Race Skipper Delivers ‘Legenderry’ talk at Enterprise Week

It’s a busy time for Race Partner Derry City Council as it celebrates Enterprise Week, and local race skipper Sean McCarter is a man in demand.

Through a series of workshops and seminars, the five day event promotes local businesses, and is also a showcase to attract companies to the area by displaying how they can benefit from the City of Culture opportunities.

Today, Sean will speak to businesses about his experience of the management skills required to lead a crew of amateur sailors round the world, and get them home safely. Ahead of the 'Legenderry Leadership Lunch', hosted by fellow 2013-14 Race Partner and business management consultants, Mission Performance, Sean says: “Throughout the race Mission Performance studied the reactions of myself and all the Clipper Race skippers on this epic challenge. During this talk in Derry-Londonderry we will be presenting the findings and showing how the psychological strategies they’ve developed can be applied in the boardroom.”

As Skipper of the Derry~Londonderry~Doire entry in the 2013-14 edition of the race, Sean received a hero’s welcome when his yacht headed the race fleet during its homecoming into the city’s Legenderry Maritime Festival, having won the Leg 8 race across the Atlantic Ocean.

The festival itself attracted approximately 146,000 visitors to Derry-Londonderry and boosted the local economy considerably with visitors spending over £3,000,000 in the city over the nine day event, ensuring a high return on the city’s investment in the Clipper Race.

Derry City Council is also using Enterprise Week to promote its ‘Your Next Chapter’ bursary scheme launched earlier this month. The bursary, which has already attracted interest from hundreds of people, is an opportunity for unemployed adults from the Derry City Council and Strabane District Council areas, to receive full Clipper Race training.

In monetary terms the prize is worth over £5000, but the real value for the successful applicants will be learning new skills and building their confidence in a bid to get them back to work.

Having seen the benefit of the training to people from all walks of life, Sean is fully supportive of the bursary: “Some of the people who have taken part in previous Clipper Round the World Yacht Races used their pensions and re-mortgaged their houses to raise the necessary funds, so for somebody to be able to gain the training experience for free is an incredible opportunity.”

The ‘Your Next Chapter’ bursary is open to people aged 18 and over, who are currently unemployed and participating in an employability programme or in receipt of benefits, living in the Derry City Council or Strabane District Council areas. The selected participants will spend four weeks undertaking the full crew training experience at the Race’s HQ in Gosport, UK.

Those interested in taking part are urged to apply by downloading the application form available online at www.derrycity.gov.uk/clipperrace. The closing date for application is March 9 2015. Successful applicants will be required to be interviewed at the end of March and be available to travel to England for Level 1 and 2 training in early May and for Level 3 and 4 training at the end of June and beginning of July.