As progress continues on their AC50, senior sailing team members from Emirates Team New Zealand visited Southern Spars’ facility last week to check on the yacht which they hope will help them bring home the America’s Cup. Southern Spars have long been Emirates Team New Zealand’s go-to manufacturer for masts and wing-sails, but for the 35th America’s Cup, the association has grown to include the whole yacht – with the exception of the foils and cross beams. Inside Southern Spars’ massive new carbon-fibre manufacturing plant in Avondale, which has produced wing sails for ETNZ and Luna Rossa as well as… Read More

Coastguard Boating Education’s new general manager, Mike Brown, wants to target groups that don’t usually sit CBE courses and who are often over-represented in boating statistics. “We know that Maori, Pasifika and new arrivals traditionally have a very low uptake of courses such as Day Skipper or Boatmaster,” he says. “We have to change that if we want to reduce the number of people getting into trouble on our waters.” Mike Brown, who has an extensive background in both outdoor activities and education, is also determined to accelerate CBE’s move into offering courses on line. “Education is changing rapidly and… Read More

Success at C-Quip International Jay-Evan Paskell completed a gateway placement at Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders Ltd at high school. After enjoying that placement, a careers advisor at school helped him get an interview with Advanced Aerospace Ltd, also known as C-Quip International. After five years refining his skills and knowledge as a composites technician, Jay-Evan has spent the last year as the supervisor of the clean room, and the Laminating Team Leader. Jay-Evan has completed a Level 3 Boatbuilding Pre-Apprenticeship, a Level 3 Composites qualification, and is currently working towards completing his Level 4 Composites qualification. After that he wants to… Read More

New Zealand company Yachting Developments was featured recently in Super Yacht Times. Ian Cook – a previous Chairperson on the NZMAC ITO Board talks about how important Industry Training is to Yachting Developments. Read the whole article here Read More

NZMAC ITO’s School to Work programme has been featured in the latest Boating New Zealand article. A Composite Education Words by Rebecca Hayter. Photos by Lawrence Schäffler. School leavers face a bewildering array of choices and opportunities when trying to select a career. Not everyone wants to go to Uni – a concept the marine industry is embracing. For many year 12 or 13 school pupils, the call to a university is loud and clear; others can’t wait to pick up tools and put their practical skills to work. For these students, the Schools to Work transition programme, a scheme jointly supported by Ministry of Education and funded… Read More

Howick College students Nick Mackenzie (17) and Jayden Prentice (16) are building what they hope will be bright careers at top New Zealand boat manufacturer, Rayglass Boats. The pair spends the first two days of each week learning a wide variety of practical skills at the world-class boatbuilder in Mt Wellington. The students, two of the first to take advantage of a new School to Work programme, have even been given their own exclusive project. “We were keen to give Nick and Jayden the opportunity to experience and learn as much as possible while they are with us,” says Rayglass… Read More

  Whakatane boat builder Surtees Boats is undergoing a major expansion of its current production facility with the addition of a new 900sqm building. Surtees Boats CEO Adam Dyck says the expansion of the factory is a strategic move to further streamline the company’s manufacturing process and to decrease the lead-time for customer orders. “The brand is enjoying very strong sales across all of the markets in which we operate in, this expansion will give us the ability to increase our production output,” says Dyck. “This ability to increase our production will allow us to expand into new sales markets… Read More

The year end and hard work of many apprentices was once again rewarded at the annual end-of-year Graduation. Read More

The annual NZMAC ITO Marine Trades Challenge was once again a huge success. Read More

New Zealand Marine and Composite Qualification (Level 1 – 6) The NZ Marine and Composites Industry Training Organisation (NZMAC ITO) has led the review for the marine and composite sectors. The qualification development is complete and these qualifications are intended to help New Zealand learners, employers, and marine and composite industries build skills, careers, and businesses. This is the suite of qualifications approved by NZQA (Click on the image to see an enlarged version). If you want to read the qualification document go to the NZQA website and insert the reference number associated with each qualification title e.g 3056 if… Read More