Rock Stars and Open Water

Scott Kelsch is captain of the Susanna Bella, a 106-foot luxury yacht owned by Fred and Susan Gohl and docked in Naples. A native of California, captain Scott has lived in Naples for the past five years. He has worked on boats for about a dozen years, the last five as a captain.

There's sort of an unwritten rule that everyone's anonymous when they're on the water. It's just a given in this business. I've been out boating with a number of famous people over the years. A well-known rock star came with us once down in St. Thomas. I recognized him and asked if he was who I thought he was. He said, "Not this week I'm not."

Over in Fort Lauderdale, there are some celebrities who have reputations for raucous behavior and are no longer allowed to charter boats. The owners of charter yachts use brokers who screen the guests to some extent. There are a few people who have put themselves on the radar who won't be invited back.

The owners of the yacht I'm currently working on aren't like that. They're more interested in sophisticated conversation and fine dining. Jimmy Dean, the famous sausage guy, who had a sister ship to one of the boats I was on, once said, "It's yachting. If it's not fun, we're not going to do it." Most of the people are coming out to have a good time.

I went out fishing once in the Bahamas with a Super Bowl champion NFL coach. He caught some barracuda. That was a lot of fun. We had members of a pro football team onboard once singing karaoke. I've been out with some other famous people, too, but I'm not going to mention any names.

Being a yacht captain isn't as glamorous as it probably seems. More than 90 percent of what I do is maintenance. I'm here Monday through Friday, washing down the boat, keeping it in operating shape, fixing things. I joke that I do a lot more drying than I do driving.

One of the things that being a boat captain has taught me is what it's like on the other side. I've worked for some very wealthy people who will spare no expense in doing what they want with their time off, and I've discovered that there's a real commonality in people. What they want is what everyone wants-a good view, a chance to relax and get away from things for

a while.

The main thing you get on a yacht versus a cruise is the service-it's highly individualized. Your itinerary is whatever you want to do. But it is more expensive. There's a boat on the other coast that costs half a million to charter for a week. I've worked on boats that are $100,000 per week-and that's with just one family on board. It's not even for the average rich person; it's a pretty elite group.

Some of the larger charter yachts are almost like floating hotels. We call them "flotels." The goal for some is to outperform the five-star service of the nicest resorts. Yachts are sometimes referred to as "the big white boats." Some boat captains are more salty and think there's too much "Yes, sir; no, sir" being a yacht captain. I was in the military and I have no problem saying "Yes, sir; no, sir."

I've been lucky in that I've mostly worked for good people. I once worked for a guy from Ireland who bought the boat I was on for his 50th birthday party. The first night, he said, "I think it'd be quite rude if you didn't have a drink with me." He was hugging everyone. He took us out to dinner in St. Barts and just treated us like we were family. Some people aren't so easy to work for. I worked for one man on the other coast who was just very demanding. He had a revolving-door crew. I think he still does.

When it comes to the weather in this region, I personally haven't had a problem. Now, with satellite radar, we don't do the kind of boating where you'd be put in dangerous situations. Especially during the summer in Florida, thunderstorms can hit people pretty quickly before they get back to shore. Getting struck by lightning is always a concern. It tends to destroy all the electronics on the boat. The biggest breakthrough has been GPS (Global Positioning System) for civilian use. Now they have satellite telephones with a service you can subscribe to. If a storm starts to form, they'll call and tell you to change your course. There's really no excuse for recreational boats to get caught in bad weather. We don't have that problem, fortunately.

I've been captain of the Susanna Bella for about two and a half years-for its entire life, basically. It was semi-custom built by Lazzara Yachts of Tampa. It has sleek Italian styling, a master suite, two VIP staterooms, a dining room, a country kitchen. We've taken it through the Keys, to the other coast [of Florida] and out to the Bahamas.

This is one of the larger yachts in Naples. It's 106 feet long. "Large," though, is relative. In Fort Lauderdale, you'll find 250-foot boats, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Paul Allen of Microsoft has built a 400-some-odd-foot yacht, which has a 75-person crew. Here the canals are relatively shallow, and we have to plan around the tides. We can't even get out if the tides aren't right, which happens a couple of times a day.

The fun part of what I do is taking the boat out, which is what most of my work is spent preparing for. There's a real sense of satisfaction in just driving the boat. Just thinking, "Here I am; I'm controlling twin 1,800-horsepower engines, which can burn 150 gallons of fuel an hour. I'm making this house go 26 knots, and I can still bring the boat in smoothly to the dock." That's a lot

of responsibility. And also a lot

of satisfaction.

I recently went to my 20th high school reunion. A lot of people, obviously, had married and had children. And some of them said to me, "Don't you want that?" I do, but I also like the freedom I have.