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Charmaine du Toit wins prestigious South African Boat Building Industry Award

Charmaine du Toit wins prestigious South African Boat Building Industry Award

Charmaine du Toit, co-founder and owner of Du Toit Yacht Design, has been awarded the prestigious South African Boatbuilding Industry award for the Giant in the Women in Boatbuilding category.

On Wednesday 30th May 2023, the South African Boat Builders Export Council held their annual formal awards dinner attended by 300 industry professionals.

The theme/title of the 2023 awards was “On the Shoulders of Giants”. The South African Boatbuilders Export Council 2023 Annual Industry Awards Dinner recognises people who are masters in their field who have nurtured talent (Giants) and to recognise the rising talent who have made that expertise their own, got to see further and opened new doors to possibility.

The Giant awards category recognises those in industry who have nurtured talent, built solid foundations, provided leadership and mentorship and moved the needle for collective learning and industry advancement.

We could not be more proud of Du Toit Yacht Design’s co-founder and co-owner, Charmaine du Toit, who was awarded the Giant Award in the Women in Boat Building category.

After school, Charmaine qualified as a nurse. She gave up her nursing career, however, to found Du Toit Yacht Design with her husband, Anton du Toit, when her interest in the business became more than just a hobby. Having lived at the sea all her life and being the daughter of a passionate mariner, Charmaine is no stranger to boats. She has sailed extensively with Anton, completing a Rio-Cape Town delivery with him in 1993.

In the initial stages of the business, Charmaine was responsible for all interior design work and has designed many projects, including many large custom catamarans. Today, Du Toit Yacht Design has a team of eleven designers including Charmaine and she mainly manages the financial and administrative side of the business. Along with Anton, she has managed the business growth from two staff to eleven staff and a big office move in 2019 to accommodate the growing staff contingent.

Du Toit Yacht Design is 22 years old this year. Charmaine founded the business with her husband, Anton du Toit, and with him, has grown the business from a team of two to a team of eleven.

In this time, Du Toit Yacht Design has completed over 120 projects since 2001, including over 30 complete custom and production catamarans. Charmaine has worked on the interior design of many of these projects.

Du Toit Yacht Design is today South Africa’s premier naval architecture firm, having produced more custom catamaran metres and tonnage than any other yacht designer in the southern hemisphere.

Yacht Design and Naval Architecture is traditionally very much a man’s domain, and one does not find many women who have partnered in a naval architecture firm with the scope and portfolio of Du Toit Yacht Design over 22 years, as Charmaine has.

Charmaine’s achievement as a woman of co-growing a yacht design firm to the extent that Du Toit Yacht Design has grown, is commendable.

Charmaine du Toit wins prestigious South African Boat Building Industry Award
Charmaine du Toit wins prestigious South African Boat Building Industry Award
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