Erica Lay
Journalist. Writer. Thinker. Questioner.
Welcome to my personal website, an opportunity for me to share some of my professional journalistic work and personal musings, outside of my international yacht crew agency, EL CREW CO. I aim to create a better understanding of the yachting world— a mission which has cast me in many different roles: crew agent, business owner, journalist, adventurer, and media innovator. Read more of my work below.
A Bit About Me
I’ve been a freelance writer since 2008. I love engaging with the projects I work on, diving headfirst into the research, investigation, and production of the stories I feel are newsworthy. I am a curious and proactive Journalist, interested in the latest digital media trends and passionate about the future of online storytelling. Drawing on life experiences around the world, my writing passions focus on yachting, food, travel, and sometimes, just my personal musings on the world.
Recently Published
I have covered everything from breaking news stories to in-depth features, more recently I've been focusing on mental health on board yachts. It’s a satisfying feeling to put my personal experiences, audience understanding, and professional knowledge to good use on every project I’m involved with. Check out a sampling of my recently published work below.
Covid - 19: Let's Talk Mental Health
2020 Dockwalk
Well it’s official. The world’s gone nuts… half the planet is on lockdown or headed for it, the conspiracy theorists are having an absolute field day, everyone seems obsessed with overbuying toilet paper and flour, and if you’re looking to give yourself crippling anxiety, just head straight on over to facebook where mis-information, hearsay, blame and gossip is absolutely rife.
Covid - 19: Working From Home
2020
I’ve worked from a home office set up since I launched my own company in February 2013. A lot of people ask me how I motivate myself to do this, and in the current conditions with lock downs and self isolation everywhere, I’m getting this question more than ever as yachting businesses scale back operations and send their workers to work from home.
#Metoo Matters
Dockwalk 2020
Another day, another case of sexual harassment in yachting. How can we tackle this in an industry where senior male crew still say things like “the #metoo bandwagon”?
Aggression, Abuse and Addiction: Don't Become Anti-Social
2020 Onboard
To some, social media addiction is a mystery, but to others it is an important part of daily life. The rush of dopamine you get from "likes" is a comfort blanket. But we ask, is it damaging our industry?
Surviving the First Season
2019 Dockwalk
Green and experienced crew weigh in to talk about their experience with first seasons in the superyacht industry.
The Rotation Equation
2019 Dockwalk
For many, a rotational yachting role really is the holy grail. Still mostly only prevalent on larger yachts, yet seen as the norm in the commercial shipping sector, why has it not yet been fully embraced in the superyacht industry?
Grief - Coping With Loss Onboard Yachts
2019
Mental health and wellbeing are hot topics at the moment, especially in yachting, so it seems natural we move on to talk about how we deal with grief, and of course in our close knit living set up, how to respectfully deal with those who are grieving.
It's Good to Talk - Trauma on Superyachts
2019
Working in superyachts is already a high stress environment, adding a traumatic event to our day to day operations could, possibly, tip us over the edge especially if it’s not dealt with properly.
Sorry, did you really just say that?
2019 Onboard Magazine
We all know - what goes on, onboard... stays onboard... Apart from when it gets reported (anonymously of course) to yours truly...