Stormforce Crew
At Stormforce Coaching you will be trained by the the most experienced and highly qualified RYA instructional team on the planet. We have several staff operating at the highest level in each discipline that we teach and they are supported shoreside by a first class office team. Even other sea schools come to us for their staff training.
DOUG INNES (Principal & Managing Director) |
|
|
 Doug grew up sailing dinghies and first qualified as an RYA Instructor in 1993. He has been training sailors and power boaters ever since. After working for a number of RYA centres in the nineties, he decided he would establish his own business (and work for the tax man instead!). Stormforce Coaching was born in 2001. Doug sits on various industry committees and has been called upon to provide "Expert Witness" for court cases involving small craft. He is an RYA Centre Inspector and also provides consultancy to new centres and super yachts seeking to gain RYA recognition. He helms a sportsboat regularly and won the RSYC Frostbite Series in 2010 and 2011. He has over 100,000 miles under his belt including two ARC races (4th and 2nd place). He races a variety of other yachts and previous wins include the RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race, Cowes to Cascais Race, Myth of Malham, Cervantes Trophy and RORC Offshore Series. |
BECKY INNES (Accounts Director / Southampton) |
|
|
 Becky is the most organised amongst us. Although Doug thinks he runs the company, it is Becky who really controls the finance and keeps our employer (the tax man) happy. She joined the team part time in 2005. In the spring of 2007 we persuaded her to join the full time staff and she now runs the accounts under the watchful eye of Stella. She previously worked for the RYA in both the Despatch and Racing departments. Becky is a yacht sailor and a scuba diver. She has raced in Cowes Week and extensively cruised the South Coast of England, the Channel Islands and Turkey. She has scuba dived as far afield as Egypt, Jordan, and Mexico and she likes to travel.
|
STELLA (Office Manager / Southampton) |
|
|
 Stella meets and greets most of our Southampton students as they enter the front door. She joined the company in 2005. She has cruised the Solent, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and the Channel Islands by yacht and participated in plenty of RIB and Motor Boat rides on calm days in the Solent. She spends much of her day in the office although quite often sits in on shorebased courses, even although she has sat through them many times before.
|
HANNAH KING (Marketing & PR Coordinator / Southampton) |
|
|
Hannah joined the Stormforce team in 2012 as Marketing & PR Coordinator. She comes from a marina background, having She, like Stella, enjoys being driven round the Solent on motorboats on calm sunny days, although she too spends most of her days in the office!
|
previously been based in Port Solent, where she honed her marketing skills.
ADAM O'NEILL (Senior Instructor / Southampton) |
|
|
Adam joined us in 2007, on our twelve-month Internship  programme. He trained at both our UK and Greek Centres. Having completed the Internship we offered him a full time position and the rest is history. He is a valued member of the team, teaches both ashore and afloat across most disciplines and is now involved with the delivery of the Internship Programme. Prior to joining us he spent some time travelling the world.
|
IFAN JAMES (Chief Instructor / Southampton & Caribbean) |
|
|
Ifan joined us in 2010, having previously worked for the RYA as a  Onboard Development Officer and also for a number of RYA dinghy/powerboat centres as an Instructor. He previously raced a RS 600 (5th at Nationals). He also won the Impala European Championships as tactician. Ifan has been the mate/tactician on board "Cheeki Rafiki" for our 2011 Fastnet Campaign and skippers Rafiki for most of her big events. Following his Yachtmaster exam he was presented the RYA Yachtmaster of the Year Trophy by HRH Princess Anne.
|
LUKE ASPDEN (Course Advisor & Instructor/ Southampton) |
|
|
Luke has been at this game longer than any of us. He has  been sailing and powerboating for nearly half a century and he has owned numerous power and sail craft. He began instructing about 25 years ago and in the nineties owned and managed one of the Solent's busiest sea schools. He came to us in 2011 to train as a Powerboat and PWC Instructor. We identified his talent straight away and invited him to work for us part time. By the close of 2012 it was obvious our growth required more staff and Luke agreed to join the permanent team. His motivation is to persuade people to have fun on the water and in his own words, "why do anything if you are not enjoying life." |
Richard Beniston (Instructor/ Southampton) |
|
|
Rich describes himself as having been "infected with a love After graduating with a BSc in Management Sciences, he went on to spend 12 years working in the IT services industry in corporate sales and marketing management roles, before escaping in 2002 to follow his love of sailing. Rich gained his Yachtmaster Instructor in the same year and has been teaching, skippering and running yachts ever since. |
of sailing from the age of 6 and loving to pass on his affliction to others!" Rich grew up dinghy racing inland and went on to spend much of his time at university teaching windsurfing in Anglessey while he was supposedly studying in Manchester.
RAY SCOTT (Instructor & Examiner / Southampton) |
|
|
 Following a life time of working in and around boats, Ray has a vast wealth of experience. He came to us in 2004 from the MOD police (but we don't hold that against him!) where he worked both as an Engine Technician and Boat Handling Instructor. Ray, Doug and Adrian co-run most of the RYA Powerboat and PWC Instructor Courses and Ray runs a number of our "Super Yacht PWC Instructor Courses". Ray is our lead Diesel and Outboard Instructor. He also skippers many of our Motor Boat Courses. As well as working with us, Ray examines Yachtmaster Power candidates for the RYA and spent a number of years as Lifeboat Cox'n at his local station.
|
ADRIAN BANNISTER (Instructor / Southampton) |
|
|
Adie joined us in 2010 for three years as our Chief Watersports Instructor having previously worked for the RYA. He ran their RYA Honda Youth RIB Challenge area and national championships. Prior to that he spent over a decade working as an Instructor in the outdoor education and sailing industry, working both in the UK and overseas. He now works for us on a part time basis instructing. He is also an RYA Centre Inspector. |
FRANK SCHWEITZER (Instructor / Southampton) |
|
|
 Frank is a retired surgeon with over thirty five year's experience of both dinghy and yacht sailing. As the former owner/skipper of a Sigma 362 he has tried his hand at JOG, RORC and "Round the Cans" Racing. More recently he has returned to dinghy sailing as he is now introducing his grandchildren to the sea. Frank instructs SRC, Competent Crew, Yachtmaster Offshore Shorebased and both the Practical and shorebased Dayskipper Courses, he also skippers a few offshore cruising courses. He is our lead Instructor for the STCW ’95 Medical First Aid and Medical Care Aboard Ship (Ship's Captain's Medical) Courses. Frank has been actively instructing RYA courses since 2001 and began working with us in 2004. When planning to retire from full time work, his biggest mistake was meeting Doug!
|
KEITH LLOYD (Lead First Aid Instructor / Southampton) |
|
|
Keith has been our lead First Aid Instructor since 2004 and delivers many of our RYA, HSE, BSAC and MCA First Aid courses. He spent sixteen years at sea followed by twenty three years as an Ambulance Paramedic. Keith knows his subject from first hand experience and is well remembered by all of his students for his entertaining and educational delivery.
|
GARETH GLOVER (Instructor & Race Skipper / Southampton) |
|
|
Gareth has been in the water sports and yachting industry full  time since the middle of the nineties. He was the former Chief Instructor at a Brighton based RYA Centre. He has worked for Stormforce Coaching on a freelance basis since the day the business started and more recently he has skippered some of our Offshore Race Campaigns. He is an RYA Centre Inspector. In 2011, he was selected by Clipper Ventures to skipper "New York" in the Round the World Race 2011/12 and recently returned to us after 42,000 miles and a year away.
|
SIMON BRADSHAW (Lead Navigation Instructor / Southampton) |
|
|
Simon spends more time afloat than any of us; he and his family  have lived aboard their yacht year-round for the last seven years. He delivers a huge number of our shorebased courses from Dayskipper through Yachtmaster and on to Ocean, as well as some of the specialised one day courses such as Radar, SRC and Diesel. He joined us in 2006, originally on a casual basis before becoming a regular member of the team. There are thousands of Yachtmasters around the world who will remember Simon's patient explanation of tides, meteorology and chart-work when they were training. Simon has been a sailor and yacht owner since he was a teenager. When not instructing, he can either be found sailing or refitting his classic yacht, "Talisman".
|
PETER WHITE (Instructor / Southampton) |
|
|
 Peter has a wide experience of keelboat racing, diving and power boating. He and Doug met in the nineties while Peter was training towards becoming a Powerboat Instructor. He joined us on a freelance basis in 2005 and has taught hundreds of our powerboat courses since then. Well liked and remembered by his students, Peter works across all levels from beginner to pre-Instructor training.
|
TOM "RODDERS" HEMSLEY ( Instructor / Southampton) |
|
|
No prizes for guessing who "Captain Rodders," resembles. He joined our Internship programme in 2010 and worked at both out Porto Heli and Southampton centres. After leaving us he went on to run a large yacht fotilla in Greece for a year before being recruited to the sales team of a large sailing school. Now he is back wth us on the full time instructor team and working across multiple disciplines.
|
CHRIS 'BIFF' SMITH ( Chief Instructor / Greece) |
|
|
 Biff has been teaching sailing since the nineties with fourteen consecutive season's Mediterranean experience in France, Spain and Greece. He managed a number of watersports and yachting centres before partnering with us. He and Doug began planning their collaboration back in 1996 when they first met. Chris is well remembered by his students for his fun and lively approach to life. He and Amy co-run the beach and accommodation at Porto Heli.
|
AMY EDMONDS ( Beach & Accommodation Manager / Greece) |
|
|
 On paper, Amy co-runs the Porto Heli Watersports Centre but really she runs Biff. She ensures things run smoothly and she will make sure your stay is one to be remembered. Her role is diverse as she helps with rigging etc on the beach, as well as handling bookings and accounts, while still finding time to teach the odd windsurfing course.
|
Latest News:
Great Race Results from the RORC Cervantes Trophy as the 2013 RORC Fastnet campaign gets underway
More- Now recruiting for the Stormforce Coaching Internship programme beginning September 2013... More
- 1st place race results to shout about! More
- Stormforce Students' Shackleton Epic Adventure Success! More
Accreditations:
Connect With Us
Become a Facebook Fan Find us on Twitter Connect with us on Foursquare Follow our RSS feed
Shamrock Quay Marina, William Street, Southampton, Hants, SO14 5QL
Telephone: 02380 231 122
E-mail: coaching@stormforce.biz