The boating world offers a wide variety of jobs. For those who want to be their own boss in the world of boats, becoming the manager of a dry marina promises a rich and varied career. Portrait of this job like no other with Bernard, head of the Loire Nautic Services company, a dry marina in Cordemais, Loire-Atlantique.
What is a dry marina?
The concept of a dry marina was developed largely because of the lack of berths for sailboats and motorboats. The latter are transported ashore and stored on a quay, secured with bers or on racks.
Bernard states, " A dry marina is more than a place to store boats. It is a set of services around navigation. The key to the success of a dry marina lies in the reactivity and availability of boats for the boater ."
What are the duties of a dry dock manager?
The owner of a dry marina must be multi-disciplinary.
First of all, be passionate about boats. In a dry port, the handling of boats takes up a lot of space. This know-how requires a good knowledge of the different types of boats, their characteristics, the distribution of weights in order to balance the boat on the hoist or the trailer and a good ability to visualize the movements and sizes.
He must also know the technical aspects of boat maintenance and operation. In addition, like many small and medium-sized business owners, he or she must also have knowledge of marketing, sales techniques, team management and accounting.
What are the qualities needed to become a dry dock manager?
The owner of a dry marina must have good customer contact. Exchanges with boaters are essential in order to understand and respond to their needs.
Bernard details: " What I like , is to work in the nautical environment. As it is a leisure field, there is a good atmosphere with the yachtsmen who come to the port to take care of their boats. However, you have to be very available and hard-working. However, when you work in a job that is a passion, it is not difficult to be motivated ."
The other qualities to develop in this profession, especially for handling, are precision, skill and gentleness. It is also necessary to accept sometimes constraining working conditions when it is necessary to intervene in cramped boats.
What is a day's work like at the dry dock?
In season, the activity is focused on handling. In Cordemais, they are carried out according to the tide and therefore do not occupy the whole day. The rest of the time, he has to welcome customers, manage the hardware store, advise boaters on technical aspects or respond to various requests.
In autumn, it is the period of the re-entry. There is handling, cleaning of the boats and management of the schedules. We have to prepare the sites, distribute the boats according to their size and their draught. It's an art to arrange the park so that the boats are easily available. The largest boats are positioned facing the wind and the smallest ones are hidden behind the largest ones to be better protected.
Bernard specifies: " Here, we have chosen to leave large aisles between the bays in order to have easy access to the boats and to carry out the handling quickly ."
In the winter, work is concentrated on the maintenance of the port and its equipment.
What training is required to become a dry dock manager?
In terms of training, Bernard went through the Nautical Institute of Brittany, the INB. The institute offers a two-year multi-faceted program that covers technical, nautical, commercial and business management aspects.
He first spent a few years in a boat rental company in order to acquire solid skills, particularly in maintenance and handling. In 2004, he launched the creation of a dry marina: Loire Nautic Services. Many of the employees he has recruited have also followed INB's training courses.
For almost 20 years, the dry marina, located in Cordemais, has developed well and welcomes about 250 boats with a total capacity of nearly 300 places. With the shipyard installed on site, it forms a popular nautical center on the Loire estuary. Bernard concludes: " Service and quality are our motto ."
Loire Nautic Services is recruiting to reinforce the team on handling. As a real boat enthusiast, Bernard recently acquired a Marieholm, a small Swedish polyester sailboat. Currently being prepared in the port workshop, it will be used for outings with employees.
