Olympic sailing hero, Sir Ben Ainslie, celebrated the achievements of 13 apprentices from Falmouth’s award-winning Pendennis Shipyard at an event held at the Southampton Boat Show.

In total, 55 apprentices were presented with their awards by Sir Ben at the British Marine Federation’s Apprenticeship Graduation ceremony.

Pendennis, which has built an international reputation for the quality of its superyachts, has been taking on apprentices for over 15 years and has trained over 150 of them. Just under one third of the current workforce began their careers as apprentices.

Mike Carr from Pendennis said: “It was fantastic to see such overwhelming growing support and recognition of the importance of apprenticeships today. It was a huge honour for the Pendennis apprentices to be congratulated by Sir Ben Ainslie, as he sailed as a boy in Cornwall a stone’s throw away from the shipyard.”

Sir Ben, who presented the certificates to the apprentices, was keen to be involved in rewarding the students for their hard work, innovation and the value they bring to the future of the marine industry.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist, said: “Apprenticeships and training schemes are vital to encourage participation in not only the sport of sailing, but in all areas of the marine industry.

“To maintain the high quality and success of UK services in the marine sector that we currently hold, we must invest and commit to developing the talent of the future.”