“ Most people in yachting spend their careers trying to make it ashore. I did the complete opposite.”
When I started out, I was very much a “shoreside” professional working in yacht sales for a big company, surrounded by brokers, specifications, and contracts. I handled a bit of everything from marketing materials to technical specifications to legal paperwork for closings. It was busy, challenging, and exciting but if I’m honest, I felt there was something else I was looking for.
So, I did something fairly unexpected for a girl in her late 20s. Instead of pushing further inland, I went to sea.
The Leap Everyone Questioned
When I told people I was leaving London and hoping to join a yacht, most thought I was having some quarter-life crisis. I was told:
“Crew spend their whole careers trying to get off boats… and you want to get on one?”
Yes. I did.
I wanted to really understand yachting and to feel part of the crew that I had so often watched from afar at yacht shows. I wanted to be part of the life of a yacht, not just her paperwork.
So I packed up my house and life in London, and went to sea.
Learning Life Onboard
Those first seasons were a blur of learning and adjusting. I started out on sailboats with smaller crews, hands-on everything, switching between driving the chase boat to dinner service to teak scrubs, there was no such thing as a “quiet day.” Eventually, a Captain took a chance on me and I was offered my first purser role.
Suddenly, I was spinning a hundred different plates: crew logistics, guest itineraries, finances, travel bookings, paperwork for remote destinations…
It was chaotic, complex, and absolutely incredible.
I saw the world: the Caribbean, French Polynesia, South America, Norway, Costa Rica, the Mediterranean. I managed charters, dry docks, warranty periods, and every logistical storm that Brexit and Covid could throw our way. There were very long days, unexpected crew dramas, and endless spreadsheets but also sunsets at sea, laughter with amazing teams, and that unbeatable sense of purpose that comes with a yacht running smoothly, a successful guest trip, and happy crew members.
Where Everything Changed
After nearly 4 years of this, I joined a new build project in her final year of construction.
If you’ve ever been involved in a yacht build, you’ll know it’s not for the faint-hearted. A shipyard in the winter is worlds apart from a Caribbean cruise! I was onboarding 90+ crew members (60 of them living ashore) whilst setting up systems, managing finances, arranging visas, and creating a little community in a quiet Northern European shipyard town.
Nothing about it was simple, but everything about it felt meaningful.
A new build isn’t just about a yacht; it’s about creating something that doesn’t exist yet. You’re laying the foundations for how that vessel will function, how her crew will work together, and how it will feel to live and work onboard.
That year taught me patience, problem-solving, and the importance of looking beyond steel and systems. A yacht, after all, is only as good as her crew!
The Curveball
A year after delivery I discovered I was pregnant. Leaving was emotional. I had an incredible send-off from a brilliant crew, but it also left me questioning what came next. I felt like I had gone back to the beginning.
Finding My Way Back Ashore
“ Coming ashore again felt disorienting and this time, I had a newborn who (let’s be honest) behaved like an unpredictable permanent charter guest.”
But as the chaos settled, something became clear. I had this rare mix of experience: years in yacht sales and operations on land, hands-on purser work operationally on some of the world’s largest yachts, and living and breathing a yacht build. I understood both sides of the industry: the build process, the onboard realities, the people, and the systems that tie it all together.
That’s when I realised where I could make the biggest difference.
I wanted to help yachts during their build phase: to set up systems early, nurture crew culture, and make sure the operational side was just as strong as the technical. Because too often, those elements are left until the last minute.
And that’s how The Build Purser began.
Full Circle
Today, through The Build Purser, I help yachts in their build phase set up for success, creating operational systems, onboarding processes, and crew structures that make life smoother before delivery and onwards.
I’ve lived it. I’ve seen where things can go wrong, and I know what it takes to make them right.
I may be back on land, but every project I take on carries a little piece of that life at sea: the energy, the problem-solving, the camaraderie, and the belief that when the crew are supported and systems are solid, everything else falls into place.
I went to sea looking for a new challenge. What I found was my purpose.
If you are commissioning a new build yacht, restructuring onboard systems or simply wish to learn more about The Build Purser, visit https://thebuildpurser.com/services/
