Meet The Team

Steve Smith (Power and Sail Instructor / Southampton)

RYA Cruising Instructor (sail)
RYA Yachtmaster Offshore (sail)
RYA Powerboat Instructor

Steve was a former charter skipper in Greece before returning to the UK to start a family. He runs a large number of our Start Yachting, Competent Crew, Dayskipper, ICC and Powerboat Level 2 courses as well as undertaking a few yacht deliveries. His other passions are rock music and his guitar.

Doug Innes (Principal and Director)

RYA Yachtmaster Instructor (power,sail,ocean)
RYA Powerboat Trainer & PWC Trainer
RYA Senior dinghy/keelboat/multihull instructor
RYA Advanced and Racing Instructor
RYA Windsurf Instructor
RYA SRC Assessor, Radar and Diesel Instructor
RYA Sea Survival and ISAF Instrucor
RYA & HSE First Aid Instructor
BSAC Boat Handling Instructor
PADI Dive Master

Doug first qualified as an RYA instructor in 1992, he has worked in the industry ever since. He established Stormforce Coaching in 2001. He is a member of the MLA Training Committee and runs many of our instructor courses (as well as a few for other centres), he is also an RYA Centre Inspector He and the lads aboard "Chieftain" were the overall winners of the RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race, Cowes to Cascais Race, Myth of Malham and Cervantes Trophy. Doug has also been called upon to provide "expert witness" for negligence court cases involving small craft.

Ray Scott (Instructor and Examiner / Southampton)

RYA Yachtmaster Examiner (power)
RYA Yachtmaster Instructor (power)
RYA Powerboat Trainer
RYA PWC Trainer
RYA Diesel Instructor
RYA Radar Instructor
RYA SRC Assessor

Following a life time of working in and around boats Ray has a vast wealth of experience. He came to us from the MOD police where he worked both as an engine technician and boat handling instructor. Ray runs many of our powerboat instructor courses, diesel courses and motor boat courses. In addition to working with us he also examines Yachtmaster Power candidates for the RYA.

Tim Bannister (Chief Instructor / Southampton)

RYA Yachtmaster Instructor (sail)
RYA Cruising Instructor (power)
RYA Ocean Shorebased
RYA Advanced Powerboat Instructor
PWC Instructor
RYA Senior Dinghy, Keelboat Instructor
RYA Racing Instructor
RYA SRC Assessor
HSE FAW Assessor
BSAC Sport Diver

Tim joined us in March 2008. Prior to this he was the senior instructor / fleet manager for Kiel Training Centre (British Army Adventure/Sail Training in Germany). He has been on the water all his life and devotes much of his spare time to the London Sailing Project. Tim has raced in several events mostly in the Baltic, skippering the classic 1935 100 sq meter yacht "Flamingo" to glory in the Baltic Sprint Cup. He was watch officer in the 2000 Transatlantic Tall ships race aboard Rona 2. In his spare time you can usually find him on top of a mountain or under the water diving.

Stella (Office Manager)

RYA Ocean Shorebased
RYA Sea Survival (not the pool session)
RYA SRC
RYA Diesel
RYA Radar
RYA/ISAF Ofshore Safety

Stella meets and greets most of our students as they enter the front door. She has cruised the South Coast by yacht and participated in plenty RIB rides on calm days in the Solent, she spends much of her day in the office although quite often sits in on theory courses even although she has done them before.

Rebecca Collins (Administrator and Accounts)

RYA Dayskipper Theory & Practical (sail)
RYA Dinghy Level 1 and 2
RYA SRC
PADI Advanced Open Water
HSE First Aid at Work

Becky is the most organised amongst us and ensures all of the bills are paid on time, she worked part time for us for a year before joining the team full time in the spring of 2007. She is a yacht sailor and has extensively cruised the south coast of England, she tried dinghy sailing in the Mediterranean but is not so keen here in the UK. Her other intrestes are travel and reef and cavern diving.

Andy Murray (Instructor / Southampton)

RYA Advanced Powerboat Instructor
RYA PWC Instructor
RYA Cruising Instructor (sail)
RYA Shorebased Instructor
RYA Yachtmaster Offshore (sail)
RYA SRC Assessor
RYA Senior Dinghy & Keelboat Instructor
RYA Senior Windsurf Instructor
BSAC Boat Handling Instructor

Andy first trained as an instructor in 1994, he worked in a variety of powerboat and watersports centres in both hemispheres before joining us, following two years full time work he has now become a freelance instructor. He still returns to us to run our windsurfing and a variety of other courses. In his spare time he windsurfs and wakeboards. Although he now works with us we first met when he attended a couple of courses here as a student.

Peter White (Powerboat Instructor / Southampton)

RYA Advanced Powerboat Instructor
RYA Yachtmaster Shore based
BSAC Boat Handling Instructor

Peter has been instructing since the nineties, he has a wide experience of keelboat racing, diving and powerboating. He can often be seen on the support boat of the race circuit where his grandson races powerboats.

Keith Lloyd (First Aid Instructor / Southampton)

RYA First Aid Instructor
HSE First Aid Instructor
Paramedic
RYA Powerboat Level 2

Keith spent sixteen years at sea followed by twenty three years as an Ambulance Paramedic, he knows his subject from first hand experience and is well remembered by all of his students for his entertaining and educational delivery.

Adam O'Neill (Internship / Trainee Instructor / Southampton)

RYA Powerboat Instructor
RYA PWC Instructor
RYA Advanced Cert of Comp
RYA Dayskipper Sail & Motor
RYA Yachtmaster Shorebased
RYA Safetyboat & Advanced
RYA Dinghy Seamanship
RYA Sea Survival and ISAF
RYA SRC, Diesel & First Aid
PADI Advanced Open Water

Adam joined us in September 2007 on a year long internship; he has become a valued member of the team and is learning the trade fast. Prior to joining us he spent some time travelling around the world. Adam probably spends more time afloat than most as he lives aboard his own boat. He recently qualified as a both a PWC and Powerboat Instructor and has taught a number of these courses.

Mark Shaw (Internship / Trainee Instructor / Southampton)

RYA Advanced Cert. Of Comp.
RYA Dayskipper Sail
RYA Yachtmaster Shorebased
RYA Safetyboat & Advanced Powerboat
RYA Dinghy Seamanship
RYA PWC
RYA Sea Survival and ISAF
RYA First Aid, Radar, Diesel, SRC
BSAC Outboard

Mark's former job was as a technician at a PWC hire centre, he has been with us since September 2007. He has been a jet skier for six years and is currently training as a powerboat instructor. He has taken on the role of Outboard and PWC Boson and is slowly being transferred over to the quieter side (sailing).

Chris "Biff" Smith (Chief Instructor / Greece)

RYA Senior Dinghy Instructor
RYA Advanced Dinghy Instructor
RYA Keelboat Instructor
RYA Powerboat Instructor
RYA PWC Instructor

Chris has been teaching sailing for over a decade with ten season's Mediterranean experience in France, Spain and Greece. He has managed a number of resorts before joining us and is well remembered by his students for his fun and lively approach to life. He is well know by the locals in Porto Heli as he has been working there for five years and in fact now lives there permanently.

Amy Edminson (Beach and Accommodation Manager / Greece)

RYA Windsurf Instructor
RYA Safetyboat
RYA First Aid

Amy co runs the Greek centre with Chris, generally ensuring things run smoothly, 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 bookings and accounts, while still finding time to teach the odd windsurfing course. She has worked five years in Porto Heli and loves the resort.