The Thames Sailing Barge Trust has announced that they have been awarded a grant of £19,600 from Trinity House towards the Trust’s successful training scheme for skippers and mates.
One of the Trust’s objectives is to advance the education of the public as to the historic and cultural role of Thames sailing barges in the seagoing heritage of Great Britain and to provide training in the traditional seafaring skills required to sail and maintain Thames sailing barges in their local waters.
The Thames sailing barge community in general is facing a shortage of skilled crew. The ‘pool of talent’ they can draw upon is shrinking as time goes by, due to an increasingly aging demographic in the sailing barge community. It is vital that new blood is swiftly brought in so that precious skills are not lost.
Currently, it can take up to five years or so to gain sufficient experience to become a Mate, and ten years to become a Skipper. There is a real problem with skills disappearing coupled with the length of time it takes to learn the trade. There are currently only eight Skippers under the age of 50, and about 25 Mates.
Over the last 10 years, the Trust have taken on a number of trainees each year in order to train them as future third hands, mates and ultimately skippers, so that there is a pool of people available to sail the historic Thames sailing barges in the future. Training is provided in a partnership with Sea Change Sailing Trust.
Since the rebirth of the training scheme in 2016, the Trust has added seven new Masters and 14 new Mates to the talent pool. Just as impressively, it has also supported 11 trainees into full-time employment in the maritime sector. Trainees support over a dozen different barges sailing every year, plus other classic craft.
The funds from Trinity House will be used to cover the costs of RYA training courses, books and hire of barges to carry out practicable learning. It will help make sure that for well into the future there will be sufficient trained crew to sail these iconic vessels including the Trust’s sailing barges Centaur and Pudge.
Source: Thames Sailing Barge Trust on Facebook
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