WOMEN IN BOATBUILDING

More and more women are nding the con dence to enter the very male world of boatbuilding

WORDS CATHERINE LARNER

Every day Belinda Joslin was sanding, painting and varnishing boats – her time off working as a finisher at Spirit Yachts was dedicated to stripping down her father’s 23ft (7.1m) Ajax after the racing season and fixing her children’s boats for family sailing. She’d owned and looked after boats all her life, but she didn’t know any other women who were as obsessed as she was in fixing them.

“You live in your own little bubble and you don’t know who’s out there, doing their thing,” Belinda says. “So I set up an Instagram account. My driving force was making contact with other women and finding out about their stories, then I really enjoyed sharing them. I’ve also discovered some incredible, inspiring women.”

Calling the account Women in Boatbuilding, Belinda has collected mini profiles of women from around the country in all aspects of the industry, highlighting the significant contribution women are making in what has always been considered a niche and male preserve.

“There are definitely more young women coming into the industry than there were even five years ago,” says Karen Underwood, managing director of Spirit Yachts. “Female boatbuilders have been a part of the Spirit team since the very beginning. We have always been keen to have women in the yard and, over the last few years, there are noticeably more women who are trained and have an active interest in woodwork.”

Courses and apprenticeship schemes are seeing more interest from female candidates. Even though at Lyme Regis Boatbuilding Academy that means only about 10 per cent of its intake are women, their skills and application are of a high standard, says tutor Matthew Law. They are going on to become painters, finishers and boatbuilders in small and large yards, running their own businesses or working as contractors or in management.

“People have a perception that physically boatbuilding is prohibitive, but that’s not the case,” says Gail McGarva who has been running her own boatbuilding business since 2009. “You just find your way around issues. It’s about thinking on your feet, problem solving. It’s about your commitment, your motivation and your determination.”

Above left: Women have always been part of the team at Spirit Yachts Above right: Lyme Regis Boatbuilding Academy is seeing a growing number of

women applicants

CULTURAL CHANGE

While educational and charitable organisations are working hard to make themselves welcoming, safe and inclusive, not all women are reporting positive experiences when they enter the workplace. “A cultural change doesn’t happen overnight,” says Felicity Lees, operations director at Pioneer Sailing Trust. “It takes time.”

When Felicity joined Pioneer in 2010, she was the first and only female member of the staff. Now there is an equal mix of men and women on the management team and she believes it’s because it is such a comfortable place to work. It’s been achieved through consulting with people who have gone through the sailing activities or in the boatyard, and asking them what barriers they met. She established that hygiene, privacy, appropriate language, briefings and lifting equipment were all issues which could be improved to ensure everyone felt equal and a respected member of the team.

Whether women have embarked on boatbuilding as students or apprentices, at the start of their working lives or as a career change, there are financial considerations. The cost of courses can be prohibitive and the hourly wage when qualified is not necessarily reflective of the skills involved, so the decision to pursue boatbuilding may be a lifestyle choice rather than a lucrative career. Heike Lowenstein trained at Lyme Regis Boatbuilding Academy and worked as a boatbuilder at Spirit Yachts for three years. She has just moved to Pioneer Sailing Trust as lead boatbuilder and training manager, and believes that the rate of pay is another issue the industry needs to tackle.

Above right: Skills and application of work at Lyme Regis Boatbuilding Academy is of a high standard

BELINDA CREE

A self-employed bosun/boatbuilder, Belinda (Cree) is currently working in Southampton on a major refi t of La Fenice for the Liming Co.

“At the moment, I’m de-rusting, dealing with the rough spots in the bulwarks,” she says. “It involves needle gunning and grinding out any patches of fi ller or rust. There’s about 60 metres (200ft) of steel bulwarks to do.”

She found the job through Crew Seekers in October 2021 and, when the contract comes to an end, plans to get back to sea before embarking on another boatbuilding project.

After studying fi lmmaking and screenwriting at university, she was a freelance event manager and videographer while also working in theatre, but the prospect of working at sea led her to take on a traditional seafarer traineeship three years ago with National Historic Ships. On this course, she trained in boat maintenance at Lowestoft International Boatbuilding Training College and then moved on to the Pioneer Sailing Trust.

“There were some awesome boatbuilding projects going on in the yard there. The beauty of what they were creating and the skill involved was fantastic. I felt driven to learn as much as I could.”

“I am working with Belinda in trying to expand Women in Boatbuilding,” says Heike. “At the moment we’re hoping to offer mentoring to women, but perhaps we will be able to expand to provide more resources.”

Funding for training courses in the form of grants, bursaries and sponsorship would also act as “a proactive affirmation”, according to Gail McGarva. “But one of the vital things you need is somebody believing in you and saying yes, you can do it.”

Certainly, an increased visibility of women working in the industry with more role models at all levels is crucial for supporting and expanding a diverse workforce, says Obi Oji, who trained at Lyme Regis Boatbuilding Academy. “You see similar people to you and it starts your thought process that it might be possible to have a go.”

Above: Spirit’s level ‘playing field’ of employing women, sets a good example within the industry

BEA COLECHIN

Walking her dog along the river in Nottingham one day, 18-year-old swimming instructor Bea Colechin spotted a dilapidated 23ft (7.1m) canal boat for sale. She loved working with wood and had taken up a part-time furniture making course, so she pulled together all her savings and bought the boat.

“Two years down the line I was spending every waking hour on that boat and my dad pointed out that I could do it as a job rather than a hobby.”

Bea applied to Lowestoft International Boatbuilding Training College and qualified for a bursary and, at 19, moved to Su olk for the year-long course. “I had a fun time. You build up your skills really quickly.”

She secured her first job at the family-owned boatyard, Eastwood Whelpton in Norfolk, before she passed her final exams.

“I’ve ended up with a really good job because I get to do a bit of everything,” she says. “There’s nothing we can’t do as women, we just have to think a bit di erently sometimes. I’m by far the smallest person in my boatyard, so any jobs in hard-toreach places are my jobs because I can get in there better than anybody else.

“And the people here are very encouraging. Everyone’s always asking each other for their opinion on a job so I was able to ask questions. My confidence has improved massively.”

More opportunities for encouraging people to enter the industry are being explored. Pioneer Sailing Trust is offering different pathways to boatbuilding in a nationwide scheme, with block release training; and a new apprenticeship scheme starts in September for ‘Heritage Engineering Marine Technicians’. And Spirit Yachts is in the initial stages of setting up its own Academy, says Karen Underwood, where students will gain a degree-level qualification in yacht construction. “The academy will be a fantastic resource to help attract and nurture female boatbuilding talent.”

Although there was no intention at the outset that the Women in Boatbuilding Instagram account would be anything more than a means of celebrating each other’s achievements, in the past 18 months it’s become

GAIL MCGARVA

Awarded the British Empire Medal for her services to clinker boatbuilding and heritage crafts, Gail McGarva devotes herself to building boats that are in danger of extinction, creating replicas, or ‘daughter boats’.

“I was very fortunate in that when I finished my training in 2005, there was an explosion of interest in Cornish Pilot Gigs and clubs were commissioning new boats,” she says.

Since then, though, she has also sought out funding for a wide range of heritage projects, encouraging communities to participate in the building of boats, teaching traditional boatbuilding skills and sharing the narratives behind the vessels.

“I have a very strong philosophy that if you involve people in the building process, they will have a connection with the boat and then they will ultimately become custodians of it,” she says.

Gail had lived on boats for many years and decided to look into the course at Lyme Regis Boatbuilding Academy after careers working as a sign language interpreter and an actor/teacher.

“I walked in the door and I knew immediately, that’s what I wanted to do. It was one of those life-changing events.”

clear that it could become a support network and lobbying force.

Industry bodies like the RYA and Maritime UK are working for change by introducing departments and programmes dedicated to equality and diversity, but these initiatives need to be seen implemented in the boatyards themselves.

“As an industry we are a long way off gender parity, and a lot more could be done towards it,” says Belinda. Women have been privately sharing their stories of everyday sexism, discrimination and alienation while getting on with the job and often having to prove themselves over and above their male counterparts.

“People talk to you as if you’re some sort of trailblazer,” says self-employed bosun/boatbuilder Belinda Cree. “You don’t feel there’s space for you not to be the best in the yard. Are you going to allow me to be new, to be learning, or will you think I’m no good because I’m a woman?”

From inappropriate language to ill-fitting workwear and PPE, there are many areas which can be remedied but involve a cultural change in a sector that is still considered by some to be ‘old school’.

“We’ve got a groundswell of change with the way that people are treated and the types of comments that are made,” says Felicity Lees at Pioneer. “It can seem quite archaic and we need to call it out when it happens.”

“I’d like to see the perception of who can work in this industry change,” says self-employed bosun/ boatbuilder Belinda [Cree]. “It needs to change if the industry is to stay strong and grow. In the heritage industry in particular, volunteers are older men and that’s not sustainable in the long term.”

“Each man and woman brings something different to the workplace,” says Emily Stokes who trained at Lyme Regis BBA and has just joined Spirit Yachts, which is based Ipswich, Suffolk. “It doesn’t matter if you are male or female if you are competent, able and have a passion for the work, and you will be achieving something complicated and wonderful!”

Above Boatbuilding is not all about strength, it’s about problem solving and accuracy

She may not have picked up a chisel until she was in her late 40s, but Jo Wood is a key member of the team building a reconstruction of a 90ft (27.5m) Anglo-Saxon boat in what is a unique venture of experimental archaeology in Woodbridge, Su olk.

A trained accountant, Jo had been working for charitable organisations overseas for many years, but in 2016 decided she wanted a change. She took time out to pursue a boatbuilding course in Lowestoft.

“I had discovered sailing in my early 30s and was looking at how I could build my knowledge around it. I wanted to be creative and do something practical, something completely di erent from my day job.”

She achieved a City and Guilds boatbuilding qualification and volunteered with the Ship’s Company in Woodbridge, contributing shifts between her work commitments.

“We are using the materials and techniques of the Anglo-Saxons, but it’s about using the tools rather than engaging brute force. And it’s important to rotate the tasks, almost like circuit training. You can’t do axe work all day so I will be making sca olding and handrails with power tools at other times. It’s a great journey that I feel I’m on, along with the ship.”

JO WOOD

95 years of experience in traditional yacht refit & restoration

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18/08/2022 13:40