The aim of the project was to preserve traditional boatbuilding skills in the 2 Seas programme area for the long term through cross-border cooperation, collecting and recording these skills, promoting their use in traditional and modern boatbuilding and increasing the number of people pursuing education and a career in boat building.
This was acheived by:
- Recording traditional boatbuilding skills from the remaining experts in different parts of the 2 Seas programme area through standardised skills descriptions;
- Promoting the potential of traditional boat building skills to stakeholders in the marine economy and education to attract new workers to the sector;
- Developing an outline training programme on traditional boatbuilding skills that can be customised and used by educators across the 2 Seas programme area to train students, apprentices and staff;
- Disseminating the collected skills and demonstrating their added value to the marine economy across the 2 Seas programme area.

Our first activity concentrated on recording and documenting the boatbuilding skills from the experts in the 2 Seas area. Over 89 traditional boatbuilding skills were recorded using the ‘Functional Analysis’ approach, a recognised methodology used as a standard for recording skills in a comparable and exchangeable way. It resulted in a comprehensive record describing, in detail, all relevant traditional boatbuilding skills following the Functional Analysis approach. These skills were documented in writing, supported with audiovisual means. They are accessible via the Virtual Learning Environment on the project's website.

The second activity concentrated on the potential contribution of traditional boatbuilding for the socio-economic development of the participating regions. The skills generate added-value for businesses, open career opportunities and form material for educational institutes. The project and its outcomes were widely promoted. As a result, the project has also raised discussions about the importance of preserving skills and maritime heritage (economically and culturally) throughout the regions.

Activity three looked at developing a training framework for transferring the skills documented in activity one of the project. The framework was built using the educational experience of project partners Maritime and Logistic College De Ruyter (as a maritime education institute) and Cornwall Marine Network (experience in setting up vocational training and apprenticeships). In addition to this the project partners worked with maritime education centres associated to the members of our consortium. The framework forms a practical and flexible instrument that can be implemented by relevant educational institutes.

We delivered a comprehensive record describing, in detail, all relevant traditional boat building skills following the Functional Analysis approach. These skills were documented in writing, supported with audiovisual means, such as videos, photos and CAD drawings. The individual skills are accessible via an excellent Virtual Learning Environment. The promotion of our project could only start in the last phase of the project, because we first needed to publish at least 20 of the 89 skills on the website, including all material and translations. Before we could actively promote the project many people were interested and wanted to be informed through newsletters and the website. Once we started promoting the project on conferences, boat shows and schools, the reactions became overwhelming. Several schools and industry stakeholders have indicated that they will use the training program.

On top of this, thousands of people per month are accessing the skills online and there are very positive testimonials from within the industry. The project has been far-reaching beyond the 2 Seas area and other organisations invited the project to participate in their activities or wanting to take part in TMS. All in all, it has created momentum for future maritime heritage projects.

Not only the partners, but the whole 2 seas area and even beyond benefit from the results. Regional and local authorities responsible for (maritime) cultural heritage policies and economic development policies wanting to preserve their heritage and investing in life long learning benefit from all results. Others benefit from the free accessibility of the training program and virtual learning environment. These include institutes for maritime training and education, organisations involved in maintenance and preservation of historical ships, organisations representing (segments) of shipbuilding and organisations responsible for workforce development (employment, guidance towards education and skills development, labour market communication). In the long term historic ship enthusiasts (users and spectators) benefit through the secured availability of well maintained historic ships and enterprises in boatbuilding and the marine industries, through the enlarged availability of well qualified, multi-skilled boatbuilding professionals. Workers in the boatbuilding industry benefit by up-skilling and better employment opportunities and employment seekers choosing a career in boatbuilding. Benefits are well recognised throughout and beyond the regions involved due to extensive use of the internet and social media tools. Project partners received invitations to present the project's activities from all over the world. The project reached beyond the regions involved due to extensive use of the internet and social media tools.

The effects of the projects are better training opportunities and better skilled personal thanks to the availability of greater skills. This creates not only opportunities to start businesses, but also opportunities to train staff and new jobs. Maritime heritage is widely knows as driving force in (blue) tourism. The free distribution of knowledge enables more businesses to maintain and preserve the historic ships virtual industry, raising awareness about cultural and economic importance of the industry. Further to these outcomes the project delivered support for sustainable boat manufacturing, increasing opportunities for volunteers to learn skills and support boat restoration projects.

The project created a low-maintenance tool with far-reaching, everyday results that can be maintained and updated quickly and efficiently, allowing for further development. The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)can be completed by additional skills. Several boatbuilding and skills experts offered to contribute knowledge to the training program and VLE. The project will be disseminated during future boat shows and any other conferences, if applicable. The results have a long-lasting effect since they can be used by schools, training institutes, boat builders and private people wanting to preserve their own boat. By doing so the project will keep contributing to the cross-border principles of equal opportunities and sustainable development.

The partnership will continue to develop this element, through attendance at boat building shows, educational opportunities and updating the VLE and training program in order to reach the maximum number of stakeholders after the project has ended. To this end, the TMS project partners agreed to maintain the educational tool for at least 5 years after the end of the project.

Interreg projects are a great tool to realise your ideas/policy in a better way than one organisation is able to without the knowledge and best practice exchanges of a cross-border project. Through the TMS project we were able to create a great cross-border tool that is free and available for everyone to use and applicable in the whole 2 seas area.

The project created a low-maintenance tool with far-reaching, everyday results that can be maintained and updated quickly and efficiently, allowing for further development. The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)can be completed by additional skills. Several boatbuilding and skills experts offered to contribute knowledge to the training program and VLE. The project will be disseminated during future boat shows and any other conferences, if applicable. The results have a long-lasting effect since they can be used by schools, training institutes, boat builders and private people wanting to preserve their own boat. By doing so the project will keep contributing to the cross-border principles of equal opportunities and sustainable development.

The partnership will continue to develop this element, through attendance at boat building shows, educational opportunities and updating the VLE and training program in order to reach the maximum number of stakeholders after the project has ended. To this end, the TMS project partners agreed to maintain the educational tool for at least 5 years after the end of the project.

The partnership will ensure the longevity of the TMS website and the skills quality film footage can be added in the future. We will investigate the opportunities and possibilities for a capitalisation project under the current initiative that the 2 Seas programme is implementing, since many organisations wanted to join the project, especially under the theme of reintegration of unemployed people and volunteers. Due to there not being a formal project consortium after the closure of the project each partner will contribute to keep the project alive, through their own methods. This ranges from the development cluster projects to presenting during workshops in Greece and providing project videos, photos and interviews for the Semaine dy Golf in May in France.