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1st Mate - Rotational - Papua New Guinea
1st Mate:
The Mate is in the broadest of terms responsible for assisting the Master in the safety and navigation of the vessel. Ensuring all legal requirements of both local and flag state are met and upheld. The areas the Mate is not responsible for are the community, stewards and programmatic elements including scheduling and itinerary of vessel. The Mate reports directly to the Ship Manager and Master. The Mate is hired and fired by the Ship Manager in conjunction with the vessel’s DPA and organizations CEO. It is one of the most key positions in the organization.
It is important that the Mate understand quickly the DNA of how the floating YWAM community is to run according it’s international values. This again can be very different but is totally necessary for the success of the mission. Motivating volunteers to work hard and do a good job is not easy when a pay check is not involved. The relief Mate typically has little to no experience with motivating this kind of crew and should lean heavily to the Ship Manager for advice when facing personnel issues. Motivating a volunteer to give their best continuously is a challenge even in the best of environments. It takes both roles of the Ship Manager, Master, and Mate to work as a team to accomplish this so a safe and professional healthy YWAM family environment is maintained.
When long term YWAM crew make up about 2/3 of the ships company, it is in an ideal situation to keep the YWAM DNA healthy and thriving. However during the initial period of operating a new ship this ratio is typically not the case. Both the Ship Manager Master, and Mate will have to work very hard to build community.