Stormforce Coaching Company History

Having grown up dinghy racing, Doug Innes left college in ‘92 and trained as a RYA dinghy and windsurf Instructor, he completed his first season as a watersports Instructor in ’93. Over the forthcoming years he worked for a number of other sea schools around the Solent and further afield in Scotland and Cornwall. He went on to become a Senior Instructor and then Chief Instructor. In 2001 he was approached by Simrad to run an extensive number of the then new SRC Course for their DSC customers. Doug accepted the contract but required a RYA school to run the courses.

Stormforce Coaching was born. It was in fact the proceeds of the first course that effectively paid the RYA recognition fees to get started. Over the following few months he broadened the range of activities to encompass first aid, navigation and radar. The classroom back then was hired on a daily basis and the office was run from home. The SRC courses were a huge success, largely down to the purchase of six DSC simulators, the first of their kind and a move that other RYA centres did not make for another five years or so.

The early days were hard work and long hours, there was no capital investment or bank loan to get the company of the ground. Every penny spent had to be earned first.

The ethos was to deliver the best training available and to deliver it at a good price. The intention was not just to be another RYA sailing or powerboat school but a top level training centre with the best instructors delivering a high level of coaching. The business name “Stormforce Coaching” made the point.

In 2003 Doug contracted a local RIB company to hire Stormforce two RIBs for training. Stormforce Coaching become a RYA Powerboat Centre, quickly becoming recognised to deliver the full range of courses including Advanced and Instructor.

As time went on things become busier, freelance staff were recruited, RYA Sea Survival and Diesel recognition were granted and before long it was time for the school to buy its first RIB instead of contracting in someone else’s.

Our first boat was named Capella and was a Ribtec 475. About the same time, the first full time employee (Josh) was taken on, the business was incorporated into a Limited Company and a shared classroom was rented full time in Shamrock Quay. In early 2005 the company sought to extend its RYA recognition to cover Sail and Motor Cruising and contracted in its first yacht. Later the same year we entered two charter yachts into the RORC Fastnet Race.

A season later we had outgrown Shamrock Quay. We wanted to extend the fleet and move into bigger premises and this marina could not accommodate us. We searched long and hard for a new Training Centre and eventually settled upon Kemps Quay Marina.

The new Centre opened in early 2006. Kemps Quay was able to provide us with much more extensive premises, including three classrooms and two offices. As well as berthing for the expanding fleet. Later that year, another full time Instructor was recruited and two larger RIBs, Vulcan and Alpharatz replaced Capella. Also that year RYA PWC recognition was added to the already large portfolio of RYA Courses along with BSAC Seamanship recognition and BWS Ski Boat Driver Recognition. By now the business had proven its potential and it was time to buy the first yacht. Enter Alice, a Bavaria 37.

In early 2007 RYA dinghy, keelboat and windsurf recognition were granted, giving Stormforce Coaching the widest variety of RYA courses of any commercial training centre in the world. The Dinghy fleet started with 2 RS Visions. Throughout 2007 the business grew steadily, the freelance team grew and Becky came on board full time. This was also the year we opened up a second centre in Porto Heli in Greece with a fleet of dinghies, cats and boards. In September we began our Internship Programme and took on our first two Interns, one of them Adam still works with us now, having progressed onto Senior Instructor. The same month we also began exhibiting at the Southampton Boat Show.

During 2008 and 2009, the fleet was continually updated, Alice was replaced with a Jeanneau Sunfast 37, "Jedi Knight," a far better training yacht. The Cork 1720 "Vader" was purchased as was a RS400 and a couple of PWCs. One of the RIBs was upgraded to a Valiant 8m "Yoda." In the mean time the builders were in providing us with a fourth classroom for shorebased courses.

In 2010 the Greek Centre continued to flourish and back home we teamed up with Southampton Sailing Club to use their site as a satellite centre. We were now running from two bases in Southampton. We had a dedicated offshore training Centre at Kemps Quay and a watersports centre at the mouth of the river on Weston Shore. Another new RIB, an XS600 "Obi Wan" complimented the existing fleet. By September 2010 we had again outgrown our main premises. This time the move was a lot shorter as we were able to remain in Kemps Quay and expanded into a larger training centre with much more office and classroom space.

Since then the company has continued to grow. We currently have a team of eleven full time staff as well as a pool of freelance Instructors. Our full time staff represents one of the most highly qualified and experienced teams of RYA Instructors, Trainers and Coaches on the planet. Many of the freelancers are the same guys who worked with us, back in 2002-'04. Our Southampton Centre now owns a flotilla of thirteen sailing dinghies, an armada of windsurf boards, two PWC, four powerboats and four yachts/keelboats, none are on finance, all are paid for. We also manage a couple of other yachts and have further access to a much larger fleet of craft when required.

If you would like to meet us before you book with us, you are welcome to visit our Southampton Centre and discuss which course, race event or holiday is appropriate for you. We exhibit at all three of the key UK boat shows (The London Boat Show, Southampton Boat Show and the RYA Dinghy Show).

2011 sees us take on a new challenge of the Atlantic Circuit, with one of the yachts crossing to the Caribbean with the ARC in November. We will have a number of regattas and training course available in the Caribbean over the winter and spring of 2012.

A decade on and the basics have not changed. The companies’ two philosophies of delivering the highest level of training at a good price and of not taking on any debt still stand proud. Our success as a sea school is quite simply down to having good kit and classrooms, having the best staff and having a strategy of steady organic growth.

Latest News

• New RIB Launched February 2012 More
• Princess Anne visited the Stormforce Coaching stand today. More
• Stormforce candidate wins Yachtmaster of the year. More
• What's happening at London Boat Show 2012? More

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