Your third stew has been aboard eleven months. She wants to know when her leave is, whether she is progressing, and what she needs to do to become a second stew. You have no appraisal on file, no training log, and a leave rotation that exists only in the captain head. She will leave — and she will be right to.
Leave and rotation
Leave entitlement flows from the Seafarer Employment Agreement (SEA), which MLC requires every crew member to have. The pattern varies enormously — season-on/season-off, rotational, or straight leave accrual — but the administration is the same:
- Leave accrual and leave taken are recorded, not remembered.
- Leave is planned against the itinerary, so cover exists.
- A crew member on leave still counts against the boat manning if they are needed for a safety role.
Appraisals
An appraisal is a documented, two-way conversation about performance. Done properly it protects both sides: the crew member has evidence of progression, and the boat has evidence if performance has to be addressed.
| Good appraisal | Bad appraisal |
|---|---|
| Scheduled, regular, expected | Ambushed, or only after a problem |
| Against written standards | Against a mood |
| Specific behaviours and examples | Vague personality comments |
| Agreed, written actions with dates | "Do better" |
| Signed by both, filed | Verbal, unrecorded |
Keep the record factual and professional. Assume the crew member, the captain and possibly a lawyer will read it.
The Interior Training Record Book
The GUEST Program uses an Interior Training Record Book (ITRB) — a logbook in which a candidate records onboard interior tasks, and a competent senior crew member (typically the chief stew(ess) or captain) verifies and signs them. It is the bridge between working onboard and demonstrating competence.
Administering it well:
- Sign only what you have actually seen performed to standard. Your signature is the whole value of the book.
- Sign contemporaneously, not in a batch at the end of a season.
- Encourage the crew member to keep it current themselves; it is their record and their responsibility.
- Keep it safe and dry. A lost record book is a lost season of evidence.
Training records the boat holds
Separately from the ITRB, the yacht keeps records of: STCW basic safety training and revalidation dates, medical certificates, drills attended, familiarisation on joining, food safety training, and any yacht-specific training. Expiry dates need a tickler list so nobody sails on a lapsed certificate.
Onboard Notes
- The certificate structure and the training record book requirements are set by IAMI and administered through approved GUEST Training Providers. xplor is not an accredited or approved provider: nothing in this course awards or counts toward a GUEST unit or certificate, and nothing studied here can be signed off as sea service or as onboard competence.
- Never sign an ITRB entry as a favour. If it is later found to be unearned, it damages the candidate more than a blank page would have.
- Appraisal notes are confidential crew data. They live in the crew file, not on the pantry counter.
- Chase expiring certificates ninety days out. Renewals ashore need booking, and a lapsed certificate can stop the boat.