Laura McLachlan
Instructor
Having spent most of her sailing life volunteering and working on sail training boats, helping and training people is at the heart of what Laura does. She cares about people so when she's not at sea, you'll find her on our help desk wanting to help in anyway she can.
"Do the things that scare you the most, because it might just be the best thing you ever do ". It's the philosophy I've tried to live by since signing up for my first ever sailing trip. That was one of the scariest things I've done, and it completely changed my life and led to so many amazing opportunities, so you never know what might happen!
Having spent most of her sailing life volunteering and working on sail training boats, helping and training people is at the heart of what Laura does. She cares about people so when she's not at sea, you'll find her on our help desk wanting to help in anyway she can.
Qualifications:
- RYA Yachtmaster Ocean
- RYA Yachtmaster Instructor
- Proficiency in Medical Care at Sea (and Wilderness First Responder)
- STCW Basic Training
- GMDSS GOC
Additional Experience:
- 45000+ miles, gained mostly around the UK and Europe, South America and Antarctica, but there has been a bit of sailing in North America and Australia too!
- Still working as a freelance sail training skipper, a sailing instructor and first mate for Antarctic charters.
- Over 15 years working and volunteering in sail training
- Spent 7 years working on traditionally rigged vessels as well as having experience with modern rigs.
- Sailed in both the Arctic and the Antarctic
Instructor background:
I used my spare time at university working hard to gain sailing experience and qualifications. It meant that once I finished, I could go straight into working in sailing training which uses sailing as a tool for youthwork. And it seems a gap year or so has now become a gap life instead! Sail training has led to me working with people of all ages and all abilities and having to adapt my style accordingly. In the same week I can be training young people with additional support needs and an experienced sailor training toward skippering. Either way, for me it's the personal development I really care about, seeing people's confidence grow.
People usually tell me I create a really chilled atmosphere on board. I like to have fun and be unapologetically myself, to help create a safe space for others to just be themselves too. I like to let people make 'safe' mistakes. You're never going to be perfect every time you go to sea, so the more mistakes you make with me in a safe environment the more you can learn in the ways you're not going to make them again or the more you learn what to do when things don't go to plan.
So Ardent is just another way I do this: a chance to teach in a different method to practical instructing but it still allows me to see real development and confidence build in our students over time. I love bringing all I've learnt through my time on the water to strengthen people's theory, and I enjoy taking all I've learnt from teaching theory at Ardent back out on the water!
Hobbies & Interests:
Simply, I love all things seals. I volunteer for the Yorkshire Seal Group educating the public at a local seal colony about seals and how to view them without disturbing them. I volunteer for BDMLR getting called out to assess injured seal pups and rescue them, as well as volunteer at a seal rehabilitation centre.
I also enjoy photography. Nothing fancy, but I havve been taking a photo of something to do with my day, everyday since 2009. I love it as I started doing it before I started sailing yachts, so it has all my adventures documented.
Previous Trips:
Blaiklock Hut Expedition
Supporting a UKAHT project to do conservation work on Blaiklock Hut in Antarctica. It was a proper expedition exploring poorly charted areas and the furthest south our boat Ocean Tramp had ever been, and likely the furthest south I will ever go!
Tall Ships Races
Where it all began, taking part as a young person in the Tall Ships Races. I was so seasick my skipper nearly kicked me off in Norway, but I had the time of my life and definitely caught the sailing bug!
South Atlantic Sailing
My first experience sailing in the Southern Hemisphere, down the coast of South America on a charter expedition yacht. We had some wild storms and I got to experience Drake's Passage 4 times.
Galapagos Cruise
Experiencing life on the other side, both being a passenger and being on a power boat. I could get used to both, particularly with all the wildlife they had to offer, and the two easiest crossings of the equator ever!
