Working between wind, waves and water: Training as a boat builder is easy to complete. However, bite, stamina and stamina are required for the craft.
Grossenbrode / Lensahn (dpa / tmn) - gymnastics on the deck with your nose in the sun - if you think boat builders can enjoy relaxing in the maritime flair of a marina, it's wrong. Applications that dream too much of the freedom of the seven seas are usually sorted out immediately by Thomas Schwarz.
What the owner of the "Klemens Yachtwerft" in Grossenbrode on the banks of the Bay of Lübeck needs are solid people who tackle the task, master a strenuous job and "have a bite", as the 52-year-old puts it. In his medium-sized company, twenty employees take care of extensions and conversions as well as repairs of sailing and motor yachts as well as a marina with 220 berths and a winter storage hall for 240 yachts.
A ladder rung is made from a piece of teak
And yet a marina is a special place to work - although trainee Carina Isenberg hardly has the opportunity to relax and enjoy the sun playing on the waves. Instead, she focuses on the piece of teak in her hand that is to become a step for a bathing ladder. She took the measures carefully, but the sawing must be done by an experienced colleague. Because she still has to get the machine license.
The 17-year-old had already started looking for a craft apprenticeship while still in high school. It should be something technical, that much was certain. Because her father is a locksmith and probably has a weakness for engines: While her sister is an aircraft mechanic, Carina Isenberg decided to build a boat after a few internships. The landlubber had to move to the Bay of Lübeck for the training.
Good physical condition is required
Now her first year of training will soon be completed and the 17-year-old has never regretted her decision. "Motors and technology are just my thing," she says. "Sometimes it is hard when I have to work overhead for a long time or seemingly endless grinding, but at the end of the day I see what we have done."
If you are interested in training as a boat builder, you should have a good physical constitution and technical understanding. "And you should be able to persevere, not give up straight away if something doesn't work the way you want it to," says Carina Isenberg.
Does she actually need robust mental equipment because she works in a male domain? "No," laughs the young woman. "There are significantly more men than women working in boat building, but that is not an issue in everyday work. Up to now I have never had to listen to stupid sayings." There are seven female trainees in their 22-member vocational school class.
The theoretical training takes place in the vocational school in Travemünde, in the four-week block lesson. English, business and politics as well as learning fields such as "Manually producing components" are among the items on the timetable.
Only those who make their own decisions will be happy
In spring and summer boat builders work outdoors, in winter in the hall. Then boats are "wintered", among other things, the "masts are laid". The team processes the orders that boat owners want to have completed over the winter half year - underwater ships are repainted or a new teak deck is laid.
"Boat building is a universal craft job," says Thomas Schwarz. The trainees deal with different materials, work with wood, aluminum or plastics. They screw, grind, rivet and assemble - with their hands and of course with machines. According to Schwarz, no job is the same as the other, because each boat has its own character: "That's why you have to be able to make decisions independently in boat building. If you just wait for instructions, you won't be happy in this profession."
A sought-after profession worldwide
However, anyone who enjoys doing tricky jobs in a confined space has prospects in the industry. "The future prospects for boat builders are excellent, we have no problems with young talent," says Ralph Petersen, Managing Director of the State Guild for Boat and Shipbuilding Schleswig-Holstein.
The only downside is that the trainees are coveted in other branches of industry and craft because of their "all-round training". "They also have many opportunities worldwide, which means that many migrate to the Mediterranean region or even overseas," said Petersen.
Professional profile at Das Handwerk
Training information Land guild boat building Schleswig-Holstein
German boat and shipbuilding association