Women make their way in boating

The days are over when the marine industry was the domain of (almost) only men. Women have put themselves in the centre of attention and rightfully so. Today, there are women in key positions in almost every segment of the leisure boating sector. This is celebrated with the Women’s Yachting Award, honouring the most achieving women in the yachting world over the past year. During Metstrade last November, the award was granted for the second time. The impressive list of nominees and the fact that there are winners in three categories illustrate how women have taken their place in the industry.

Celebrate

The Award is organised by the team of Yacht Femme, a platform for women in the industry. Founder Andrea Tagliaferro shows delight in the attention that women in the leisure boating industry get. “In 2018, I founded Yacht Femme with a simple goal: to celebrate women in yachting and highlight their incredible talent, leadership, innovation, and achievements in this industry,” she explains. “Women have been shaping this industry in remarkable and often under-recognized ways, as captains, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and on many other unique and remarkable paths.”

Systemic change

While Tagliaferro herself learnt about the yachting world ‘from the ground up’, as she describes, as an interior crew member on a large yacht. Later she moved on to establish her own yacht design company Taglia, drawing on her experience and materialising her education, and today also acting as a marketing director at Navier – an American company that want to build tomorrow’s vessels: sustainable and using modern technology. She sees that the entry of women in the yachting industry is evolving, but not yet finished at all: “Today, women still hold only about 5% of senior leadership roles in this industry. Yet, these 5% have paved the way for generations to come, often more than they will ever realize. Through Yacht Femme, I get to hear their stories firsthand and see how one woman’s achievements inspire others and can snowball into systemic change.”

Winners

Categories in the Women’s Yachting Awards are ‘Rising Star of the Year’, as was announced to be Sophie Spicknell , who is news editor at Superyacht Times. Second category is ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ for which the jury chose Jill Bobrow, a yachting consuktant, book writer and journalist with 30 years of experience in the yachting industry. Third category is ‘Trailblazer of the year’, a prize awarded to Rosie O’Donnell, who connects Yachts and Science, has sailed ocean races professionally and now connects scientists with yacht owners to provide time on board for studies of ocean life.

Female industry leaders show the way

Metstrade, British Marine and industry publications Soundings Trade Only with Marine Industry News presented the second forum discussion of the collective advocacy group Women in Marine International at the Metstrade Stage, where female industry leaders shared their vision on the progressing in today’s global market. Soundings Trade Only’s vice president and maniging director Michelle Goldsmith hosted the discussion, where participants made clear that the transformation that is currently going on the leisure boating sector is evolving rapidly.

Andrea Tetto, marine business unit planning director of Yamaha U.S. remarked: “What is true today, may not be true in 12 months. We there for always plan different scenarios.” Barton Marine CEO Suzanne Blaustone added: “To be a leader in this industry, you have to be a crisis manager.” Blaustone explained that the personal touch needs to be upheld. “We always answer the phone. At our office, we don not want callers to be answered by a computer or a choice menu.” Still, she and the other participants added that it is necessary to use technology to monitor client demands and develop products to meet these demands.

Tetto gave the example of new technology being introduced: “We want to be ahead of customer demand. We do believe in autonomous docking. In our company, however, there was doubt if boaters really wanted to have that, and if they were willing to pay for it. It can be hard to predict what the customer will want, especially if the technology is not available yet. Were pursued. Autonomous docking turned out to be a great success.”

Benefits of being a woman

Sylvie Ernoult, director of the Cannes Yachting Festival, is continuously balancing audience attraction and exhibitor promotional expectations. “ Content is key to the show,” she explains. “Content that creates a buzz around the show can come from some leading yards. We need to make it easy and beneficial for these large clients to participate in the show, so they will always want to be present. At the same time, we want to present new yards and start-ups to present their novelties.

We have more demand for slips at the in-water show than we have space. If our regular yards want more space, because they want to show their big impressive yachts, we sometimes have to say: no, this space is reserved for a new small yard. This can sometimes be tough. Working with men, who demand their brand to be presented at large scale, I advise women to use the benefits of being a woman in negotiations with men. As a team, we create a longer term vision of where we want to go as a show. Then it comes to translate this vision into the content of this year’s show.”

Goldsmith adds an inspirational note; “At Trade Only, we like to get inspired by other industries, like automotive or aerospace. How do the manufacturers of private jets, for example, approach their clientele?” Aine Denari, chief technology officer at Brunswick Corp, adds: “We need to use technology to determine who to approach. Use big data to find your prospect. But in this approach, never forget to have the personal touch.”

Female voices

Next month, Soundings Trade Only will host a next panel discussion during the Miami Boat Show on how to address the changing customer behaviour in the marine industry. Expert insights on this topic will come through the mouths of all female industry leaders.

Fun fact: the Metstrade Team counts 20 women and 7 men.