Pete Bronkie

“I was always out on the water from when I was practically in diapers. Throughout my childhood I’d be swimming, waterskiing, fishing or shooting around in little Boston Whalers. My grandma lived near the water in Connecticut, right on the beach, plus my nextdoor neighbour had a boat. So I was never far away from the ocean. 

I was 16 when I started working on the water instead of playing on it. I got a summer job in Connecticut on a little dinner boat and ended up doing that for four years in a row. I was a deckhand but also helped with the service and I learned a lot. When I was 20, I came down to South Florida and a friend of mine who was working on a yacht asked me if I wanted to try it out. I’d just finished college and decided to take him up on it. At the time, I was trying to become a professional musician and that was happening to some extent, but I realised at some point I would have to pay some bills and this seemed a good pathway to that. 

Building a career on the water 

I ended up being on my first boat for about ten years. I was a deckhand, then a bosun and moved up through the ranks to become an officer. I never said to myself that I wanted to be a yacht captain but as I progressed I saw other colleagues moving up through the ranks and thought I might as well go for it. The boat – named Gallant Lady – was owned by Jim Moran, who made his fortune in the automotive industry, bringing Toyota into the United States. It was a fantastic experience and the things I learned there stay with me even today. 

After a decade there, I left the industry for a while because I wanted to pursue my music career and being away all the time made it hard. I was also starting a family and wanted to be at home more. I got a job at a big marine company on land and was back and forth to Italy a lot as a product manager. I did that for about five years and used to go to all the boat shows around here in Florida. I created great relationships with a lot of contractors who I still use today. 

After that, I went back to yachts and eventually landed on Focus because it’s locally based in South Florida. My kids are 16 and 18 now and one of them is getting ready to go to college, so it’s been nice being home the past couple of years to watch them grow through that process. My son is actually helping out on the yacht over the summer and he’s enjoying it. If he wanted to pursue this career I would be happy for him; you can make a nice living and from a leadership standpoint, people really look up to you. 

Keeping things interesting on board 

I’ve had great relationships with owners – most of them have sold their boats and that is the only reason we’ve parted ways. I’m still friends with them all. I work for a small family now so it’s usually just the husband and wife and maybe a couple of guests that come on board.

We try to keep them busy with activities by day and we always try to come up with some kind of surprise at night time, whether it’s a theme night or something else. Recently, I set up a keyboard and a microphone and I played for them during their cocktail hour. They had no idea I was a musician and they loved it. They even had a slow dance – it was a really sweet moment. I play anything from old soul like Marvin Gaye, rock and roll, blues, and I throw in a little bit of country on this boat as the owner is from Tennessee. Meanwhile, my first officer is from Argentina and he’s a professional tango dancer, so another night we incorporated some tango lessons. You’ve got to exceed expectations!

A collaborative industry 

As far as my job goes, I always push for teamwork. A good captain will lead throughout the day and tell you what to do, but a great captain is going to go down there and do it with you.  I like to get in the trenches with the crew – they might be confused by it, but my philosophy is that we just need to get it done. Do the beds and heads, wash the dishes, whatever it takes.  I also tell my crew to always ask questions. When I started out I used to ask a lot of questions and sometimes I would get ridiculed for it or get my head bitten off which I never understood. 

As the years have gone by, I’ve made a lot of friends and contacts in this industry. We have a lot of WhatsApp groups for captains – for the Med, for the Caribbean – all over. Being able to reach out and ask questions in groups like that is invaluable.”