A new qualification for traditional skills

Large sailing ships have seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years, creating a demand for experienced Merchant Navy seafarers to join their crews. You'll need to learn some specialised skills to take your career in this direction, but a recently-launched qualification is here to help, explains John Etheridge

The term 'tall ship' is only loosely defined but includes fore-and-aft-rigged as well as square-rigged vessels over 24 metres loa/80gt. The vessels range from traditional ketches to the large full rigged national training ships which tend to catch the media eye most frequently, such as the US Coast Guard barque Eagle. There has also been an increase in sailing cruise ships, including the heritage brig Eye of the Wind at 40m loa and the full rigger Royal Clipper at 134m.

Being part of the global merchant fleet, these vessels and many others of intermediate size and rig are obliged to conform with STCW requirements relating to certificates of competency (CoCs), crewing levels and watchkeeping. Individual flag states often require sailing-ship qualifications for masters.

Who's in the tall ship crews?

The seafarers in the tall ship fleet are as varied as the vessels they sail on, and include long-serving commercial captains on a second career, as well as former sail-training yacht skippers who have professional development in mind, moving towards the larger vessels.

Another source of supply is young officers who were placed on tall ships during their cadetship and return as relief officers of the watch between commercial contracts. Additionally, the size of some sail-powered superyachts has drawn another contingent of career seafarers under the tall ship umbrella.

Apart from these professionals, I have encountered some vessels, particularly from NW Europe, crewed almost entirely by volunteers from the pilotage or merchant service.

Learning the ropes

What brings this varied selection of seafarers together is the need to acquire and then constantly apply a set of traditional skills and combine them with modern materials, equipment and regulations.

Historically, qualification would have been achieved by a long apprenticeship at sea; at present aspiring tall ship professionals without sea time under sail can join one of the numerous tall ship organisations as an adult trainee to learn the ropes. Volunteering as a deckhand afloat and for maintenance can be a useful step to gaining essential knowledge and experience of how the tall ship community functions.

Major skills such as rigging, large sail repair and wire splicing can be difficult to acquire on a hard-running tall ship in commission with little time for dedicated instruction; however, intensive practical and theoretical training is available from some of the organisations listed on these pages.

This training can now take place under the banner of the International Sail Endorsement Scheme (ISES), which is administered jointly by Sail Training International and the Nautical Institute.  

The International Sail Endorsement Scheme

The purpose of the ISES is to provide formal recognition of the unique knowledge, experience and skill acquired and demonstrated by candidates through task-book work and examination – or, in the case of long-service candidates, by interview. The International Sail Endorsement is valid only in conjunction with a CoC, and the minimum acceptable CoC is the RYA Yachtmaster Offshore.

Most officers and masters who work on tall ships are respected by colleagues in the wider industry for our unique specialised knowledge and skills. However, we may not have formal qualifications acknowledged by flag administrations. The International Sail Endorsement is designed specifically to test and recognise sailing ability along with the essential CoC requirements, and thus provide formal evidence of an officer's fitness to stand watch or command a tall ship.