Shawn completes Bosun Apprenticeship
We are pleased to announce that Shawn is the latest recruit to complete his apprenticeship with Cirdan.
Shawn originally became involved with The Cirdan Sailing Trust in 2024 when he joined a voyage as a participant. Shawn had been experiencing some mental health challenges, and joined one of our Voyage to Recovery trips as part of his recovery process.
Whilst on the boat, something ignited in Shawn and he found his place and where he wanted to be - helping others that have gone through similar experiences as him and making a difference to their lives. With that in mind, Shawn joined another voyage and then applied for a role as Apprentice Bosun.
“This apprenticeship has been a sure fire way of developing my skills and more so, developing myself as a person.”
The 18 month apprenticeship sees participants gain experience across all three boats, helping to deliver voyages. The job is much more than that though and experience will be gained in every aspect of running the fleet from the refit side of things over the winter periods to seamanship and navigation to looking after the vessels engines.
“I've had an amazing time working alongside SeaRegs for my apprenticeship. Their team are very well equipped and come from a vast background in the maritime industry, from traditional sailors to Royal Marines to top class engineers. Consistently I've felt through the training provided I've attained more knowledge than required for the tests, which I then apply comfortably to my role with Cirdan.
“On top of what I am learning with SeaRegs I've been taught so much by the Cirdan crew, whether that's bolstering the things I've learnt through the syllabus or completely new and unique skill sets. Overall, it's been class. I feel like, for a freshie in this world, my skills are developing very quickly.”
Shawn now has his RYA Yachtmaster Coastal qualification and passed his practical exam with a distinction! Next stop, his RYA Yachtmaster Offshore. A future Cirdan Skipper in the making.
