By now the superyacht industry will be familiar with the work done by the ItalianYachtMaster association to raise awareness of the superyacht career to those more likely set for a career in the merchant navy. However, the association is keen to break Italy’s boundaries and raise awareness of a career in this industry in regions beyond the Italian border.

“I’ve been in Turkey for almost two years and I know how this friendly country is, and how it's proud of its past, and the Turkish people are right to be,” explains Captain Carlo Summonti, boardmember of the ItalianYachtMaster association. “Turkey has a fantastic historical background, and one in the maritime sector as well. So I asked myself, why don’t Turkish sea cadets know more about yachting?”

Captain Summonti admits that it would be difficult to replicate the success of raising awareness of the yachting career they have seen in Italy; however, keen to give it a go, the association pushed on, and found two partners for this programme in the likes of URSA Shipyard and superyacht agent C2C. The association and its partners then discovered Piri Reis Universitesi, a nautical college based in Tulza, where many Turkish cadets complete the academic portion of their course. It was arranged that some of the students visited the Captain Summonti’s vessel, and the reaction was just what the ItalianYachtMaster association had hoped for.

“I really enjoyed our trip on board,” said one cadet. “It helped me fix my thoughts about becoming a seaman. I was able to get an idea about what is to be seafarer. Now I am more sure that I want to be a yacht captain, and I want to thank to Captain Summonti and his crew for that.”

Another cadet said, “The tour enabled us to develop a more realistic vision for our profession to be. The things we learned during our visit will certainly provide guidance towards our career choices in the future.”

While one more added, “All of us found answers to our questions about yachts and yacht management. We learned lots of technical details about superyacht and had the opportunity to see engine room, bridge, deck, safety equipment and documentations in detail. I started researching how to become a captain of a superyacht after this tour.”

What the ItalianYachtMaster association has done here is show that with a little bit of effort, tapping into an existing maritime sector, could pave the way for enthusiastic, skilled superyacht crew of the future.

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