Spain is no frontier for Mylor’s bright spark

From winning top slot as the UK’s “Newly Certificated Electronics Technician of the Year 2018” with a 100% pass rate in her exams, Mylor Yacht Harbour electrical assistant, Rebekah (Bekx) Hancock, has now been impressing clients more than a thousand miles away.

When Bill and Mo Joce needed an urgent upgrade of some of the Raymarine electronic equipment aboard their Oyster 49 yacht Shakura, the fact that they were based at Sada Marina in North West Spain was no stumbling block to the Raymarine-accredited Mylor Marine Team.

The Joces were planning to sail from Spain down to Lisbon, Portugal – long cruises exploring new waterways along a stretch of coast notorious for fog. With their old radar not working at all, they realised an upgrade was essential to their trip.

“Of all the Raymarine approved engineer / installers, Mylor was by far the most accommodating company to deal with – and the only one keen literally to go the extra miles to carry out our installation work in Spain,” says Bill Joce.

“Mylor overall, and Bekx Hancock in particular, proved to be professional, competent and knowledgeable. Any difficulty encountered was soon overcome with a most positive can-do attitude, and Bekx herself was a delightful boat guest during the four days she spent aboard.”

Mylor Yacht Harbour’s Marine Team met the strictest criteria required by Raymarine to both supply and maintain technologies used in the leisure boating and light commercial markets, placing the Cornish yacht harbour within a global network of dealers and distributors.

In Spain, Bekx installed a Raymarine Quantum 2 Marine Radar aboard Shakura, with Doppler collision avoidance technology and a 12” Axiom Pro display, all of which have helped the Joces manoeuvre around shipping channels and adverse weather conditions – even if the infamous fog banks never materialised.

Bill and Mo Joce (with their Westie, Archie) testing out the new Raymarine technology

For Bekx herself, the biggest challenge was planning exactly what was going to be needed for the job: “I had to take all of my tools with me,” she says, “-and I had to pre-empt any issues that might arise in Spain – something that might be easily fixed in a workshop can sometimes be more complicated onsite.

“Staying on board Shakura while working on her went really well and the Joces were fantastic hosts – such great food! I’d take the tender rib out to explore after work and the area was really beautiful – huge pods of dolphins and lovely beaches, with a system of creeks and inlets very similar to the Carrick Roads.”

This has been an interesting and slightly unusual piece of work for Mylor Marine Team – and certainly one to be repeated.

“It’s great to give our team the chance to travel for their work,” says Marine Team Engineering Manager, Nathan Percival. “As a Raymarine-appointed service and sales dealership, we were able to supply all the navigation and communication systems the Joces needed and send it across to Spain with Bekx for installation aboard the boat.

“We were proud to send Bekx out on this job having seen her through her training and award-winning qualification – all the time working with our world-class experts to become a brilliant, fully-fledged member of the Team.”