About YOA Yacht Crew
YOA Yacht Crew is a New Zealand founded agency, established in 2015 by Tom Aveling and Don McKee. Its distinguishing feature, verified across its own material and industry directories in July 2026, is that its team is made up of former captains and heads of department, bringing a large pool of first-hand yachting experience to its placements.
For a newcomer that matters, because the people reading your CV have stood in the roles you are applying for. YOA also leans into the long game, building an ongoing crew network and staying in contact with the people it places, including helping crew move ashore when the time comes. That relationship focus, rather than one-off matching, is its clearest selling point. As with most boutique agencies, expect to work through a consultant rather than a large public vacancy feed.
No agency should ever ask you to pay to register. They are paid by the yacht that hires through them, never by you. If anyone asks for money upfront to join their books or guarantee a placement, treat it as a red flag. See yacht crew job scams and red flags.
Registering well with YOA Yacht Crew
Having the link is the easy part. Turning up with a clean CV and your certificates ready in one folder is what gets you remembered. Register with a handful of agencies rather than just one, since each works with a different set of yachts. Our guide on how to register with yacht crew agencies walks through it, and pairs well with dockwalking in Antibes and Palma so you are working both channels at once.
Register with everything ready to go.
Agencies ask for your CV and certificates as one tidy folder. YachtSync keeps your STCW, ENG1 and the rest on your phone and exports them as a clean PDF you can email in seconds. Free for crew.
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See the full list of yacht crew recruitment agencies → · How to register → · How to write a yacht CV →