Our Marcato Crew Members
CAPTAIN
JASON HALVORSEN – AMERICAN
Joined Spring 2016
Captain Jason’s passion for travel began at a very young age. Before he started kindergarten Jason had visited over 30 of the US states with his parents. The family settled in Fort Lauderdale when he turned 5 which is where another passion began, one for the ocean within the maritime community. Through Jason’s high school education he attended Marine Tech School studies and managed to complete a Marine Mechanics Degree whilst juggling his regular studies. Jason was working on yachts by 16, and earned his first Captains license at 19.
Jason started his career on commercial charter and sight seeing boats, and by 21 was the 1st Mate/ 2nd Captain of a 500 passenger commercial boat in New York City. During his young and busy career Jason owned a yacht management company, has been captain on private and charter yachts, commercially towed, and has also been a salvage master (where he narrowly avoided the local alligators while spending 45 days as master salvage diver in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina!). In his time off the water Jason enjoys traveling with his wife and young daughter, and continues traveling throughout the US and Europe as often as his busy schedule allows. At home in the US Jason enjoys customizing and restoring old cars and motor cycles (he has built 2 custom Harleys and restored a 1976 Ford F100) but his biggest passion of all is food: cooking it, eating it and traveling to restaurants to eat and learn new techniques.
Jason’s diverse experiences and interests inside and out of the yachting industry makes him a friendly, versatile, and dynamic member of the crew aboard M/Y Marcato. Captain Jason aspires to give all guests on board an exceptional experience, so please feel free to let him know any other way we can make your vacation with us truly unforgettable or just to have a good old chat.. another of Captain Jason’s hobbies and one he’s rather good at!
CHIEF OFFICER
ADAM PAUL – AUSTRALIAN
Joined Spring 2012
Adam is originally from Australia and since he joined the yachting industry in 1999 he has logged up some considerable sea miles, working himself up the career ladder from deckhand to Chief Officer and gaining valuable experience on yachts such as MY Just Enough (140’ Broward) and MY Relentless (110’ Kingship).
Adam has the qualifications of 200 ton Yachtmaster Offshore he is also a Naui Open Water Diver. Sportive and dynamic Adam loves fitness, diving, wakeboarding and of course travel!
Languages: English
CHIEF ENGINEER
CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON – AMERICAN
Joined Winter 2016
Christopher is from the USA and is not only an experienced Chief Engineer but he is also a well-rounded crew member, having experience within the commercial and luxury yacht industry. Gaining many years of experience at sea Chris has worked on various vessels since 2005 holding positions as First Mate as well as Captain and of course Chief Engineer.
Languages: English
CHEF
MITCHELL ALLEN – BRITISH
Joined Summer 2017
From his early childhood Mitchell knew that he wanted to be a chef! His first move towards his goal was to go to French Culinary School, which led him to work in several famous restaurants such as Bouchon, (Yountville CA), Roys (Newport Beach) and Blue Stem (Kansas City) to name a few, before going on to be an Estate Manager for multi-property estates.
Aside from owning his own busy catering business, Mitchell’s 15 years of experience leave him with the confidence to execute all types of fare. He takes pride in all he creates, with specific skills in the preparation of Japanese, Italian, Mediterranean, Asian fusion cuisines and the knowledge needed to cater for specific intolerances and requirements like Paleo, Vegan and Gluten free.
Mitchell may be new to the yachting industry – but the world of gourmet food preparation already knows him well!
Languages: English, basic Spanish
CHIEF STEWARDESS
KARI MACCHESNEY – CANADIAN
Joined Spring 2017
Kari hails from Toronto, Canada, and having trained as a ESL (English as a foreign language) teacher she spent 2 years in Taiwan teaching before heading to Fiji where she worked as a dive instructor. In 2010, her diving took her to the Caribbean as a stewardess/dive Instructor on-board MY Miracle, since then she has experienced great success as a stewardess on busy charter vessels such as MY Grand Mariana, MY Lionshare and MY Dream Weaver.
Kari is very excited to have joined MY Marcato and looking forward to being on-board a busy charter yacht.
Languages: English
DECKHAND
REILLY STRAND – AMERICAN
Joined Spring 2017
Reilly was introduced to the yachting industry in the Summer of 2015 and is proud of the experience he has gained so far working on-board yachts such as MY Party Girl (146’ Christensen) and MY Grand Marina (144’ Benetti). A keen team player, Reilly loves sport and in particular diving, also swimming and paddle boarding, hiking and cycling. Joining the MY Marcato in 2017 he is thriving on all that the yacht has to offer.
Languages:English, basic Spanish
