Meet the women breathing new life
into British boatbuilding Words: Anna Scrivenger
W
ithin the orderly timbered workshop of the Boat
Building Academy on the shores of Lyme Regis, a quiet transformation is under way. An ancient skill, almost lost to history, rings out its heartbeat in the hands of a cohort of passionate boatwrights. Half of them are women. This unique boat building school
on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast is one of the last of its kind. Amid the modern race for bigger, faster, cheaper vessels, it’s easy to forget the long tradition of wooden shipbuilding that made Britain great. And recently, new faces have been weaving themselves into the story of our seas. Though traditionally a male-dominated craft, women outnumbered men on this year’s enrolment intake. When the Boat Building Academy
(BBA) was founded by naval commander Tim Gedge in 1997, ‘there weren’t enough people being trained up in Britain,’ explains Will Reed, and fewer than five percent were women. Although women had always been welcomed and successful at the school, ‘there were three years in a row without any at all. It was all men,’ Will recalls. ‘We weren’t happy about that, and
we didn’t know why [women weren’t enrolling]. There’s no difference in capability between men and women when building boats, and no reason why women shouldn’t be involved.’
So it was serendipitous that he
found himself standing next to Belinda Joslin, of Women in Boat Building (WIBB), at a lecture with the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights in Southampton. ‘I was standing next to this chap
and saw his Boat Building Academy logo,’ Belinda recalls, ‘so I asked him how many women were on his course. He said, “we haven’t got any”, but wanted to change that. I gave him my card and said, “I can help you.’’’
Building a community Belinda grew up sailing through
‘the whole RYA scheme: three years of representing the Oppies in the Europeans, I was national youth champion in the 420 and went to the Ladies’ Worlds.’ She became an RYA dinghy instructor and went on to work as a finisher at Spirit Yachts. Boats became Belinda’s life. Having owned, used and repaired
boats from an early age, she’d wanted to connect with like-minded female boat builders. So she started WIBB in 2021 as an Instagram account. It soon grew into a vibrant community interest company, with a mission to support and inspire women working in maritime trades and a growing cohort of members around the world. The volunteer-run organisation
fosters connections, provides mentorship opportunities, and promotes gender diversity within the industry. It has connections across many countries, regularly appearing
“Women outnumbered men for the first time on this year’s intake”
rya.org.uk AUTUMN 2025 51
Photos: Boat Building Academy
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