Acting on behalf of yacht crew to ensure your opinions are heard

The PYA has been the voice of international yacht crew since its inception in 1991. 

The PYA consults with policy makers who write legislation affecting the construction, operation and manning of large yachts. Over the years, PYA has participated in numerous workgroups and steering committees to ensure the point of view of those actually working on board is known and understood.

As the yachting industry continues to grow, compulsory training requirements have been introduced so as to fall in line with other maritime sectors. These increased regulations serve an internationally-agreed purpose to increase safety and awareness, so unfortunately they're not going to go away! However the role of the PYA is to elbow out (when possible) or ameliorate training that is not relevant to yachting. 

For 30 years, the PYA has sat on the MCA Yacht Qualifying Panel as the representative of yacht crew.  This annual meeting is attended by all the  major yacht training providers worldwide, to discuss current yacht training issues, course syllabus, exam results and new exam procedures and new courses under MCA & STCW amendments. This is the annual chance to put the opinions of yacht crew on the table for discussion on these subjects.

With the increased size of vessels in yachting, a few years ago the PYA fought and won to have “yacht service” recognized within the commercial sectors. With that came the “glass ceiling” project, where the MCA made clear that, whenever possible, they intended to ensure anything new introduced was “transferable training” so that our crew could more easily cross over to the commercial qualifications.

The PYA works with other administrations to fight for the interests of yacht crew. Whilst we don't win every battle, we have triumphed in many areas over the years and have avoided legislation being put in place which would negatively affect the yachting industry and those working in it. You can read more about some of our successes here.

The PYA has helped many members with issues such as non-payment of wages, unfair dismissal, lack of contracts etc. The power that the voice of the PYA has means that we are far better positioned to assist crew when things go wrong than if they tried to represent themselves.

The people fighting these battles for you are all volunteers giving up huge amounts of their time to protect your futures in yachting. Whether you know it or not, you need the PYA!