Kyle and Phoebe were fed up with their mundane, low paid jobs so they sacked them in and chased a new life abroad, now life is plain sailing after they found love and their dream jobs
A young couple have ditched their minimum wage jobs to get paid to sail the world on superyachts.
Kyle Forster, 20, and Phoebe Robinson, 21, have now worked on three different luxury liners and have earned a combined £45,000, which is tax free due to working at sea.
They took a crash course in how to work on yachts before landing jobs as crew members on a £22,700,000 boat in France. In that first role, ex-lifeguard Kyle and former B&B worker Phoebe raked in €2,500 a month plus €2,000 a week in tips – more four times their previous wage.
And they’ve since have sailed the Mediterranean and the Caribbean on trips lasting up to six months each.
Kyle said he took the leap as he was feeling unfulfilled studying carpentry in Poole, Dorset, and working as a lifeguard for £195 a week.
He paid £2,500 to do a two-week course in the Isle of Wight in January 2023, learning how to clean yachts, be a lookout, drive a motorised dingy, and pull a waterski.
He said: “I’m so glad I found this. I wouldn’t switch for anything else now. I’m so happy. This isn’t a gap year or a little blip – we both want to keep doing this and work up to captain.
“We feel very lucky. We’re getting paid well and having so many incredible experiences. I’d never in a million years have thought I’d be able to go from doing something so plain to doing something so vibrant that brings me so much joy.”
Phoebe was getting itchy feet in her role as a bar and restaurant worker and housekeeper in a local pub near her home in Marlborough, Wilts., earning around £150 a week.
Her three-week course cost £3,800 and she learned everything from cocktail making to life saving skills, floristry and piracy.
The pair met in Antibes, France, in March 2023 while looking for their first jobs before spending a summer closer to home, working on a ferry in Portsmouth.
They started applying for superyacht jobs on Facebook in January 2024, and got a job on a £22.7million 40-metre motor yacht moored in Caines, France.
Next they were flown to Palma, Majorca, to a 27-metre sailing yacht worth £5.5million.
They have sailed round the Mediterranean visiting countries including Montenegro, Croatia and Italy.
But it’s not all plain sailing as they work up to 17 hours a day, from 8am to 1am, serving the owners and guests when the boats are being used.
When no guests are aboard the couple work 10-hour days scrubbing down and preparing cabins.
The couple took the winter off, before joining a 23-metre £5million sailing catamaran in Antigua in the Caribbean in January 2025.
They spent February cruising the Caribbean and getting up to two hours off each day to go snorkelling with turtles and do water sports.
Phoebe said: “I’ve had the most amazing experiences. We’re basically being paid to travel the world.”
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