Women have outnumbered men on a boat-building school's 40-week course for the first time in its 28-year history.

The newest student cohort at the Boat Building Academy (BBA) in Lyme Regis, Dorset comprises eight women and seven men.

The number of women enrolled previously was four - and for two years there were no female students at all.

The rise in female applicants at the BBA is the result of a new Diversity and Inclusivity mission launched just over a year ago by the BBA and Belinda Joslin, founder of Women in Boatbuilding (WIBB).

Members of the new cohort outside the BBA in Lyme Regis (Image: Boat Building Academy)

A five-day Women’s Workshop course now runs annually for women to try their hand at woodworking, before committing to further study. Furthermore, a new bursary scheme exclusively for women is making it possible for a growing number of women to meet the cost of the course.

Student Sophia Harding from Portsmouth is just 17. Determined to enter a ‘practical’ career she dropped out of sixth form, taught herself to sail and bought an old boat, which she single-handedly restored last winter. The BBA’s new women’s bursary scheme has now enabled her to join the 40-week course.

She said: “I enrolled on the one-week workshop out of curiosity. I enjoyed it but had to see how feasible it would be to get a place on the 40-week course, which would require funding the course privately and moving away from home.

“The interview with the BBA involved them ascertaining my commitment, and the game changer was when they announced that I had won a 50 per cent bursary.

“The hard work paid off and I’m absolutely loving it. It’s incredibly challenging as you would expect. It’s inspiring to be part of a group of men and women of all ages, from all over the world and with varying capabilities, who are each equally passionate about learning to build beautiful wooden boats.”

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Sophia Harding and Hannah Lovett are members of the new 40-week course cohort which is predominantly female for the first time in its history. (Image: Boat Building Academy)

Student Hannah Lovett, 38, from Calderdale in West Yorkshire, has come to the BBA after leaving her career as a restauranteur.

She said: “I knew that working with my hands was the only way I wanted to work, and I was initially thinking joinery. But one day a friend who works with boats sent me a link to Women in Boat Building which I found completely inspiring. A couple of weeks later, I woke up at 3am, sat bolt upright in bed and knew that’s what I should do.

“I’m so happy to be on the first course to be predominantly women. I love that the academy is making a conscious effort to balance gender diversity.”

These boats will be proudly launched, in line with tradition, into Lyme Regis harbour next June.

In addition to the bursary, WIBB members already working in the industry are also actively mentoring female BBA students.

Belinda Joslin of Women in Boatbuilding said: “The BBA is an amazingly inclusive and welcoming environment for women, so we're delighted to have helped more women to feel that it's a space they belong in and are welcome in."