Italian superyacht captains call for culture of excellence

Quietly launched in April of this year, the Italian Yachtmasters, a members club for professional Italian superyacht captains, spoke with SuperyachtNews at the Monaco Yacht Show about the necessity to establish an aura of professionalism around captains boasting the Italian nationality.

Despite ongoing activity from Itay's shipyards, the region's crew sector is lacking in both numbers and, unfortunately, in some cases, quality. "There is an evident inconsistency with the number of Italian crew and Italian industry activity. We want to create a club of excellence," outlined Captain Roberto Beretta, member of the board of directors of the Italian Yachtmasters. "We have a small presence on large yachts - we have to do something about that," he added.

The captains comprising the Italian Yachtmasters will be subject to rigorous background checks and criteria ensuring their suitability to the group, whose aims, Captain Beretta outlined, included exhibiting the qualities of professionalism, honesty and reliability. The group also wants to encourage drug and alcohol testing and in-depth background checks of potential candidates who, once a member, will pay a membership fee of €1,000. And this is all with a joint aim of improving the owner experience and raising the profile of the Italian superyacht captain.

Already consisting of 15 members, the Italian Yachtmasters group is holding its first official meeting on 10 October later this year, at which point the group will be officially and publicly launched to market.

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