The Australian International Marine Export Group, together with Rivergate Marina and Shipyard hosted a successful second annual Young Professionals Lunch in the AIMEX Garden at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show on Friday 23 May 2025.
Now a regular fixture in future years, the Young Professionals Lunch is a networking event aimed at those under 35 who are working in, or aspiring to work in, the marine environment. This year’s gathering welcomed many new participants along with the return of familiar faces to enjoy lunch and a motivating line up of young marine industry speakers.
Speakers included Ben Taylor, host of The Ben Taylor Podcast; Angus Paterson, Project Manager, Rivergate Marina and Shipyard; George Bains, Director, Impacto Creative; and Kayla Collett, Captain of M/Y Nyla. Topics ranged from shipbuilding and marine marketing to insights from a captain’s experience.
Ben Taylor who was in Australia from the United Kingdom as a guest speaker at the Australian Superyacht Conference, shared how he turned his love of boats and ability to connect with people into a thriving career. Noticing a major gap in how the marine industry used social media, especially among traditional leadership, he built a career by creating engaging content and video storytelling, becoming a familiar face at industry events giving people a platform to share their stories.
Angus Paterson, a Project Manager from Rivergate Marina and Shipyard who has 30–40 superyacht refits under his belt, revealed his favourite assignment working for three-years on every facet of a Royal Australian Navy vessel. He also shared anecdotes about his most surprising projects including a placing a Ferrari on a yacht roof and installing gold-plated toilets.
George Bains is a familiar face at AIMEX having published the Superyacht Yacht Australia In-Depth Documentary Series and the highlight reels for Superyacht Australia Conference. He shared how his superyacht industry writing job led him to a career capturing the stories of the superyacht world through compelling documentary series, taking him behind the scenes of some of the industry’s most fascinating vessels. His next challenge is to grow his business to manage large documentary projects.
Freshly on Australian shores after clearing her superyacht into Southport days earlier, Captain Kayla Collett shared her inspiring journey of how she reached the rank of Captain on explorer vessel M/Y Nyla at very young mid-twenties. Beginning her career in detailing and racing before moving into salvage operations, today she is planning to undertake her Course Officer of the Watch 3000 with a view to captaining large explorer or research vessels.
After the inspiring speaker sessions, guests enjoyed a relaxed and inclusive lunch in the AIMEX Garden, building connections that will shape the future of Australia’s marine industry.
