UKSA has been celebrating the graduation of young people from its Superyacht Cadetship - the flagship course for the charity and training centre – and has announced ambitious plans for greater funding to enable even more young people to access to the industry.

A ceremony held on Friday, 8th March at UKSA’s base in Cowes, Isle of Wight, was attended by the students’ close family and friends, UKSA staff and the funding partners that make the professional course a viable option for many of the young people, aged between 18 and 25. Funding comes from sources including: Seafarers UK, AMERC, Trinity House, the Royal Yacht Squadron IOW Foundation,   The Whirlwind Charitable Trust and Milo Hanlon.

 The 27 graduates have completed the first phase of the five-phase programme and have either already secured roles or are actively seeking employment in the superyacht industry for their second phase. The four-year programme is a career path to Officer of the Watch (Yacht <3000GT) and onward to Master (Yacht <3000GT) qualification and combines both academic studies interspersed with periods of paid work on superyachts. Cadets can also take a Foundation degree in Operational Yacht Science with Falmouth Marine School.

Annalisa Dovey, Course Manager, said: “The cadetship combines the most relevant training with mentoring, therefore equipping graduates with a strong foundation of knowledge and, crucially, a realistic understanding of the industry they are entering into it.”

The Superyacht Cadetship is attracting growing numbers of young people year-on-year due to the unrivalled support, facilities and funding opportunities offered to students at UKSA. 50 young people are expected to graduate from the first phase of the course in 2020.

UKSA’s CEO Ben Willows commented: “As demand for qualified staff rises in the industry, we are looking forward to welcoming more students through our doors to help meet this growth. In 2017/2018, 423 people undertook career training courses with 44% of the graduates moving on to work in the superyacht industry and 25% beginning work in the watersports industry. Critical to our model of success is our Industry Guidance team, our course advisors and recruitment service who support our students throughout their careers.”

Willows added: “Student funding helps to widen access to maritime training, therefore enhancing life skills and helping to continue increasing employment within the sector. In 2018, 28% of UKSA’s career students were part or fully-funded and we are actively working to grow this figure to 50% by 2020. Our vision is to offer maritime training to as wide a number of people as possible and funding from our loyal partners is vital to delivering this vision.”

The following awards were presented to the graduating cadets:

• CrewFo Top Cadet Award for Effort and Attitude - Joe Burnip, 21, from the Isle of Wight
• Falmouth University Award for Top Academic Cadet – Richard (Will) Houranhane, 19, from Trowbridge
• Nautilus Award for the Most Socially Minded – Jean Paul Baudains, 23, from Guernsey
• Top Seafarers Cadet – Reece Walton, 18, from Orpington
• Vanessa Hodgson’s Top Crew Award was presented to Arcadia - Owen Neale, 21, Jean Paul Baudains, 23, George Vaughan, 19 and George Jenks, 18.
• UKSA Outstanding Achievement Award – Elspeth Muir, 20, from Exeter.
• Honorable mentions for Outstanding Achievement were made to Matt Prescott, 19, from Keswick and Phil Crozier, 24, from Carrickfergus.