The PYA held its biggest ever programme of events at this year’s Monaco Yacht Show. Drawing on the successful format of previous years where we have run Continuing Professional Development Workshops and seminars for crew, we once again offered crew a range of hands-on, interactive sessions to get involved in.

One the first day of the show, we kicked off proceedings with ‘The Role of a Superyacht Deckhand’, hosted by Captain Ian Biles. Wearing diving masks filled with cotton wool, the crew had to try and successfully navigate themselves around obstacles and through a ‘lightening hole’ without being able to see, to demonstrate how difficult simple tasks could be onboard in the instance of fire, and how to cope with such visual impairment.

Our second session was a collaboration between Richard Falk from the Royal Yachting Association and Brad Robertson from Superyacht Lifeguard, and addressed safety issues when using water toys with guests, and lifeguarding skills to use in the case of emergency. This is an important area we need to generate more awareness of, and something that Brad and Richard would be happy to discuss with crew in more depth.

This was followed by our own Director or Training and Certification, Joey Meen giving a thorough overview to crew preparing for their OOW, clarifying the dos and don’ts of completing the Training Record Book, the correct steps to take to apply for the NoE, preparing for the oral etc.

Thursday brought with it the PYA’s Headline event – the Sea Changes Forum, which took place at the prestigious International Hydrographic Organization. Attracting many Captains, heads of department and industry experts, this was the place to be to find out all the latest updates from the MCA, RYA and PYA.

One key piece of news which was formally announced from the MCA was that it has asked the PYA to extend its existing Sea Service Testimonial (SST) verification service, making it available for the first time to yacht crew who are not PYA members. The MCA made a preliminary announcement about this at last year’s PYA Sea Changes Seminar confirmed at this year’s that, with effect from 1^st January 2017, the job of SST verification for seafarers in the yachting sector will be handled on their behalf by professional organisations including the PYA.

The appointment of the PYA to carry out this task on behalf of the MCA is a clear demonstration of their confidence in the integrity of the PYA’s existing verification procedures.

For the first time ever, this year’s Headline event also included a new component called ‘Laying the Blame: A Disaster at Sea’, which took the audience through a dramatic scenario of a high-profile accident onboard, looking at the areas which went wrong. The panel of experts demonstrated how yachts need to have not just a risk strategy in place, but a media and communications strategy in case of things going wrong. We finished the event with a rooftop drinks reception overlooking the whole of the Monaco show in all its glory, kindly sponsored by Corkers Fine WInes!

Our events on the Friday were focused on the interior department, kicking off with an interactive PYA GUEST Training session hosted by Peter Vogel and Lynne Edwards (both approved GUEST trainers), demonstrating the art of laying a table. This interactive workshop showed crew how to elevate their stewarding skills to the next level and provide an absolutely seamless service to the owners and charter guests.

Our final event was the PYA Interior Sea Changes Forum, which informed the attendees of all the latest news for interior crew and chefs. The highlight of the seminar was the results of the annual PYA Table-setting competition, the judging of which had taken place on-board throughout the show on Wednesday 28^th. This year, the competition was raising money for ‘The Pink Ribbon Foundation’ which works towards the prevention, research and treatment of breast cancer. The panel of judges were extremely impressed with the standards shown by the participating teams in accordance with the theme of ‘Pink Canapés and Cocktails’. The interior teams demonstrated exceptional creativity and flair with their table designs, and the cocktails and canapés served were fantastic.

The Results of the 2016 PYA Table Setting Competition

PRESENTATION, ACCURACY & IMPACT OF TABLE

1st: Maltese Falcon

2nd: Burkut

3^rd: White Rose of Drachs

 

CREATION, SERVING AND TASTE OF COCKTAIL

1st: Burkut: “The Love Potion”

2nd Natori: “Tickle me Pink”

3rd: Maltese Falcon: “Immersion”

 

VARIETY AND TASTE OF CANAPES

1st: Maltese Falcon

2nd: Lady Nag Nag

 

PRESENTATION AND ETIQUETTE OF CREW

1st White Rose of Drachs

2nd Lady Nag Nag

3rd Natori

 

OVERALL COORDINATION OF TABLE AND INTERPRETATION OF THEME

1st: Maltese Falcon

2nd: White Rose of Drachs

3rd: Lady Nag Nag

 

SPECIAL AWARD FOR ‘FUN’

1st: Burket

2nd: Natori

 

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all the boats that took part, and to our wonderful panel of judges. Thanks to an extremely generous donation from the owner of the Maltese Falcon, as well as other contributions from the participants, we are thrilled to announce that the total amount raised for the Pink Ribbon Foundation came to a whopping €4,282!!!

All of the PYA events at the Monaco Yacht Show would not have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors. Thank you all so much!