How did you become a stewardess?

I grew up in a small town called Hyltebruk in Sweden and moved to a bigger town for my high school and university years. After university, I started traveling and ended up in San Diego in the spring of 2002. That is where I got introduced to yachting—and after scrubbing down hulls, sanding rails, and detailing cabins, I eventually ended up with some freelance work that then led up to a fulltime position onboard a yacht in Florida and the Caribbean. Since then I have worked on numerous yachts… most recently, I was the chief stewardess on M/Y Mustang Sally. Right now I am doing freelance work and will join my first sailboat in November, so that will be a new adventure.

Any special weather memories?

Delivering M/Y Orion from Miami to San Diego, we had traveled as far as Guatemala when we were approaching Tropical Depression Calvin. The storm was standing still over southern Mexico so we were actually traveling into it. The whole crew was sitting in the pilot house and we were all on "wave patrol" as the captain tried to alter course to steer us into a marina for shelter.

We could only maneuver a few degrees at a time—and every time a set of waves came through, we had to make sure we were lined up right—which meant we lost our few degrees each time. Eventually we made it into a closed marina in Huatulco, where we tied up to the cruise ship dock. We had more than 10 lines out and had to reinforce them with carpet to prevent them from snapping. The boys then found some surfboards and went out for a "storm surf,” but that is a different story....

What is one of the most surprising questions you’ve been asked?

I once had a family member of my owner point to the bow of the yacht on a drawing and ask me, “My friends are here, how do I get there?” Not only did I think this was pretty obvious—the yacht was only 125 foot—but the guest had been on the boat since a child. But, trying to keep a straight face, I explained how “if you open the door right here and follow the railing up the steps and past the pilot house you will reach the front of the boat.”

Which moment on the job sticks in your mind?

In the beginning of my career when I was working on M/Y Our Way, I got a request for a cup of coffee from one of our guests. I set up my tray and poured the coffee into a little fancy coffee cup. We were traveling between the Islands in the Caribbean and sometimes the wind can blow really hard—this was one of those days.

Not realizing the power of the wind, I started to go up towards the sun-deck to serve my coffee. Turning the corner to the stairs, I realized, as the napkin danced off my tray into the wind, that it was really windy out. Determined to carry on my task, I started climbing the stairs up to the sun-deck. With every step, I found myself crunching lower and lower to avoid the wind flipping my tray. By the time I reached the top of the stairs, I was crawling!

The stairs spiral up—so the first thing my guest must have seen is a tray being pushed onto the deck. Then I emerged, crawling up the steps. I still didn't dare to lift the tray off the ground, afraid to spill the coffee. So I made my way to the guest in a crunched-down walk with the tray pushed on the deck. I finally reach my target with a forced smile on my face.

I think he realized, too, that this might not have been the best day for a cup of coffee—as he had to crunch down in a corner to be able to sip the coffee without spilling it.

I think today I would have approached that whole situation a little differently!!

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