'Home Grown Crew' : PYA Initiative For Work Placement On Yachts

Following feedback from captains - whilst there are plenty of people looking for work, there are many junior crew with no yachting experience - the PYA has teamed up with ItalianYachtMasters, MYBA and GEPY to see if it's viable to mentor young people onboard.

The associations involved with this scheme are in a position to encourage local colleges and schools throughout France and Italy to send students on work placements. The PYA have been in discussions with various hospitality and sailing schools to look at including a 2 or 3 week placement onboard as part of the training. If there is positive response, the initiative will be rolled out to other countries.

The idea would be to get students onboard in the Autumn, when the yachting season has calmed down. This way, they can become familiar with the yacht and have time to learn new skills during the winter months. Then when the season starts, instead of taking on 'green' dayworkers, the work experience candidates will be able to hit the ground running having built up useful experience during their placement.

The PYA have put together a survey for captains to see whether the idea of mentoring young people onboard would be something they are open to the idea of. If you're a Captain, you can help out with our research for this initiative by completing this short survey.