Chef Competition With The Prince Of Monaco

The Jury

What an amazing day was had by all at the 2018 Superyacht Chef Competition, hosted at the Yacht Club de Monaco.

Bluewater felt honoured to have so many talented chefs spend the day with us. Cédric Séguéla, from the culinary school Secrets de Cuisine here in Antibes, was part of a special line up of celebrated chefs which included:

⁃ Stéphane Raimbault - With 2 Michelin stars under his belt since the age of 24, Stephane runs the Oasis restaurant in Mandelieu la Napoule, France.

⁃ Jacques Maximin - Winner of the Gault & Millau Guide & Hachette Guide Chef of the Year and named Meilleur Ouvrier de France Cuisinier.

⁃ Patrick Raingeard - Michelin starred chef from the famous Cap Estel in Eze, France.

⁃ Philippe Joannés - Meilleur Ouvrier de France 2000 and responsible for the Fairmont Monte Carlo hotel restaurant.

The Competition

The day started at 11am, the sun was shining, our 12 chefs were gathered together awaiting instructions, and the kitchen area was being checked by the Yacht Club’s very own gastronomic chef, Christian Plumail.

The first 3 chefs were welcomed and given 30 minutes to prepare a delicious plate, from a secret bag of ingredients provided by our lovely provisioner's, Helen and Gabi of Gourmet Deliveries.

At the end of the 30 minutes, the jury deliberated whilst the next 3 chefs prepared themselves for the same task.

By 3.30pm all 12 chefs had competed and were awaiting the arrival of H.S.H Prince Albert II to join before the announcement was made of which 3 chefs were going through to the final.

Guests enjoyed an open bar provided by bluewater whilst chatting with the chefs, and for those who weren't able to join us in person we had Mark Barrowman of Lifestyle Events with us, filming the entire event and creating a live feed to our facebook page.

The Final

H.S.H. Prince Albert II arrived to join us for the final. The finalists were announced:

Pablo Albuerne of M/Y TALES
Eric Vugliano of M/Y ROLA
Steeve Negouai of M/Y BLACK LEGEND

Gourmet Deliveries handed them each a bag of ingredients, this time with enough to prepare a main course and a dessert for each of our judges. The clock started the countdown from 45 minutes. The pressure was on.

Dégustation and Discussions

The jury took themselves off to another room to discuss the 3 finalists, this was a serious moment.

The chefs took time out to catch up with their fans, their crew, friends and families as well as members from the Yacht Club who came to enjoy the day.

We couldn't have put this event together without the team at Yacht Club de Monaco, their charismatic chef Christian Plumail, our long time friends at Secrets de Cuisine and Gourmet Deliveries, and our new friends at Lifestyle Events.
Azur Tech Hotel did a fantastic job of creating the kitchens and work spaces for the chefs, and Moet provided the champagne for all the contestants as a well done for making it in to the competition.

Bluewater started this competition 9 years ago, at the port of Antibes, during a boat show, with not much more than some bags of 'surprise ingredients' and make-shift hobs. It was a fun event and year on year it has grown to be this fantastic competition which our superyacht Chefs look forward to competing in.

And the Winner is....

PABLO ALBUERNE OF M/Y TALES! CONGRATULATIONS!

The crowd went wild, applause all round, Pablo was ecstatic to be crowned winner of the 2018 Superyacht Chef Competition!

Thank you to everyone for being a part of this day, and thank you to Arthur Keller Photography for capturing it.


For more information on the event please contact bluewater directly, and don’t forget to keep an eye on our facebook page for upcoming crew events:

Sharon Rose - Senior Crew Agent - sharon@bluewateryachting.com
Sarah Smith-Garrison - Marketing and Events for Crew and Training - sarah.sg@bluewateryachting.com