Women’s Day Panel
Tuesday 30 July, Cowes Week 2024
To celebrate women in maritime, we are hosting a Women’s Day Panel on Tuesday 30 July from 12pm – 2pm at the Island Sailing Club.
The panellists include active volunteers, global navigators, history making captains and more. These trailblazing women will share their lived experiences and talk about how Tall Ships Youth Trust (TSYT) helped kick-start each of their maritime journeys. This exciting event is sure to motivate and encourage more women to enjoy this wonderful sport and consider careers in the ocean and maritime environment.
With less than 3% of active global seafarers in the commercial and private maritime sectors being women, TSYT is excited to use this opportunity to showcase many of the different ways women can get into maritime. And they are well placed to do so as with 25% of their skippers and mates, and over 50% of their volunteers and voyage crew being female, they are bucking the global trend. In addition, more than 40% of the young people supported last year were female.
The panellists will talk about their journeys, challenges, and successes in the sailing world, and there’ll be an opportunity to have your questions answered. Following the discussion, you can meet the panellists, expand your network and make valuable connections over drinks and nibbles.
Kirsty is our Director of Youth Development and Outdoor Learning at Tall Ships Youth Trust and after a career in education spanning two decades, she’s never been too far from a boat.
Growing up in Whitstable in Kent, she learned to sail on a Mirror dinghy called Jupiter that her dad built as a student in 1970 in his living room!
After a summers dinghy sailing with the Kent Scouts Water Activities team of volunteers, she had her first taster sailing on a yacht. With the first line of her RYA logbook filled out, she wondered what would happen next.
Later that year, her uncle who sailed as a volunteer Watch Officer with Sail Training Association (now TSYT) suggested a 10-day voyage onboard Sir Winston Churchill (funded by the Staffordshire branch of Sail Training Association) and with that, the sea spark was born!
Returning soon after for her first trip as a Watch Leader, Kirsty built her experience and sea time, gained the qualifications she needed for a life working at sea and joined as a Bosun onboard TS Royalist and Stavros S Niarchos.
In 2004, her daughter Elspeth arrived and Kirsty came ashore, retraining as a secondary teacher progressing through both state and private schools before moving into inner city Portsmouth. Diving into an area where disadvantage and access to learning presented a significant challenge, she moved into Senior Leadership as an Assistant Principal for Quality of Education.
As TSYT developed its new strategy for 2023-28, Kirsty left conventional education and joined the team to lead the growth and implementation of the new Youth Development & Outdoor Learning team at TSYT.
Since January 2023, Kirsty has built her team, driven change, brought training and opportunity to the young people and adults involved with TSYT, continuing to voyage, supporting staff training and youth development on the water. As we strive to develop our amazing ‘Young Person’s Journey’ through our 3-voyage programme, we’re working to build pathways into adulthood, maritime and skills for successful decision-making and personal development.
Working with our inspiring young people every day is just amazing and with her daughter now working in maritime just across the water at Clipper, she has another Bosun in the house and continues to provide a platform for young people to discover and realise their potential in a challenging and nurturing environment.
Jo is currently the Harbour Master in Chichester, but her route to reach Chichester has been far from conventional. Jo grew up in the Midlands, with her childhood sailing involving racing toppers and lasers around local lakes and reservoirs. Jo left school at 16 and started an engineering apprenticeship with Land Rover.
During her training, Jo was provided with a bursary for a 2 week trip on the Sail Training Association (STA) schooner the Sir Winston Churchill. She was bitten by the sail training bug, and with an invitation to return as a watch leader, the door was open to further sailing opportunities. From that point forward all holidays were spent offshore sailing, with night school classes taken for yacht master coastal, and winter weekends used for practical RYA courses. Whilst sailing with the STA she learned about the Merchant Navy and began looking at opportunities for a career at sea. In 2000 she took the plunge and secured a Merchant Navy deck officer cadetship, sponsored by Maritime London.
Jo progressed through the ranks with the British Antarctic Survey, securing her unlimited Master Mariners Certificate of Competency in 2011. Between 2012 and 2014 Jo swapped research ships for life on a research station on the remote sub Antarctic Island of South Georgia undertaking the role of Government Officer.
In 2014 Jo returned to sea, securing her first command onboard the Royal Research Ship Discovery. After 18 years of working away, Jo put down roots on the South Coast and moved from deep sea to cross Solent ferries, whilst looking for a shore-based role. This led her back to the South Atlantic as Falklands Harbour Master, before her return to the UK and her current role in Chichester in 2023.
Like most yacht sailors, Charlotte started out sailing on dinghies, before progressing onto bigger boats. She first got involved with Tall Ships Youth Trust (TSYT) after her mother competed in the 2015 Rolex Fastnet Race with an all-female team on board a TSYT Challenger yacht, which inspired Charlotte to go on her own voyage.
She got invited to join the TSYT team as a Volunteer Watch Leader after her first trip, and soon spent all her school holidays sailing! Sailing on board the Challengers presented her with a myriad of opportunities, such as crossing Biscay and competing in the 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race.
She became a Youth Ambassador for the charity when the role was created in 2023, and more recently has progressed into the Volunteer Mate role. Currently Charlotte is studying geography at University, although she spends more time sailing than studying!
Having been awarded day skipper, and sailing nearly 8 thousand nautical miles, she is now working towards her yacht master qualification, with the aim of one day skippering one of the Challengers.
Kitty Kaneen, 16, is a student in the first year of her A-levels, studying maths, philosophy, English language and history. Kitty lives in Wiltshire and attends her local explorer pack and is a volunteer young leader for beavers. She also enjoys walking and cycling with her friends.
On completing her A-level studies Kitty intends to take a gap year to sail and volunteer with Tall Ships Youth Trust (TSYT). She is then planning to go to university to study to become a special educational needs/ disabilities teacher and continue sailing in her holidays.
Kitty has been dingy sailing since she was five years old, learning to sail a topper at the Cotswolds Water Park. This experience initiated her love for water sports and the ocean. She was first introduced to Tall Ships Youth Trust (TSYT) when she was 14 by her scout leader who knew she had an interest in sailing and the outdoors. On Kitty’s first trip with TSYT she spent a week exploring the Solent and on her second she sailed to the Channel Islands. Following this, Kitty received a Watch Leader recommendation and is now a qualified watch leader, leading groups of young people on board TSYT’s four 72ft Challenger yachts.
In May 2024 Kitty attended the International Maritime Organisation’s Day for Women in Maritime representing TSYT. It was a great opportunity for her to meet other women who have pursued careers in the maritime industry, and she looks forward to inspiring more women at Cowes Week in July.
Lucy’s most recent role was as Operations Manager for Seas Your Future and CEO of the umbrella body for UK Sail Training/ASTO for 12 years.
Prior to that, she was a full-time Sail Training Skipper and Mate. Lucy still does the odd bit of seafaring, most recently as Skipper for the Sea Cadets. She first got into Sail Training as a young person, taking part in Tall Ships Races from age 18 on board ‘Morning Star’ and sailing as watch leader for a couple of voyages on the STA schooners where she first met TSYT’s Kirsty, and they’ve remained friends ever since.
© Copyright 2024. All rights reserved.
| Registration number: 567460 | Charity number: 314229
Website by Eldo™