|On Board| Jenny Keisu
|On Board| Jenny Keisu of X Shore; right: Captain Kelly Gordon “If you can’t see something, how do you know that it’s even an option?” muses superyacht Captain Kelly Gordon. She’s talking about the scarcity of women occupying leadership roles in the yachting industry, and she’s explaining her motivations for sharing her work on social media with her thousands of followers to help rectify the issue. Data verifies Captain Gordon’s observation about optics. According to the most recent survey by organisation She of the Sea, only 2.1% of yacht captains are female. The survey also identified that only 28.2% of all crew are women, and in the wider yachting sector, such as at brokerage houses and shipyards, female employees make up only 34%. “I knew that I was someone who didn’t fit into the room at first,” recounts Jenny Keisu, who became the CEO of Swedish electric boatbuilder X Shore in 2019. “As a female CEO, especially in the boating industry, you obviously stand out from the beginning,” she observes. Despite being such a small proportion of the workforce, women’s contributions have been sizeable. At the helm of X Shore, Keisu has helped lead an electric revolution in the industry. The Nyköping-based company is still the only large-scale manufacturer of fully electric vessels and was the first of its kind to reach price parity with the rest of the boating market on its dayboats and superyacht tenders. Keisu attests that the company’s success is fuelled by hiring individuals who you wouldn’t normally see in the sector. “Research proves that you increase innovation and results through diversity of thought,” she explains. Keisu elaborates that she “had the luxury of building and hiring the right team from the very beginning” in order to create “a diversified company”. X Shore’s employees – including those on the production line – are now 40% women, with a 50/50 gender split in senior positions. Jacqui Lockhart, who became the European head of charter management for Camper & Nicholsons in early 2022, agrees with Keisu that “it’s good to have a mix of people in your team who you can associate with the right client. Because we have got very diverse clients.” Lockhart’s career in brokerage spans over 20 years, over a decade of which saw her running her own yacht management company. The Scot remembers incidences of owners and captains sometimes addressing her husband first, thinking he was the boss of her business. “But I wouldn’t say that I’ve suffered,” Lockhart reasons, adding that C&N’s previous female CEO, Jillian Montgomery, helped pave the way for Lockhart and others. Lockhart’s current role sees her performing “a juggling act” of leading a team of brokers as well as PHOTOS FROM LEFT: © X SHORE, RYAN FLANERY / ELEVEN SEVENTEEN MEDIA 62 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
From far left: Lay Koon Tan of Nature Squared; submersible pilot Erika Bergman; Camper & Nicholsons’ Jacqui Lockhart PHOTOS FROM LEFT: MELISSA MICHEL, © HAWKES OCEAN TECHNOLOGY, © CAMPER & NICHOLSONS managing five individual yachts. Lockhart notes that charter is one specific area of the industry where the number of women outweighs male employees, who largely dominate the sales sector instead. “With charter, there’s this multitasking element; you’re in between the manager, the yacht, the captain, your client, maybe their PA, and you’re juggling a lot of the planning of that trip. I guess that’s putting to good use some of the skills that women use on a daily basis,” she suggests. Aside from a perhaps inherent capability for multitasking, there are several psychological and physical differences that each of these bosses has identified as potentially helping women excel above men in certain areas of the industry. The Malaysian founder of sustainable materials company Nature Squared, Lay Koon Tan, has noted that for one surface they create – a painstaking tile inlay made from recycled eggshells – women are consistently better. “For 20 years, we’ve not been able to get any guys to pass the skills level to make it,” explains Tan. Tan’s company repurposes organic materials destined for landfill into surfaces designed for adorning superyacht interiors. As well as eggs, this includes using mango pits, guinea-fowl feathers, tobacco leaves, pufferfish skins and Tan’s personal favourite, mussel shells. After an initial collaboration with Bannenberg & Rowell, Nature Squared has worked on the design of superyachts including Barbara, Nirvana and Tranquility and the company is currently working on four secretive projects all measuring around 100 metres. When it comes to crew working on board, physical differences between men and women can be more pronounced – but sometimes advantageously so. Submersible pilot Erika Bergman, who conducts research dives for companies including National Geographic and OceanX, notes that her shorter height of 1.57m and lower oxygen metabolism as a woman are actually beneficial when operating inside a submersible. And in instances where she is limited by her physicality, she explains; “I never try and ‘beast mode’ anything. I’m always thinking about how I can use a tool so that I can do something that a big guy can.” Bergman is now qualified to fly and maintain six different submersible types. Captain Gordon, who has helmed vessels including the 32m Freddy, notes a similar approach when describing how her background in welding prepared her for life as a captain. “I remember that there was this piece of metal that I needed to pick up and move around but I couldn’t. I asked one of the guys for help and he said, ‘If you’re going to be in a man’s world like this, you ought to be able to handle it like a man.’” Captain Gordon’s solution was to move the metal by strapping it to an overhead crane, so that in the end, “I didn’t need anybody for help. I just learned to adapt.” The desire to become role models and increase visibility for women in the industry has been a driving factor for each of these individuals at some point. While adversity may persist in some areas, most testify that women can, generally, expect to be warmly welcomed into the industry, with Tan noting that “confidence” is a trait young women in the yachting world should embrace. As Tan encourages; “If nobody goes first, there won’t be role models – so just go for it.” CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 63
