ASTO’s Chief Executive Kerry McMillan and Chair of Trustees, Mark Todd welcomed 150 delegates to the annual UK Sail Training conference at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard today.
Record breaking Heather Thomas delivered a fantastic keynote speech to a broad audience made of sea staff, member charity trustees and representatives from the sail training and wider marine sector. The 2025 Conference also included sessions covering everything from Diversity and Inclusion, supporting the wellbeing of young people who sail with us, and the importance of using social media film effectively.
Our thanks go to our fabulous speakers and workshop leaders
Heather Thomas, Skipper, Maiden
Captain Louise Sara MNM, Kristy Dawson, and Rosy Elestone, Carnival Corporation
James Davies and Niall McLeod, RYA
Ed Tuite, British Marine
Roy Beal, Keep Britain Tidy and Clean Jurassic Coast CIC
Chris West, Solent MIND
Mark Thompson Senior Master Mariner, HFW
Faber Whitehouse, Chloe Buchannan and Kimmi Scadgell, The MTM Agency
Sue Geary and Jim Whittaker, Tall Ships Youth Trust
ASTO also unveiled its new film featuring our patron, HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh who met the young people participating in the Guernsey to Poole Small Ships Race last summer. The passage race was inspired by the RNLI’s 200th Anniversary and brought 130 young people sailing onboard 13 member vessels.
Click here to view – https://uksailtraining.org/gallery