A chance conversation, a career course change

Welcome to the latest issue of The Naval Architect which has a focus on skills, education, development and careers.

I am writing this having very recently joined the RINA Council and been elected to the Board of Trustees, and what a privilege it is to introduce this issue of the magazine.

Like many of you reading this, my journey into naval architecture began early, not with a career plan, but from a love of being on the water, having spent summers growing up learning to sail and, later, teaching sailing.

Yet, when I was looking at university options and future careers, naval architecture wasn’t something I ever considered because I wasn’t aware it existed. It wasn’t until a chance conversation with another sailing instructor, who mentioned he was studying ‘ship science’, that I discovered a profession that combined engineering with