Helmut’s Marine Service Connects Bay Area Trade Students With Marine Careers

Helmut’s Marine Service, Inc., a Volvo Penta Power Center and the factory-authorized Volvo Penta distributor for the Southwest, hosted Chart Your Course on Saturday, September 26, at the Sausalito Boat Show. The program gave local high school students in technical, trade and career-readiness programs a free day at the show to meet working marine professionals and get a glimpse into careers most of them never knew existed.

Students were referred by six Bay Area schools and youth programs. Each student received free admission and a Chart Your Course passport. They then set off to visit eight participating marine businesses, collecting a stamp after each conversation. Completed passports went into a prize raffle at the Helmut’s Marine Service booth.

“These are skilled, hands-on, well-paying jobs, and the people doing them genuinely love the work,” said Nadine Urciuoli, vice president of Helmut’s Marine Service, Inc. “Most students have never been shown that a path into the marine trades exists. Chart Your Course puts them in front of the people who do this work every day.”

Students came from the Marin County Office of Education’s Regional Occupational Program (ROP), Petaluma High School’s PHASE Automotive program, Spaulding Marine Center, Canal Alliance and Marin Foster Care Association. They represented high schools in the Novato, San Rafael, Tamalpais and Petaluma districts. Participating were Helmut’s Marine Service, Inc., Silver Seas Yachts, Call of the Sea, H&M Marine, Safe Harbor Marina Bay Yacht Harbor, Safe Harbor Sausalito, Cruiser Services and Modern Sailing School & Club.

“This connected me more to auto and gave me an interest in diesel,” said a senior at San Marin High School who already works on boats. “What surprised me was how there are not a lot of newcomers in the marine industry.” He said employers told him they need people who understand the electrical systems on newer marine engines.

One participating high school instructor said his program’s transportation, repair and manufacturing courses already cover many of the skills marine repair requires. Another educator put it simply: “They have to see it to be it.”

Employers see the program as a direct answer to the industry’s hiring problem. “Our company will not be able to survive without developing the next generation of craftspeople, and this is a great step toward seeing this happen,” said Paul Kaplan, Safe Harbor’s Regional Business Development officer.

“Developing a local workforce helps overcome one of our largest obstacles: attracting team members from outside the Bay Area, given the cost and shortage of housing.”

Sausalito Boat Show manager Mitch Perkins said the program fits the show’s mission. “We want to build the industry and promote the lifestyle. Showing young people this wonderful world is critical to its future.” Perkins added, “A strong pipeline would foster vibrancy and keep the waterfront a place for industry as well as recreation.”

Both employers and students who responded to a post-event survey said they would take part again.