Free Cocktail Training with the Crew Academy & World Class™ 2016

In a bid to raise the standards of cocktail making in the yachting industry, leading interior training provider The Crew Academy has teamed up with WORLD CLASS™ and iconic spirits brand Diageo Reserve to offer free cocktail and mixology training for crew of all abilities ahead of the launch of World Class 2016.

Since autumn 2012, specialist interior training school The Crew Academy has been working alongside Diageo Reserve to ignite a passion for cocktail making and mixology in the yachting industry.

Yachting is now officially recognised by WORLD CLASS™, the annual cocktail making competition for bartending professionals, and in an effort to inspire crew to get involved in this exciting, global competition, The Crew Academy is offering free cocktail and mixology training to all yachting students regardless of ability and position. 

The WORLD CLASS™ competition, hosted by Diageo Reserve, prides itself on uncovering the world’s best in bartending and the format sees the world’s greatest mixologists compete throughout the year in a series of heats for the industry’s most respected bartending title.

Until 2014, professional and amateur bartenders in the yachting industry were unable to compete in the competition due to a rule stating that all WORLD CLASS™ entrants must be employed in a land-based, licensed establishment.

Thanks to a long-standing partnership between The Crew Academy and Diageo Reserve, the training provider was able to overturn the old rules and create new ones in late 2014 with the yachting industry being granted special recognition as a ‘country’ in its own right.

This change saw the first ever yachting cocktail champion, Jasmin Rutter of S/Y Marie, beat dozens of fellow crew and claim her title as yachting’s best bartender at the Antigua Yacht Charter Show. Rutter has since go on to participate at the WORLD CLASS™ finals in South Africa in September 2015 and launch her own mixology blog entitled ‘The Roaming Mixologist’. 

The Crew Academy and WORLD CLASS™ are now collaborating to host a number of ‘bartending bootcamps’ in yachting hotspots around the Mediterranean in the run-up to the preliminary heats of WORLD CLASS™. These bootcamps will be led by some of cocktail’s best and biggest names and are an opportunity for yacht crew to learn the craft of mixology and prepare for the competition ahead. 

While there are no prerequisites for the WORLD CLASS™ competition and anyone can take part whether an engineer, stewardess, chef or captain, The Crew Academy is offering all of its cocktail and mixology courses free of charge prior to the event. 

“We want to engage with all yachting crew and, as a training provider, The Crew Academy is passionate about learning,” says Charlotte Roch, Marketing Director for The Crew Academy.

“For us, WORLD CLASS™ is not only a chance for crew to grown and develop new skills, but also to explore a creative industry and discover a passion for the art of cocktail-making. For you, taking part in the WORLD CLASS™ event could be a huge asset to your career and will certainly add value to your professional experience in present and prospective jobs. For the yacht on which you work, owners, guests and colleagues alike will all benefit from your new-found flair and you could single-handedly be adding real value to the yacht’s overall selling points when it comes to charters!”

With the WORLD CLASS™ bartending bootcamps scheduled for early April, prior to the finals, The Crew Academy will be hosting its free training sessions from Monday 15th to Tuesday 16th February and Monday 14th to Tuesday 15th March. Prior reservations are obligatory for the courses and can be made by emailing info@thecrewacademy.com or calling +33 (0)4 92 95 77 90. 

The finalised dates for the first rounds of yachting’s WORLD CLASS™ are set to be announced before the end of 2015 and will be announced on facebook.com/MixingItUpOnBoard, facebook.com/TheCrewAcademy and www.thecrewacademy.com.