Captain of industry: Rocka Romcke

Rocka Romcke, captain of the world’s largest sloop, 75m sailing yacht M5, talks to The Superyacht Report about his lifelong passion for sailing yachts and his opinions of the industry.



What advice would you give to developing senior crew and those who are looking to be the next generation of captains?

The biggest skill that will really help you from the ground up is what you did as a kid – sailing. When you’ve got people who haven’t ever sailed a dinghy, how can you ever teach them?

Nowadays things are a little different: you’ve got to be a lot smarter and kids these days are a lot smarter than we were. But nowadays it’s also more of a business, boats are a lot more technical, and so the younger generation is more suited to modern boats. We old dinosaurs will survive, but there’s so much more schooling these days. People need the same certificates now that we had and all the rest as well.

Have there been any incidents or accidents that you feel are worth reporting to advise other captains of the facts?

There are always moments in your career where you’ve had problems. One of the things I always found is that you shouldn’t lose sight of using your eyes and your ears rather than just relying on your instruments all the time. That is one thing. If you’re old and you have old instincts, generally, like every decent skipper, they’re good instincts and they’ll save you. What you’ve got to do is encourage younger crew to develop those instincts; don’t just believe in the electronics. They’re there and they help you and they’re good, but learn when and what is best.

If there is one thing you could change about the Industry what would it be? This could relate to any aspect of the market.

I’m not a fan of all the regulation. I believe it still should be a more fun industry than it is, but I have to admit that regulation has highlighted and improved safety. So really what I’m saying is that all the regulations and paperwork we go through are there for the right reasons. It’s not always necessarily implemented in the right way, though.



What is the best thing about being a yacht captain?

To be able to do what you love as a career. If you’re into water and sailing, you don’t have to work five days a week to earn some money to go sailing at the weekend, you get to do it all the time. That goes for any professional sport, really.

You’ve been a captain with your family on board on a pro-boat; how do you deal with that?

Jenny, my wife, and Courtney, my daughter, were always allowed on board Mirabella III; they couldn’t be there for charters and things like that, however. So after we left her, we only took boats that would allow them to be on board all the time. On M5, my wife is the purser, so she does all the accounts, all the crew management, all the bill paying. When we were chartering with M5, she did all the charter agreements and contracts and just everything that I was no good at, all the paperwork stuff.

To view this article in full, please see issue 137 of The Superyacht Report. To subscribe to The Superyacht Report, please click here.

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