Success Stories
Some of the emails we have received from past students –
Eric
I would like to thank you for your excellent delivery of the fire fighting an water survival training courses over the past two days I have gained confidence knowledge an skills I hope I will never forget , thank you for your encouragement an support great two days carlita😁
An email from Grace O’Carroll on 20/11/2017:
Hi gentlemen,
Grace here from the refresher course yesterday (Sunday). I just wanted to send an email to you both thanking you for the course. It’s run in such a professional and efficient manner and you were both so accommodating 🙂
Please thank for me also Scott and Michael and the rest of the team I didn’t meet.
Have a wonderful week!
Best,
Grace
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On 9/01/2017, Anthony Goldsmith wrote:
Just like to say thank you for the stcw course, very enjoyable and was not boring any any stage, great location and really good you can do some of it online ….
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From Anna Haskovec on 26th June, 2016 –
Hi Eric and Barry
I hope you’re well, I just wanted to write and thank you so much for the STCW Course I recently completed. The course was really well run and the online components made it much more accessible and convenient for someone who if working full time, It makes a massive difference and I think is beneficial to be able to study at your own pace and then complete the course over a weekend rather than having to take 2 weeks of work ( and the associated accommodation costs).
I wanted to in particular thank Eric, He was a really fantastic facilitator, and always able to offer counsel or assistance. When we were doing the fire exercises he really took the time to address us all individually and ensure we were comfortable and competent with our tasks. He really made the whole course a fantastic experience which I would not hesitate in recommending to colleagues. I think you’re lucky to have him in your employ.
I will let you know if I make it onto any of the search and rescue vessels or back to Antarctica!
Best Wishes
Anna
From Lily Donovan, 22 Aug 2015
Hi Barry,
The course was really great, thank you! I feel very prepared for working on board tall ships now. A lot of the things we learnt in the course I’ve already practiced in ship board drills, but I feel confident I could be a leader in an emergency situation now. The trainers provided were really interesting to work with and hear their personal stories. Thank you!
I wanted to recommend my accommodation, maybe it could be added to your list of options.
I used Air Bnb, renting a caravan with good facilities on a couple’s property, 2.5km from Big Cow.
This is the web link to their advertisement.
https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/6207021
or
https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/6231200
The rooms for rent were about $40/night, and the house had wood fire, swimming pool and a friendly dog.
They even rented me a bicycle for $5/day which was good to get me to and from the course!
Thanks again, the whole thing was a great experience.
Lily
From Jann Gilbert, September 1st, 2014
Just wanted to say thanks for a great course, I’m glad I chose Maritime Career Training. I really enjoyed the coursework (particularly the practical training), and learnt a lot about myself in the process. As instructors, Lisa, Eric and Danny did a fabulous job and, while I hope I never have to use it, I believe I’m well prepared for an emergency at sea.
If possible, I’d like to get digital copies of the photos Eric took during the firefighting and at the pool.
Once again, thanks to everyone at Maritime Career Training.
James Dransfield, 22-August-2013
Cheers Barry, I Found the course to be useful and Lisa is a very knowledgable and experienced person for this field and is highly motivated in her teachings. So Cheers Thankyou and I will see you in the near future to update my Stcw95!!!
Craig Morrison, 10-July-2013
Hi Barry, I did the course last year july-August 2012. I would like to thank your staff for a exceptional held course. I had no sea going experience before doing the stcw95 and have been in work continually since December 2012. I’m now a member of the MUA and I’ve loved every minute of working offshore as a cook.
Brad Austin, JP, 29-Oct-2012
Hi Barry, I wish to express my appreciation to both yourself and ALL your staff, Eric , Lisa and the fire boys for a professional and very well run course. Course content and delivery is by far the best (and I’ve done a few). I gave good feedback on the evaluation forms and expressed verbally my thanks to Eric and Lisa. Their delivery and “hands on” experiences are exceptional. Keep up the good work.
Eleonora Buczek, 23-Oct-2011
Hi Barry, I recently completed my STCW 95 with you guys, and just wanted to say a big thanks. It was a fantastic course. Please pass on another huge thanks to both Eric and Lloyd. They we’re so knowlegeable and encouraging, and their stories made the course really interesting. Thanks again, Eleonora Buczek
Paul Hemmings, Master IV, MED 1, December 12, 2010
Hi Barry – hope you are well. Just thought I’d advise that my quals have been sent off and resumes also gone. got a call last tuesday night from Total Marine Services asking if I can start (all checks being ok) on 20 Jan 2011 for work at Barrow Island. (Gorgon Isl. project I expect). All is looking good for me and I don’t expect any medical problems or drug test problems. Thanks for all your endeavours – much appreciated. Future is looking exciting & challenging
Daniel Levy, July 30, 2010
Hi Barry, I would like to once again say thanks to your amazing work during the course. During my drive back home to the Gold Coast I was thinking about the 8 days we spent attending the Fire, PST, First Aid and PSSR modules of the course. I’m really impressed with your knowledge Barry and I feel really lucky to be part of your team of students, very well done!!! It was a great challenge for me because of this completely new world and new terminologies. I just cant wait to get started in this industry and thanks to you and to your team of instructors I feel ready for it. Wish you all the best Barry and hope we’ll keep in touch, Daniel Levy
Fiona Murray & Carly Chong
Hi Barry,
Just thought we’d keep you updated as you asked, we completed the stcw95 in April 2010!
After 2 and a half long weeks of visiting the agencies and dock walking along the french Riviera, Carly and I were lucky enough the
score jobs and not only did we manage this in a couple of weeks we actualy managed to get them on the same yacht!!!
we were staying at the crew house in Antibes {which is actualy a great place to find jobs if any one asks} and a fax came through
from the catain who did this coz he knew the owner of the crew house, anyway we did skype interviews after we emailed our cv’s
through to him and 4 days later carly, I and a chef who was also staying there were flying down to Malta which is the home dock!
We are on a 31mtr Motor Yacht and will be chartered out in aug but have the owners on untill then.
Our positions are only seasonal and amazingly we are the only 2 stews on board, so they took a chance with us and we’re so
greatfull, its a big learning curve for us, but I think we’re doing well so far.
So thank you for all your advice Barry, we will email you with up dates when we can!
Fiona Murray & Carly Chong
Tyrone Somerville
Hi Barry, Just letting you know since I’ve completed my STCW course with you in August of 08, I have obtained a job on a super yacht in Australia. I’ve just recently finished day working on a large sail boat called Nelson from Sydney and now have a permanent position on a yacht called Ophelia, it’s a 37 meter motor yacht based in Adelaide.
My position on the boat is deckhand/engineer.
So its all very exciting! and I’d like to thank you for your help.
Cheers Tyrone Somerville
Roslyn Bergin
Hello Barry, This is Roslyn Bergin I did your STCW95 on 16th August. (I am a Massage Therapist. ) I am letting you know that I had no trouble getting my B1 B2 approved yesterday. I did as you suggested and told the truth. Of course that was the easy comfortable way. The lady at the find a crew agency told me to lie and say I was going to holiday there. I was so stressed at the thought of lying and couldnt have done it.
Anyway I am very excited and heading off to Fort Lauderdale next Tuesday.
Thank you for your help. I will let you know how I get on.
Love Ros
Channon Arbuthnot
hi barry i am just writing to say thank you for the training you and your colleague’s provided me with i enjoyed learning all about the safety side of things .on another note i was privileged to meet a guy that was the first person to ever go through the iyt stcw95 course in fort lauerderdale he is currently working as a engineer on a boat in the med anyway i told him about the courses u run and that they were through iyt he is interested to come and have a chat to u he lives in nambour and is home for a few Moore weeks so i will forward your email address to him so he can get in contact with u . i spent about 3 hours talking to him about the industry and got allot out of it . thanks again Barry
regards channon arbuthnot
Jason McCulloch
Hey Barry,
Jason McCulough here, did your course in august of 2007, good course and now am employed as first mate on a 32 metre M/Y, good boat only the last mate didn’t do anything so after 8 months of travel in central and south America have to clean the whole boat from bow to stern with a bit (10 to 12 litres!) of spit and polish!
I also have to get the yacht ready for the American summer in the Bahamas. The boat is based in Florida and leaves on the 25th of June.
Super yachts are big mate and if you are looking to get fit there is plenty of oppurtunity, I work at the moment from 730am to 9pm but it gets a bit harder when the guests are on board, but its super hard at the moment because the last hand didn’t do anything, and these super rich people like their boat shiny, but its all right I get all the beer I want and free food with satelitte tv, all the girls who walk by want to know you and talk, my bed is made , my clothes are washed, and a 33ft hydrasports is mine to drive and maintain, stoked and the boss loves to fish, we will be based in the Bahamas for 8 weeks and then back to USA for provisioning and then back down to the Bahamas, so life is good mate.
I am getting fit as well as seeing the world and a pretty good part of the world too, thanks again Barry and did you ever hear from Dan, who was running the whale watching tours from the gold coast?
Alright see you Jason McCullough
Dan Rutherford, Sent: Friday, 23 May 2008 5:08 AM
To: Barry Barnes
Subject: Re: STCW95 Basic Safety Training Certificate Attached
Thankyou Barry for your email with the certificate, We are now in Italy working aboard the vessel Bel Marie and bound for Turkey. Thanks for all your help during our time in Australia trying to book the course.
It has paid off for us.
Jess has already bumped into one of her class mates,
Small world, Kind regards Dan and Jess
Craig Robinson
Hi Barry, I took your stcw95 course late last year and am now on a 100ft yacht as a 2nd engineer / deckhand and was wondering what courses you run to further my career as an engineer or if you know of anyone who does. All is going really well. I picked up the job in Palma while dock walking and have travelled to Tunisia, Malta, Athens through the Greek Is to Turkey and leave in a couple of weeks for Croatia. Thanks Heaps Barry.
Olivia Shelton
Hi Barry, my name is Olivia Shelton and I took your STCW course late last year (I believe it was in about October.) You said during the week you would be interested in hearing any updates on where people went from there so I thought I would send you an email! I’ve just joined a yacht ‘Dilbar’ in Barcelona. Although January is typically a very quiet time of the year I was able to find a few leads and found a job. I spent a little over a month in Antibes in France and went through the many crew agencies from there who were very helpful, you can find most of these on the internet or crew booklets in Antibes. As I have a sister in Antibes it was much easier for me as I had free accomodation and advice on where to go so I was able to ‘hang around’ and have a bit of a holliday during the quiet season. I enjoyed doing it this way as I didn’t have to compete against other job seekers, got to know the town well, and became quite friendly with the different agents. That is one of the most important things, getting the agents to think of you so they continue to put you forward for all jobs possible! So, if your prepared to wait for a while getting in early worked quite well for me! Most agents recomended late March/April.
Anyway, thanks for all your help. The first thing all the agents asked me when I went in was if I had my STCW! Although on some private yachts you can find work without it, it is getting harder and harder! If you have any further questions let me know 🙂
Michael Townsend May, 2007
Hi Barry, Just writing to let you know how work with the STCW95 is going as requested. I’m currently working on a 70 foot private yacht as Head Chef, been on for a month now with 2 to go. Currently in Capri, Italy, heading to Napoli tomorrow then onto the Greek islands for the remainder of the season. Hard but enjoying it. I attended the first course in Melbourne, just to remind you. If any of your future attendees wanted any information on finding employment in Europe, please pass on my email address. Its very competitive and I know that if I had any info before job hunting here it would have been very beneficial.
Jennifer Roosen (Graduated from STCW95 in October, 2006)
Hi Barry, I have been living in Mallorca Spain for just over a month.
The course really helped as a lot of guys and girls had not done the course before they came over. I stayed in a hostel called ” Terramar ” where basically everyone came over to work on the yachts. Really funny place and great to stay in because we all encouraged each other.
Well dock walking I guess was my greatest success because you got to know captains and even delivery drivers. If they saw you often enough they would give you job leads and advice. Dressing properly for yachts certainly helped as most did not seem to care and the bigger yachts liked well groomed staff for their boats. Also being confident helps and being friendly of course. We have yachty bars as well which help just as long as you behaved yourself as everyone is watching you!
I am heading back to Palma and hopefully if i can get time off i can see all the friends I made. The agencies are helpful but not always successful, I had a couple of interviews and was put forward to a yacht owned by Mercedes-Benz and the guests were the grand prix drivers!
I found this other job before I found out if I was successful or not.
I’m not disappointed as I think I have found the best crew ever!
Everyone really friendly and funny, we have a couple of clowns onboard.
I guess basically you need to be easy going and get along with everyone.
Make sure you keep your areas clean and be polite to everyone. Just normal common sense I guess. I am sharing with the head stew onboard and we have a girl deckhand and a girl deckhand/stew who is coming aboard In Palma when we get there. It certainly helps to get into Palma at the right time, I guess I just timed it okay, maybe a little early but definitely mid may is a good time to come over.
Although it is much harder for guys to get deckhand work and certainly doing the course before will help. I also was offered a four day charter from another captain whose stewardess had walked off the boat the day before. I did jump at this chance so i had experience and realised what bloody hard work it can be. I did however still enjoy my first charter and had a strict captain but I still liked him. He needed someone a little more experienced as his yacht was smaller than the one I am on now.
Only myself the deckhand and the Captain who was also the chef. Well this experience was quite funny . We had to move to another location really quickly and as soon as I had served their lunch I was literally packing up straight away, the engines were running and I had to move really quickly – paper serviettes flying in the wind and quite dangerous walking from the top deck stairs down to the galley. But all in all I kept my cool and this I think was why he liked me. As he said I never lost my “cool”
He was my greatest reference and I still appreciate the fact he asked me to be his stewardess for that short time even though he hired someone else who was a little more experienced. Well I probably should get back to work and go and see what everyone else is doing. We have no guests for a little while and they are flying over to us when we do the Atlantic crossing.
Alex Anders (Graduated from STCW95 Basic Safety Courses in January, 2007)
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Rob Pares (Graduated from STCW95 and Master of Yachts 200gt Offshore in April, 2007)
Hello Barry, I met a guy at the IYT office and gave him my resume. He was an Aussie who knew guys in the industry. He called me a week later when a friend of his who is a captain needed a deckhand. I had an interview the next day with the captain and the next day was flying to Savannah in Georgia all paid for. The day after that which is today we are sailing across the Atlantic to Nice then Italy for charter work. Of 11 crew onboard 7 are Aussies and would you believe that I used to work with the head stew in Mooloolaba, Its a real small world after all! I recommend if people are going to Ft Lauderdale to work they should network at an Irish bar called Waxy’s on 17th and any other bar that boaties frequent. The employment agencies are good as well. Elite, Luxury and crew network are the most popular. The name of the boat is Halcyon Days, it is on the net if you want a look. Lisa’s sister from Yacht crew Australia is also onboard. We will reach Nice on about the 12th or 14th. Happy to keep you updated if you like Barry, till then.
Regards Rob
A month later – G’day Barry I just got a promotion to 2nd officer. Not bad for my first month! I was in Monte Carlo for the F1 Grand Prix with Harvey Wienstien of Miramax Studios, I was 20 metres from the track, it was awesome! What a beautiful city it is too. We all got a $2000 tip for 10 days work. regards Rob