I am deeply honoured to receive this nomination.
Growing up with a father who joined the Merchant Navy at 16 and a mother who owned and competed with horses, it was almost inevitable that my sister and I would be given the opportunity to follow in their footsteps. While my sister was put on a horse, I was put on a boat – who knows where I’d be now, if it had been the other way round?
I began sailing at the age of 8, but initially set my sights on a career in the performing arts rather than going to sea. In 1996, during the first year of my Performing Arts Management degree, I worked alongside my late father, Captain John Percival, to establish Hoylake Sailing School. In my second and third years at university, I contributed to developing our small sailing school, which eventually grew to include John Percival Marine Associates, and we discovered Superyachts!
Despite my love for musical theatre and my penchant for drama, my journey brought me back to the family business. Over the past 20 years, as Managing Director, I have helped JPMA/HSS Ltd grow into the largest privately owned maritime training provider for the ‘small craft’ commercial sectors, including Superyachts and Workboats. Our organisation offers more than 40 maritime courses accredited by the MCA and the RYA, aiming to shape students into knowledgeable and capable seafarers. I work closely with the MCA, IAMI, and our fellow crew training providers to ensure that essential training and certification requirements are accessible to all crew.
Following my father’s passing in 2014, I founded the John Percival Leadership Award and the JPMA Student Star Awards, in the hope of upholding the high standards he set for crew. Our Leadership award is designed to showcase crewmembers who lead by example, supporting and showing junior crew how a healthy working environment should look. Our Student Star Awards are presented to those students who arrive at our training centre having put their utmost into preparing themselves for their course, or students who have fought through adversity to gain their CoCs. All of this is something I’m passionate about, which is why I am dedicated to continuing John’s legacy.
In 2018, I also founded the Association of Women in Yachting. The AWY is a resource for professional, mostly shorebased, women in the yachting industry to network and surround themselves with like-minded female industry leaders. I’ve lost count of the number of networking events or yacht show cocktail parties I’ve been to where I found myself thinking “there should be more women here”!
The AWY creates female-only spaces at yachting events and boat shows, where women can network at drinks receptions, discuss important topics during seminars and workshops, and support one another towards a brighter future for women in yachting.
