Apprentice students had an excellent time at the ‘Marine Electrical Apprentice' Competition at the Seawork Marine Show in Southampton last week.
12 teams of apprentices participated in the competition held at Seawork’s Training and Careers Day. Seawork is Europe’s largest on-water commercial marine and workboat exhibition.
Level 3 Marine Electrical apprentices who work at Sunseeker, Cobra RIBs and RNLI Lifeboats took part in a task, of which was designed to test their teamwork, practical and theory skills. They had to design the controls for an electrical motor and wire up a system using the test rigs provided. Their finished designs and diagrams were judged by experts Ian Lewis and Dan Cox.
The winning team consisted of Elena and Louis who have been given the opportunity to attend the BMEEA Annual Conference in October. The runners up were students Sydney and Oakly. The winning teams also won CK Tool backpacks. All students did an exemplary job and enjoyed the challenging competition, of which was reflective of what an 'on boat' task would be like.
Richard Broden-Cowell, Lecturer in Marine Electrical & Electronic Engineering, oversaw the students who tackled the challenge:
"This is literally what our students do on a job, it reflects life on the water working on the helm of a boat. They’ve had to make the right calculations and complete the task both quickly and neatly. This is a great experience for them all, and it's great to see them demonstrate their skills and knowledge."
Peter Leech, Learning Manager in Automotive-Boatbuilding-Marine, shared his thoughts:
"It’s been great to see how calm and collected the students have been whilst taking part in the competition. Everything they’ve learnt in class has been put into practice and It’s fantastic for their experience, as well as being a networking opportunity"
Winners Louis and Elena who achieved first place shared their secret to success:
"It was all about staying calm under the pressure. I wouldn’t have been able to do it all on my own – I’m glad to have such a good team mate!"
Second place stars Sydney and Oakly also shared their thoughts:
"We weren’t expecting this it at all – we came here just to give it a try! We worked so well together, particuarly in what felt like a stressful situation at first."
Well done to all students who took part. Discover more about the marine courses that can be studied at Bournemouth & Poole College here: https://thecollege.co.uk/marine
