Creating a superyacht Legasea
Creating a superyacht Legasea
Purpose

Creating a superyacht Legasea

The full Legasea mentorship programme begins in earnest in January 2022, and its promotion of collaboration and career longevity is sure to benefit the whole of the superyacht industry.

By Charlotte Thomas | 9 December 2021

It seems extraordinary to think that just 30 years ago very few people had heard of superyachting. The industry was young and small, and many of the roles onboard and ashore came via word of mouth. The fleet numbered almost of quarter what it is today, and to get on the list of 100 Largest Yachts your yacht only needed to tip 45 metres in length.

Times, of course, have changed. The entry length for that Top 100 list has doubled; tens of thousands of crew derive their living from working aboard superyachts where professional qualifications, standards and professionalism have all progressed leaps and bounds. Ashore, myriad companies now service the fleet and their owners and guests – it was estimated in 2012 that some 250,000 people directly or indirectly rely on superyachting for their sole income. The industry is starting, as they say, to grow up.

Initiatives such as She of the Sea – founded in 2018 by Jenny Matthews, who had just passed her Officer of the Watch (OOW) certificate, and Natasha Ambrose, who achieved her Chief Mate 3,000GT ticket in 2017 – are indicative of how key themes such as diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) and social impact are becoming ever more prevalent as yachting matures. Added to this was a new initiative from the She of the Sea team for 2020 focusing on the development of skills, the sharing of knowledge, and the encouraging of an inclusive industry. Named Legasea, the pilot programme took on 90 people.

Creating a superyacht Legasea
Creating a superyacht Legasea

Since talking to Superyacht Life at the start of the summer, things have progressed considerably for Matthews, Ambrose and the Legasea Mentorship programme, which formally launches this December in association with Burgess and Quay Crew. The programme is the yachting industry’s first to focus on career-orientated yachting professionals from across the spectrum and from all areas of work, from crewing to insurance, project management, surveying and law, and beyond. The idea is simple – match through an app and online platform mentors with mentees, who then agree between themselves how often to connect and what goals to aim for over the coming months. There are no barriers to what you might want to learn from who, and the scheme is open to everyone, no matter how new or how experienced they may be in their current sectors. All applicants are vetted by the Legasea team to ensure that the intent and the commitment is genuine from all sides.

In many ways, the idea of cross-sector mentoring seems obvious when you think about it, but the fact that this is only just happening now is less a reflection of superyachting’s past, and more a reflection of how the next generation of those within the industry – as a mirror to the next generation of owners – are no longer prepared to accept the status quo. The idea of inspiring people to aspire, of creating not individual silos of expertise but an industry wide community that strives to be and do better in encouraging talent above all other factors, is heartwarming – as is the response to the programme even in its fledgling months. It shows that there is more to superyachting and the people who work in it than just glamour and artifice. This is an industry that cares, and within which the right guiding hand can transform the paths of those just joining.

“Your career completely depends on who you end up working with,” says Matthews. “If you get on a boat and it’s your first job and you’re working with a really switched-on leader who knows that a good career culture is the way to go, that it’s inclusive, it’s diverse and that there are no barriers, you’re going to be that kind of person as you grow up in the industry. If you don’t work with someone like that, you have a completely different career. It’s the luck of the draw – but the mentorship programme offers a barrier-breaker.”

Creating a superyacht Legasea

Crew Ellie Younis-Dominik Kordic-Joshua Fernandez Oxby

Creating a superyacht Legasea

Crew Ellie Younis-Dominik Kordic-Joshua Fernandez Oxby

Thanks to the sponsorship of Burgess and Quay Crew, Legasea has been able to use best-in-class mentoring software as used by corporate giants such as Google. However, Matthews is quick to point out that the sponsorship has no bearing on who is getting involved and offering to mentor. “We actually have people involved from all different companies,” Matthews confirms, “which is really beautiful as it’s a real equaliser. We wanted this to be a place where people who would normally be competitors in the market can come in and share the knowledge with each other, lay down the baton for a minute and say ‘we’re all on the same team here’. If you want to invest in talent you can do that, and it doesn’t matter where you’re from.”

For Burgess and Quay Crew, the programme is actually a chance to offer upskilling to their existing family of employees and fleet, and both companies have purchased mentoring seats that they have offered to crew under their management as a form of scholarship. According to Matthews, Burgess has had over 40 applicants for its spaces for 2021. “We strongly believe that career progression, whether onboard or ashore, is a worthy cause to support,” says Lucy Medd, Partner and Burgess and Fleet Crew Manager. “The talent we have within the Burgess fleet of yachts is of such a high standard and this programme helps our team build on existing skills while also opening doors for when the time comes to move on.”

Medd’s views are reflected by Tim Clarke, Director of Quay Crew. “What Jenny and her team have been doing to promote inclusion and equality across the yachting sector through She of the Sea is admirable, and now the Legasea mentorship programme offers something far more tangible to crew,” he offers. “As a crew recruitment agency, we have first-hand experience of the shortage of high calibre candidates, but also the lack of opportunities with longer-term prospects. It’s time we all start championing the industry as one where someone can enjoy a worthy and highly rewarding career, both at sea across all onboard departments, and on land.”

Creating a superyacht Legasea
Creating a superyacht Legasea

It is that last part that, perhaps, helps define a key facet that the programme enables – the transition of motivated and career-orientated crew from positions onboard to positions ashore. “There are three main things to the Legasea mentoring,” Matthews explains. “First is the talent pipeline. Second is a circular knowledge economy, where we believe the more we can share our knowledge, the better we as a collective will be.”

The third, which Matthews says everyone is really excited about, is bridging that gap between ship and shore. “We’ve got a leaky sieve in that people spend 10 or 20 years at sea but they don’t really know what the options are ashore – we’re just seeing people disappear into the ether,” she says. “At the same time, there are shipyards and management companies crying out for real hands-on experience. So this is a big part of Legasea, that we’ve got really good representation from the shoreside now connecting with seafarers, and not only sharing the knowledge but actually providing employment opportunities when it’s time to swallow the anchor.”

The first fully fledged Legasea programme begins on 6 January 2022, and as it stands more than 250 people will be taking part. This is only the beginning, though – the software platform means the scheme can be scaled each year according to interest, and it’s hard to imagine that interest won’t be considerable as Legasea becomes better known. “I think it changes the way people think about the industry in terms of longevity, and keeping our talent in our industry and not losing it to other sectors,” Matthews concludes. “This is the right idea at the right time, and the right people are involved with the right kinds of values. It’s about being vulnerable and being brave, and it’s about saying ‘as an industry we didn’t do this very well before but we’re going to show up and try to do better’. We’re changing people’s lives, and we’re going to change the narrative. It feels incredibly exciting.”

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