what you said. You don't have to spend a million dollars, like some people some other places might ask. So Hayden of SV Island Spirit says do you have a favorite destination, favorite island harbor?

Hugo Ortega: 50:05

So my answer is going to be a little bit unorthodox. Even though I work on a yacht, my favorite place that we've been to on the yacht was Norway. My first summer or no sorry, my second summer aboard. We went to Norway. It was a 90-meter yacht, a 300-foot boat. So we crossed the Atlantic, we went up the English Channel, we came out. We went up the English Channel, we came out, we went to Norway. Man, that was unbelievable. Like that was a such a beautiful place.

Capn Tinsley: 50:32

And it's so different.

Hugo Ortega: 50:34

We went in the summer. Yeah, of course, Like if you go in the winter it's a tough luck there but we went to Norway, Denmark and Sweden. That was that summer and it was.

Capn Tinsley: 50:43

You were in the North Sea right.

Hugo Ortega: 50:45

Yeah, yeah, how was that? It was beautiful, I mean the water was cold.

Capn Tinsley: 50:52

It was a lot colder than you would expect, but I say it's really rough.

Hugo Ortega: 50:54

Well, if you pick the right time to go like you're obviously watching the weather we stopped in the UK for a couple of days before crossing as well you can find a good window, but you just have to be mindful because, yeah, the seas are more violent.

Hugo Ortega: 51:05

You can find a good window, but you just have to be mindful because, yeah, the seas are more violent. But I mean, you think, waking up and you know, coming on deck, as you know, in the morning when the sun's coming out, like it's one of the most beautiful things. But I think for me, like seeing that on a fjord and just seeing that picturesque you can see the mountains still have snow at the top, like it it's just something so special. I've never seen something like it and I think you know we sometimes get spoiled. Not that all islands look the same or all beaches look the same, I know they don't. There's pink sand beach, there's really nice white sand beaches, but that was so different that it just really stuck out to me okay, so, hayden, you're gonna have to go to norway.

Capn Tinsley: 51:44

He always he keeps his boat in the Caribbean and he goes and sails for six months out of the year.

Hugo Ortega: 51:50

Oh fair, yeah, I mean, even if you don't bring your boat, if you can go and do some boating in Norway, especially in that northwest part. It's incredible, it's bar none.

Capn Tinsley: 51:59

Okay, should we bring Peyton out now?

Hugo Ortega: 52:02

I didn't know she was going to be out. I thought she was just listening to see that we don't. We have all we talk about below deck.

Capn Tinsley: 52:08

So what happens if you say something wrong I think it's she'll send you a text or something. I'll just I'll get canceled, then I just won't show up the next episode, oh no, okay, let's see if there's any more that I wanted to talk about the school. Um, your school isn't just about getting a job. You also talk about building purpose. How do you help students find fulfillment beyond just paychecks? I bet you got a good answer for that.

Hugo Ortega: 52:37

Well, it's actually funny because I was talking about this earlier today Like money is a great motivation for a lot of things, but you know only so far. Like if money's the only reason you're doing something, eventually you're not going to be able to brute force it anymore. When the hard times come, you're just going to go screw this, I'm out. I like to say that for yachting it's about, there's three different reasons that most people get into yachting it's money, or it's the travel, or it's the freedom. Hopefully it's a combination of everything.

Hugo Ortega: 53:10

In a perfect world, the money is the smallest one. So even people like myself that didn't ever see themselves as mariners or expecting to really make a career at sea, the travel was so strong, that desire to see the world, to meet different people, that that's what really pulled me. And then the freedom from getting out of my nine to five and no two days being the same right, that was all that fuel that I was like, wow, I'm in love. So I mean I try to, especially at the beginning, kind of help figure out what is your driver and make sure that we're stimulating that and seeing how we get that working.

Hugo Ortega: 53:36

Like some people, they want to travel and see the world. So I would recommend certain type of yachts and programs that are going to have world cruising itineraries or start in a port that's more likely to have those type of boats. Some people just want to be on a boat, but they want to make money and have a stable life. So some of those people might just sit in Florida, go occasionally to the Bahamas on a smaller yacht and their life is more predictable, they have more time on land, they've got a partner, et cetera. So I just try to cater everyone's journey to what they're looking for and again, it can always change, like you don't have to be the same person you were yesterday. But that kind of personal touch is what I try to do, because at the end, like you said, it's not just about money and and you need to have something else that's driving you.

Capn Tinsley: 54:19

Do any of the yachties not have a place back wherever and they just move from boat to boat Like they don't even have an apartment or a house or anything? Are there?

Hugo Ortega: 54:29

yeah, I mean that's. That's very common, especially at the beginning, right when you're starting out, it's um, it's pretty soon that you just got rid of everything. And then, once people get into yachting and start saving money, that's when you start.

Capn Tinsley: 54:41

A lot of people will buy an investment property or a vacation home or really stack up some money by not having some place rented or anything, or no car or anything. I mean you could really save some money, right.

Hugo Ortega: 54:55

Yeah, yeah, you can. I mean. That's why, you know, when I was working as an engineer and I was making a hundred grand a year still, I felt like I had less money than when I started doing yachting my first season and I was only getting 3000 per month plus the tips. Because, you know, when I was working on land I had the apartment, the car, a girlfriend bills, everything like a girlfriend, yeah it wasn't cheap.

Hugo Ortega: 55:20

Like you know, life comes with a lot of commitments and when you're at sea it's nice. I mean you go through a period where all you pay is a cell phone bill, like I'll sign me up.

Capn Tinsley: 55:29

Sure yeah, if you're in your 20s or 30s, what an opportunity.

Hugo Ortega: 55:36

And even your 40s for some. It's never too late to restart.

Capn Tinsley: 55:39

So let's go back to Danielle's question. Now that Peyton's here and Peyton is the representative from Bravo, she's backstage. She doesn't have her camera on, so I'm assuming she doesn't want to come on but shout out to Peyton. Let's go back to this question. Should you have been the one to tell Captain Kerry about Scottish and the guest? Do you now think he crossed the line, the guest? And do you know? Do you now?

Hugo Ortega: 56:05

think he crossed the line, so the reason I didn't I? The answer to this question is yes, a hundred percent yes, right, if, if I am, if I find out that he did something like that or that he's saying something like that, that's it. It falls on me, as the leader of the department, to to deal with that. The problem that happened was the first strike. I wasn't at the beach so I never really saw what was going on.

Capn Tinsley: 56:28

In the water.

Hugo Ortega: 56:29

In the water, right. So for anyone that doesn't have the context, one of the deckhands got extra comfortable with one of the guests in the water Anyway, I wasn't there, I didn't see it. He was sent in a second time by the leader that was there the chief stew. So obviously someone thought that was okay at the time. Anyway, it comes back to me later.

Hugo Ortega: 56:47

We're all drinking, we get in the car, quite. I'm quite drunk at the time and he mentions this and at the time I think it's a joke, right, because he just mentioned this. Surely he couldn't be this stupid, surely this can't be real, right. Later on in the jacuzzi, he brings it up and I'm already in bed, so I don't know that. He's told the whole crew this, which at that point would have made me feel like, oh shit, this is actually a real thing.

Hugo Ortega: 57:16

And because he had done such crazy antics at dinner, you know, I really forgot about that conversation. Again, the alcohol doesn't help. I'd forgotten that. He mentioned that in the car because he proceeded to sleep with someone, like on the beach and in a hotel Sorry, in a bathroom that night, yeah, and like there was so much other chaos that then later that day, when Kerry calls me. That's when I was like oh shit, like I completely had put this aside, because then the next morning, you know, we do the meeting, we start cleaning and whatever, and again he mentions it to a couple other people in situations when I wasn't there. So anyway, long story short, you know, fault of mine, I should have clocked it, maybe wrote it down or whatever, but I forgot about it until the next day. But of course there was instant regret there. I was like, oh shit, yeah, this, this is my place. And I was actually. I felt quite bad about it.

Capn Tinsley: 58:01

And you? You didn't have the luxury of seeing what the camera saw until later.

Hugo Ortega: 58:06

Yeah, exactly Hindsight's 20-20, especially when there's a TV show.

Capn Tinsley: 58:10

Do they ever come and say hey, behind the scenes, you need to know. Do any of the camera? People talk?

Hugo Ortega: 58:18

No, no, we're left to our own devices. Whatever you see us doing is because we're actually that crazy and have no knowledge of what's going on.

Capn Tinsley: 58:28

So those, those camera people, they're not feeding you information about what somebody else is doing.

Hugo Ortega: 58:35

No, it's a neutral party. There's no, there's no back and forth.

Capn Tinsley: 58:41

I can see how somebody I mean if somebody got a little they might want to share some information, some of the camera crew they might have to sign some NDAs or something. Okay, let's do a little rapid fire, and this is about the show Reality versus real life. Let's go Coffee or energy drinks before a long, long charter I'm a coffee guy okay super favorite, super yacht, gadget or toy oh, interesting, oh, I like.

Hugo Ortega: 59:17

Well, it's not really a gadget like for the, I'm thinking for the yacht. There's something called dynamic positioning, where the yacht can literally keep itself in place, you know, using the thrusters and engine without moving. I think that's really cool in terms of like a gadget for the actual boat do they all have that?

Hugo Ortega: 59:32

no, no, it's really big yachts will have that, you know. I think probably when you're above the 300 foot range, you can count on it. I haven't had it on anything smaller than that. But you know newer stuff. I don't know what's going on. And in terms of gadget for the crew, I think, um, I was always really big when I was a deckhand on like a leatherman, because it had, you know, it's like a swiss army knife. You have a screwdriver, you have a knife, you have everything, and I think that's really handy to have on deck okay, most jaw-dropping destination you ever dropped an anchor.

Capn Tinsley: 1:00:00

You already answered that one. Um what's more stressful? Docking in tight quarters or dealing with a VIP guest?

Hugo Ortega: 1:00:08

Ooh, that's a good question. I, I guess, depends on the size of the boat. I think you know, docking on a really big boat like St David it is difficult for sure, but I've had some guests that are really difficult to manage. So I'll say the boat, but there's guests that can be worse yeah, okay.

Capn Tinsley: 1:00:27

What's the most crazy request from a guest that made you almost say this isn't worth it?

Hugo Ortega: 1:00:36

oh, that's so hard because we're always taught that there's no, no demand too big. But I'll probably. Oh, yes, I know one. Okay, I was, I working.

Hugo Ortega: 1:00:45

So that summer that I was working in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, on that yacht. We were in Denmark, the boss was really big on cycling and we were waiting. You know, wherever we went, we had a caravan, we had multiple cyclists, we had a car that had all the supplies and backup stuff in case one of the bikes went down. Anyway, I was always managing that the car's not there and he's getting really, really antsy. He's like we got to go. We got to go and I was like sir, you know, I'm standing there with all the kit.

Hugo Ortega: 1:01:10

I was like I can't go, we need the car. And he's like, hey, that car over there, I want it. And I look and it's at a red light. There's just a minivan with a family in there. And for a second I was like is he asking me to go buy that car or steal it or what's going on? But I was like no, boss, I can't go take that car, there's people in it. And luckily the other car pulls up pretty much at the same time while we're talking. But it was just such an I didn't even have time to follow up. I'm pretty sure he was like no, make sure that car gets taken somehow.

Hugo Ortega: 1:01:43

He wanted you to buy it. Pretty much sure that car gets. He wanted you to somehow.

Capn Tinsley: 1:01:52

He wanted you to buy it pretty much. He's saying I want that car, like go go sort that out, and I was like man, he's pretty out of touch, like I can't just do that, oh my goodness.

Hugo Ortega: 1:01:58

Yeah, you're dealing with people who never get said no to you're.

Capn Tinsley: 1:01:59

Yeah, you're dealing with crazy, crazy money. That's got to be hard. Okay, cause just there's that that kind of stuff probably happens a lot right.

Hugo Ortega: 1:02:10

Yeah, yeah, I mean when you don't ever get told no, and when you have enough money, what they say, f you money right, where you can just kind of make any situation go away. I mean I've had, um, one of the bosses I was working for, to the yacht owner he, he, he didn't like how the neighbor's dock looked because it was kind of disheveled, and he told us, hey, get a contractor go figure out, fix that dock. Like, tell them we're fixing it, because I don't want to look at it that it's so broken and messed up every time I'm on my boat. So yeah, sometimes the requests are pretty strange and they're not even on the boat anymore.

Hugo Ortega: 1:02:44

So this was at a marina somewhere no, it was at his private residence, so he kind of lived at like a headland, which again he I won't say where it is, but he technically was living on land that was like national park too, like I think he paid, he had I don't know who, he bribed or whatever, but he was not on land that he was supposed to be able to live lacing some public land, so he he was not on land that he was supposed to be able to live on, he was leasing some public land.

Hugo Ortega: 1:03:07

So he was living there and anyway, you could see across the bay. Not even it wasn't a giant bay, but you could see, yeah, the next person's house. Yeah, their dock was all messed up Maybe a storm hit it, I don't remember but he paid to have that fixed so he no longer had to look at such an unsightly.

Capn Tinsley: 1:03:22

I would do something like that if I had crazy money. Why not? So how do you manage? You've got currently on this. You've got two love triangles going on there. I've never seen a season so crazy with that kind of stuff. And you came into it and you were probably like what's going on? This is crazy. What did you think of all that? You looked very calm.

Hugo Ortega: 1:03:53

Yeah, I think I try to stay calm in most situations. It takes a lot to rile me up. But when I got there I did get a feeling of like what's in the water here? Like if I would have been here a little bit before, would I have fallen in love with someone too? Like there's some pheromones or something going on. So a little bit of you know, fomo there. I was like, oh, fear of missing out. I don't know what's going on, but I mean I'm very happy to be at arm's distance. But I think the biggest thing for me, the biggest challenge, is just trying to limit how much that gets into the job and trying to give the right advice. And even in the latest episode I was reminding Jess, hey, you're in a leadership position, you can't really mix with the same person. So I'm trying it's like corralling your kids into the corner and trying to make them understand.

Capn Tinsley: 1:04:34

So if somebody said all that stuff's off limits, you'd have trouble getting people.

Hugo Ortega: 1:04:39

Do you?

Capn Tinsley: 1:04:40

mean like dating people or sleeping with people.

Hugo Ortega: 1:04:45

I've seen yachts try to have policies regarding like, oh you know, don't screw the crew or no couples. But look at the end of the day, especially when we're in close quarters for so long, things happen and I think there's there's times when it crosses to be a fireable offense. But for the most part you got to let people be people, because I've seen yachts where there's curfews. I've seen yachts where you can't do this or you can't do that, and it gets to the point that I don't want to feel like an indentured servant either. I just want everyone to be an adult and realize, hey, if you're going to screw around, this is what happens. Maybe take a six month period in between, but it is what it is.

Capn Tinsley: 1:05:21

Guys, if you're watching, I want you to ask your questions that you've always wanted to ask about Below Deck. So now is the time. Someone says Baltimore. I'm not sure what that means, but is this person in Baltimore that you were talking about?

Hugo Ortega: 1:05:39

It wasn't in Baltimore, but, like I said, I'm not going to give any more clues.

Capn Tinsley: 1:05:43

He's getting close, isn't he All right? Well, let's see Anybody else got any questions. I'm going to try to think of one. Oh, let's see there's a private chat. Let's see, no need for me to come on, I'm listening. Okay, that's Peyton right there. We're trying not to break any rules here we're not going to talk about. Oh, marion wants to know, can you get any privacy? That? Must be hard to get used to.

Hugo Ortega: 1:06:12

Yeah, I think working on boats or on yachts you're short on space, so that usually translates into being short on privacy. I can tell you that when you work on really big yachts, you can finally get some privacy and the heads of department will have their own cabins and it feels less like you're on top of each other. But I think that's just part of the game. You do have less privacy Even if you are trying to go do a solo mission and everyone's like, oh, where are you going?

Hugo Ortega: 1:06:44

Can I come? Can I do this? Do you trying to go do a solo mission and everyone's like, oh, where are you going? Can I come? Can I do this? Do you want to go to drinks? You want to do that. So it is a a social environment and it probably. If you're completely a hermit, it's not the thing for you, but there's ways to get some privacy. Or you know, oh, you're going to get away from the boat. We just go to a hotel or something and just just plug into land for a bit. I think it's good for the psyche and then holiday as well.

Capn Tinsley: 1:07:18

OK, so on a like on the other yachts you've worked on, is it? Have you worked on where you're like?

Hugo Ortega: 1:07:21

there's like two or three people I have. So my first captain position was on a 90 foot or I think that's 27 meter um sport yacht, so that one was just three crew me, uh, myself, which was my uh sorry me my partner and a deckhand. So me and her we had one cabin together and then he had his own and we kind of structured it so it was on the opposite ends of the boat so you could feel like you had a wing to yourself. We were in the guest cabin. But sometimes on those kind of boats if you're really busy and you're always chartering, then that's going to be full with guests, so then you will feel like you have even less privacy so if you were the captain, uh, your girlfriend was the the stew the stew, and then you had one deckhand yeah.

Capn Tinsley: 1:08:02

You like that better when it's just the three of you.

Hugo Ortega: 1:08:05

No, to be honest, I've always been my first boaster. She called me a big boat wanker. I like big boats and I like having a lot of people, but I think this size that I'm on right now I've got five crew and that's probably the smallest for comfort. If you've got a good crew, five is nice, I would rather seven and I like you know, big two. I like 15 people. I like 30 people. It just depends what I'm in the mood for.

Capn Tinsley: 1:08:31

Below deck in one word entertainment or education.

Hugo Ortega: 1:08:36

Ooh, edutainment. Right, it's a little bit of both. Sometimes it's entertainment, sometimes it's educating, sometimes it's based on the truth, sometimes it makes its own truth. It's this cool in between.

Capn Tinsley: 1:08:47

Well, what was it like the first time you came on? You've worked on all these boats. You come on and there's cameras everywhere. What's up?

Hugo Ortega: 1:08:57

It's interesting, it's a little bit scary at first and then you'd be surprised how quickly you kind of forget that they're there. You never truly forget. But I think the benefit for me is I'm doing a job at the end of the day, so I have, and then you would be surprised how quickly you kind of forget that they're there. You never truly forget. But I think the benefit for me is I'm doing a job at the end of the day, so I have something to get my mind off of the situation. Once the boat starts moving, once the lines get pulled, I'm kind of in that mode and in that mindset again and it's easy for me to disconnect from whatever is going around and just really get in that one task, whereas maybe I wouldn't have been as calm and collected if I was on love Island and you know cameras watch me just do my business.

Capn Tinsley: 1:09:33

Yeah, I haven't. I haven't caught that one yet.

Hugo Ortega: 1:09:36

I've just seen some videos.

Capn Tinsley: 1:09:37

It's probably for the best, Okay. So I did notice that when you, when you came on, you were just kind of observing. You didn't jump into the chaos. They tried to draw you in.

Hugo Ortega: 1:09:48

Yeah, yeah, they did. Oh, also, I was just going to follow up that. I had that commitment that's going to run into pretty soon, so I didn't know if you wanted to wrap up soon, so I didn't mean to.

Capn Tinsley: 1:10:00

Sure, okay, let's see. Let's see if I have any more important questions. I guess that's it All right, so people can find you. Let's put the email up. So, and you mentioned earlier that you're you are working on a captain's school or you want to talk about that. That's in the works.

Hugo Ortega: 1:10:25

Sure, yeah, so I I'm. I'm working on turning a lot of the certifications necessary to become a captain and reach certain levels. You know I'm working on putting those into like study guides and materials. So I'm not, I don't have any plans to certify people to become a captain, but I'll definitely have materials coming to help you pass those exams and also just study and prep for what you need to know before you do it.

Capn Tinsley: 1:10:46

Okay and Marianne. One final question Do you feel like the cast is authentic or do you feel they are different on camera?

Hugo Ortega: 1:10:54

To be honest, I really love and this isn't just me saying it like I loved everyone that I worked with, Like I think I had a really cool cast. I think I had a lot of experienced people on boats compared to certain things I've seen and everyone was fun. People have the different opinions of what's going on on the show, but everyone's fun, pretty good hearted, and I think we all just enjoyed hanging out, which was really nice, and I've seen a lot of them in real life since and I would see them again. I'm really, really fortunate for the people that I met.

Capn Tinsley: 1:11:25

Well, the biggest, the biggest difference. What would you? What comes to mind between when you're on a regular boat and the below deck boat? What would be the biggest difference?

Hugo Ortega: 1:11:34

I'll say, and you wouldn't expect it, but I've had much crazier situations and weirder shit happen in real life. So the cameras. It's sometimes real life is stranger than fiction, I'd say, but I think just the technical answer I'd say is that the charters are shorter and it's more fast paced flipping from that to that, rather than sometimes having a seven or 14 or 28 day. It's kind of like running the 40 meter dash versus a marathon.

Capn Tinsley: 1:12:00

OK, all right. Well, let's end on that. Thank you so much, hugo. I really appreciate you reaching out and I enjoyed talking with you. Thank you so much, and, um, I like to end it this way Salty Bannon.