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Structure of the crew

Your fellow adventurers and their roles on board
This diagram shows the structure of Atyla’s crew. Instead of a pyramid with the vertical hierarchies, we prefer a circle showing who takes care of who.
Normally, per season, each role is fulfilled by two or three people, for them to fit it with other work or personal commitments.

Because of these frequent crew changes, we can’t list here all the names and pictures of the exact people that will be on board during your trip.

But we before each season, whenever they are chosen, we post on social media information about our crew. If you’re curious, you can find it out under the hashtags #AtylaProfessionalCrew and #AtylaWatchLeaders

About the roles on board and what they do:

Participants (including premium)

They are the crewmembers that embark to live the adventure. They enjoy the experience to the fullest by embracing all the challenges that they have to face on board. They normally have different ages, nationalities and backgrounds.

Premium participants contribute a little extra money and, in exchange, they get some nice advantages.

Read more about sailing on Atyla as a participant, and about sailing as a premium participant, or go ahead and book now your trip to sail with us.

Watch leaders

Normally 3 or 4 people. They have sailed as participants or as crew before, either on Atyla on or other tall ships. They join as volunteer crew to guide the participants on the adventure.

They make sure the ship stays in perfect shape and things work smoothly on board. They also propose some challenges.

Professional crew

The coach, the cook, and the 3 sailing officers (captain, chief officer and chief engineer). Five experts on different fields that make sure we keep certain standards (safety, organisation, body health and state of mind). They also propose challenges to the crew.

Most of them have also sailed with us as watch leaders before, or as professional crew in other ships. Their salaries are very small because they join to be part of the charity and contribute to its mission.

A crew that we feel proud about

Of course, we take good care of only taking people that either we know well, or come with good references. Watch leader applicants have better chances if they’ve been participants or winter volunteers before, and professional crewmembers have better chances if they’ve been watch leaders before.

We also think that attitude is as important as skill. We don’t want jerks on board, no matter how professional or expert they are.

All our crew, apart from participants, have to apply for a position on board, and they go through a selection process that includes a personal interview (through a video call). All this is to ensure that we have a crew that we can feel proud of, and making a project that our crew can also feel proud of.

Apply to volunteer as permanent crew

Winter volunteers

They don’t appear in the diagram, because they are not part of the sailing crew, but they play an essential part in keeping Atyla running.

They come on board every winter, during the non-sailing season, to help with the maintenance jobs and contribute to the good cause.

They normally live on board and also get a glimpse of the Atyla experience (even if the ship doesn’t move). As a reward for their effort, they receive some sailing credit to join us during the sailing season and the satisfaction of being part of the Atyla’s history.

More about winter volunteering