What makes a yacht CV template different from a normal one
Almost everything a careers adviser teaches about CVs is wrong on a boat. A land CV hides your age, your face and your passport for anti-discrimination reasons. A yacht CV leads with them, because the captain reading it is asking four questions in about six seconds: can I legally put you on this boat, do you hold the tickets, have you stayed anywhere long enough to matter, and do I want to live in a small metal box with you for six months.
A template that answers those four questions in the first third of page one is a yacht CV template. A template that makes the reader hunt for them is a land CV with the word yachting typed on top, and it gets binned.
The photo is not optional
In one survey of yacht captains, almost all wanted a photo on the CV and a noticeable share said they reject a CV without a good one. Head and shoulders, smiling, plain white or navy polo, marina or neutral background, taken by someone else, under 250KB. All four templates place it in the top corner where the eye lands first. If you do not have a photo yet, read the yacht CV photo guide before you do anything else.
Personal details that land CVs never show
Date of birth, nationality and passports held, visas with expiry dates (B1/B2 for the US circuit, Schengen status for the Med), smoker or non-smoker, visible tattoos, ENG1 medical status, current location and availability date. The templates carry all of them in a compact block under the contact details. Captains fly crew in, so “Antibes, available now” and “Cape Town, available in six weeks” are two different candidates and the template makes that obvious.
Certificates near the top, every one with dates
STCW Basic Safety Training, ENG1, then whatever your department needs: Powerboat Level 2 and Yachtmaster on deck, food hygiene and silver service for interior, AEC, MEOL and Y-tickets for engineers, Ship’s Cook for the galley. Highest first. Each with issue and expiry dates, because an expired ticket listed as current is the kind of thing that comes up in a reference call. Nothing expired stays on the page.
The vessel line
This is the single most recognisable feature of a yacht CV, and land templates have nowhere to put it. Every boat is one line the recruiter can parse at a glance: role, M/Y or S/Y, the vessel name in bold, length in metres, private or charter, month and year dates. Then two or three lines of what you actually did, with numbers: guests, cabins, tenders, covers, kW. The templates format the vessel line automatically from what you enter, so “203ft motoryacht” becomes M/Y, 62m without you thinking about it.
Two pages, one if you are green
Most published agency guidance says two pages maximum, and one page for someone with no yachting experience yet. Page one must carry the photo, the contact and personal block, the certificates and at least the most recent role. The templates are built on a true A4 page grid, so what you see in the preview is exactly where the page breaks when it prints.
Plain, single column, prints in black and white
Boats print CVs on mono printers over satellite internet. A template with colour blocks, text boxes, two columns of body text or a decorative sidebar that only works in colour dissolves in greyscale. Agencies also re-key CVs onto their own letterhead, so a layout they can read in order is a layout that survives. All four templates here are single-column in the body, with any sidebar reserved for the personal block, and every one of them has been checked in greyscale.
References named, not “available on request”
Most captains surveyed say they phone references, and many phone boats you did not list. Three named referees with a phone number and email, most recent first, captains and heads of department before anyone else. Writing “available on request” slows the one thing that gets you hired.
Which template should you pick
It matters less than the content, and you can switch any time. As a rule of thumb: Classic is the format agencies expect and suits deck and bridge; Modern is a clean single column that reads well on a phone, good for interior and green crew; Premium gives senior crew with long certificate and vessel lists room to breathe; Nautical lets a strong photo carry the page. Open any of the example CVs by role to see the same template filled for a stewardess, a chef or an engineer.
How the free download works
- Upload the CV you have, in any format, or start from scratch.
- The rebuild puts everything into yacht order and names your certificates properly.
- Pick a template. Preview page by page.
- Download a clean A4 PDF. The free version carries a small footer credit; Pro removes it and adds the AI interview and bullet polish.
For what to put in each section, read what goes in a yacht CV. If you already sent a CV and heard nothing, start with why yacht CVs get no replies.