12
BOAT BUILDING
APPRENTICES
We are Bavaria: Let us introduce the
sailor and boatbuilding apprentice David
Gödde. Since 2018, he has been training
as a boat builder at Bavaria, where he is
already a fully qualified industrial clerk:
an apprenticeship he started right after
graduating from high school. So why top
that up with a second apprenticeship as
a boat builder now?
"I'd like to learn something manual," says
David. "And something that connects
me with my private passion: Boats." In
addition, he was of course already aware
that as a boat builder you get a particularly
versatile apprenticeship: "We work
with different materials. plastic, wood and
metal."
For his apprenticeship, he said it was particularly
good to be at a large shipyard like
Bavaria Yachts: "Here, only new boats are
built, that's interesting; in other companies,
you only do repairs or winter storage.
So if you are ambitious to build new boats
and learn as much as possible, then this is
the right place for you. And I'm also an industrial
clerk, so I can understand why the
craftsmanship at Bavaria is also almost
industrially organised. This style suits me."
And there are other advantages of a large
company: "One highlight for me so far has
been a trip to Norway. In Oslo we delivered
a large motor yacht and finished it
for a fortnight, added a flybridge and all
that. It was also a great experience to see
everything from a different perspective,
even directly from the water!
But above all, it is of course the topic
"modern yacht building" that fascinates
him. "I have always spent my holidays on
boats and even as a youngster I visited the
boat show in Düsseldorf with my family.
I always found that particularly interesting!
This summer he went sailing again,
this time even as a skipper, of course on
a chartered Bavaria. He has already obtained
the necessary boat driving licences,
even though he is constantly working on
developing his sailing skills. "When chartering,
it is already good to sail the boats
you deal with professionally. I already have
a certain amount of trust in them!" Does
he also notice what could be improved or
built differently on the boats? David hesitates
for a moment: "Well, for example,
with the lighting, I recently noticed how we
could perhaps do things differently. But
first and foremost it's holiday!
BAVARIA - LEHRLING DAVID GÖDDE
Now, as we all know, every holiday comes
to an end. What about his future career
plans? "Of course I would very much like
to stay in the boat business", says David.
"As a boat builder and industrial clerk I
would probably also be in good hands in
the administration. It would certainly be
an advantage there to have both technical
and commercial training. Especially with
practical experience in boat building.
And not only there. David is currently in
the development department, which he
also finds extremely exciting. "We are
currently working on a new model there.
So many things have to be considered and
solved here, we have completely different
challenges there again, that's really
fascinating!
After all that said, it is not really surprising
that David Gödde can well imagine staying
with Bavaria after his training.