Offboarding: MOCEAN as Yachting’s Social Media

After spending years in the industry, brothers Warren and Bradley Techow created MOCEAN — a private community for yachting professionals looking to discover new opportunities and adventures while seeking and sharing advice. The brothers used their unfortunate experiences as greenies to fuel their passion for creating a haven for yacht crew to engage with each other, find jobs and events, and learn more about the industry. Triton spoke to Warren about how he and his brother created MOCEAN, his yachting journey, and much more. 

How did you get into yachting?

Growing up in Sedgefield, which is a small town in South Africa, [I’ve] always been around boats — and my uncles were professional water skiers. I started driving boats at a young age and then friends in the industry told me, “Hey, you got to get into it.” I was a wakeboard and water ski instructor and then just transitioned into yachting. I did some courses, came here [to the U.S.], and got my first job. That was back in 2010, but 2011 was when I really got into yachting.

I started as a deckhand and then worked on bigger boats, learned what I needed to know, and then I moved onto something smaller to gain more engineering experience because you get asked to do a lot more. I found I really enjoy small boats — there are more challenges, you’re not just a chamois technician, you’re doing some engineering, helping out in the galley and with the stews. I’ve also been managing boats as yacht management, so I have taken [out] a few clients and boats and captain as well.

When did you know you wanted to become a captain?

When I gained enough confidence in tender driving and felt that I was ready to take that step and lead. I had done a lot of freelancing, and I felt that learning from different captains [during my experience as a crewmembers] and what the good parts and bad parts are of being a captain [helped me be ready for the next step]. I wanted to become a captain that took the best elements of all the good captains I worked for and eliminate all the bad elements. Figuring that out after doing some freelance gigs, I was ready to take that step, gained experience, then took my test.

What is MOCEAN?

It is designed to be a platform that everyone can connect on that’s not Facebook or a social network. It was built for connectivity, job opportunities, events, and just to connect with each other. For instance, if you came to Fort Lauderdale and you didn’t know anyone, but you wanted to build your network, you can connect with someone who’s a greenie in the industry via MOCEAN instead of being on Facebook. We don’t have any political stuff — everything is built around yachting. You’re getting the latest yachting information, job posts, and you can post pictures, but in a nutshell, it’s connecting the yachting industry in one place.

How did you create MOCEAN?

When my brother and I started in yachting, there was no one that helped us in the industry. No one gave us proper advice — either they wanted you to pay for a program or they wanted to offer some sort of information at a price. We just never had that help, so we were thinking of ways we could give back. Once I gained experience and everything, I was like, “Well, I work on a boat that’s locally based. I could bring on greenies to help them, teach them how to do a wash down, how to polish stainless property, things to be careful of, products to use.” Taking all of that and what we would have loved to have had when we started is how the idea grew from one thing to the next. We had the app, website, and everything around 2020 just before COVID — so the worst time to actually launch. Literally a week after we launched — that’s when COVID shut the world down. It wasn’t perfect timing, but it had to be then.

How does it work for crew?

They just sign up on the platform. The app was a big feature, but not anymore. If you had already downloaded the app two months ago you could still use it, but Apple is giving us a lot of trouble right now. Right now, there is no app, but we have the website, and they can just sign up — it’s basically the same thing as the app on the website. We’re not a crew agency, and we never were a crew agency, but a lot of people get jobs through us because we’re reposting from all the different sites in one place.   

What made you make an app for crewmembers?

[When I was a greenie] and trying to get day work, then getting day work, I was excited to get the day work but then I got asked to do things that I had never done before — even through the courses, so I felt intimidated. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing, and I wish someone had given me direction and given me advice. I felt like I was clueless in this big industry and waiting for that chance, and when the chance came, I was worried I was going to disappoint. We wanted to get greenies together or just anyone that needed advice and be able to go, “Hey, this is how you do it the correct way.” So, when they get day work, they’re a step ahead of the next person and they get a better job opportunity because of that. 

What sort of features can crew use the platform for?

[The app] has everything. [Job postings for] chefs, captains, junior deckhands — everything. [They] can post pictures and videos, find events, create events — it’s basically Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram in one for the yachting industry. Instead of posting on Facebook, post on there with yachting-related posts and people can like, comment, and share tips and advice. You can post on Facebook, but because the masses are there, you get a lot of clowns that are just negative. What we’re trying to achieve is just none of that. No negative comments and we’ve never actually had any in the four years we’ve been live. 

What are some of the success stories you’ve seen from MOCEAN?

Making friends, connecting, and getting jobs through that. Some captains have set up a meeting or interview and got coffee all through the app. The good thing about using MOCEAN is because we don’t have 50,000 people in one group, you’re not receiving 200 emails from people that are just desperate [for a job] together, you receive maybe 10.

Why do you think crewmembers should use MOCEAN over other social sites?

Go on Facebook and you suddenly see a video wasting your time. You go on MOCEAN, scroll through three swipes and you’ve seen all the jobs for the day. [On MOCEAN], you come across a few articles that, if they catch your interest you click on, but you’re not sitting there wasting your time and getting sucked into the void. Crew don’t have to go and look at 400 different groups or go to the agency’s website. 

What has been your biggest challenge?

Gaining users and breaking them away from the hold that Facebook has on them. Showing people there’s another option and getting people to engage on the app itself — like post pictures, like, tag, whatever, instead of using Facebook.

How did your yachting experience help you build MOCEAN? 

Using the good structure and good direction from good captains that I picked up from all the different boats I worked on [helped me build MOCEAN.] Having a game plan to go from A to B, and we had a vision of where we wanted to get, and we haven’t reached it, but we’re on the right track to achieve it. That comes from passage planning, for instance — you’ve got to go from here to there, but how are you going to get there, how much fuel do you need, etc. Mapping all of that out is kind of what we did with MOCEAN.    

What is your advice for yachties looking to build a business?

Support each other. There is a lot of backstabbing in the industry instead of supporting each other and building together, or even having a very similar idea and working together. The pie is big enough for everybody, but people will start doing something that is very similar and then they’ll bad mouth somebody else to try and further themselves. If there was more support for each other — and help — I think everyone would be more successful. I have friends that have tried to do things within the industry, but they’ve just not had the support to get there. Even with MOCEAN — there are other guys trying to do something very similar, but I’m an open book and say, “Hey, give me a call. I’ll tell you where we made our mistakes.”

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