Sea staff
Volunteer and relief sea staff profiles
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John "Cuddles" S |
| Cuddles is the ship's strong man - tough enough that he can get away with wearing a sarong on deck without being laughed at. Not more than once, anyway. Renowned for wind-ups which are not exactly subtle. In the sense that a sledgehammer is not subtle. |
Mark Boggis Second mate |
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| Mark is a former Trustee and Chairman of the Board of OYT South. These days he is able to relax more when sailing with us! He has been involved with OYC and OYT since 1988, initially in Scotland and the North East. He has worked in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector since 1984, in a variety of national account, commercial and team management roles. |
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Graeme Cole |
| Sometimes known as "Becks" for his ace footballing skills, Graeme seldom goes sailing without his Garfield pillow. |
Andy Shuttleworth Second mate |
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| As a teacher, Andy is dedicated to inspiring young minds. It also means he has seen most things before and is never thrown by anything. One of John Laing's champions of the laid-back approach. |
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Martin Skipper |
| Martin has had a long career as a police officer, from which he recently retired to start a new life as a teaching assistant. He also sails his own boat, Cwac. He was co-opted as a Trustee of OYT South in June 2007 and was Chair of the Trust for a while. |
Caz White First mate |
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| Caz first sailed with OYC as a crew member in 1983. A former journalist and qualified fundraiser, she works on marketing and communications for the charity - as well as sailing as often as possible. |
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Kathryn "Gizmo" Francis |
| Gizmo qualified as a mate the moment she was old enough, having sailed with us frequently, as well as working hard at refits. In 2006 she took part in the ASTO Skippership Scheme. She's now returned to work on dry land for a while but makes occasional guest appearances on board.. |
Brian Eyres Relief skipper |
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| Brian was a staff skipper with the Ocean Youth Club, and did the OYC voyage round the world in the mid-1990s. Now he is a Trustee, keeps the mates' register and organises CRB checks, as well as still doing the occasional voyage. |
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Annant Shah |
| Annant started sailing with OYT South in 2005 having had previous experience with other forms of sail training. |
Alex "Leek" Evans Second mate |
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| Leek's first OYT trip was the International Voyage in 2005 (on account of being Welsh), after which he became a watchleader and a regular volunteer. He also volunteers as a lifeboat crew member with the RNLI. |
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Andy Royse |
| Andy is another OYT South Trustee who began his sail training career as a young crew member. An engineer, he is passionate about street-furniture and often entertains his watch with his knowledge of street lighting. He can also snap things out of the air like a giraffe. He loves doing chart corrections. |
Rosie "Habit" Allen Second mate |
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| Habit sailed as crew in 2005 and has since spent a lot of time on the boat. When not sailing, she likes acting and improvisation, and snow boarding. She was upgraded to second mate early in 2008. |
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Di Roberts |
| Australian Di is a marine surveyor who got involved through surveying John Laing. She is highly motivated to keep John Laing sailing in good condition as she has booked berths for twin grandsons Henry and Hector when they are old enough. Which won't be until 2020. She has an inexhaustible supply of jokes, some of which are very funny. |
Rob Butler Third mate |
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| Rob is another teacher. He has been involved with OYT South for several years and also organises some of his students to sail with us. |
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Dave "Tigger" Heffer |
| The wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tiggers are wonderful things....Tigger was responsible for the fantastic new OYT South backdrop first seen at the 2006 Southampton Boat Show. His daughter is one of the crew members known to have picked up Helen Acton's accent (see above). |
Nic Crawford Relief skipper |
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| Nic is a professional boat surveyor. He does a great David Bowie on guitar, and is very laid back. He thinks that the key to a good voyage is aftenoon tea with cake - preferably Jamaica ginger cake. |
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Vikki Maxwell |
| Vikki is a former staff first mate from the old Ocean Youth Club days. She sailed with us while working for Hampshire County Council but is now moving to Scotland, so we may not see so much of her in future. |
Phil Whiffing Third mate |
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| Phil got involved after his daughter Kate did several voyages as a crew member. Kate recently got a mates' recommendation as well! Phil passed his third mate's assessment early in 2007. |
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Steve Lacey |
| Steve is qualified as both a teacher and a youth worker specialising in outdoor education. He has extensive yacht racing experience, frequently as a race navigator. He currently works for Dorset County Couincil as a Senior Youth Worker. He became involved with OYT South by bringing a group of young people to sail in 2002, and quickly qualified as a second mate. He is OYT South's Child Protection Officer. |
Cathy Lacey
Second mate |
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Cathy is an Engineer Officer in the Royal Navy, currently working at the Maritime Warfare School. She is also a qualified part-time youth worker. |
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Steve Furniss |
| Steve owns a B&B but still manages to do quite a lot of sailing - including working in square riggers as well as skippering occasional voyages for us. |
Dawn Marshall
Third mate |
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A swimming instructor and gymnast who also works with the Guides. Dawn is into Dinghies. Her dad is really nice, too. |
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Ceri "Bridget" Adams |
| Currently studying social work at York University, Bridget sailed as crew in 2004 and then got involved in the winter refit. The Bridget nickname is because of a supposed resemblance to Renee Zellweger in the Bridget Jones movie. |
Laura Brayshaw
Relief bosun |
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Another former crew member, Laura was for some time our youngest member of sea staff. Not many people realised this as she is more mature than the Staff Skipper. She is currently on a break from sailing having had a baby - who is already practising for the day that she too is old enough to sail as crew. |
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Becca Causer |
| As a marine archaeologist, Becca's interests include old and decaying wrecks. Hobbies include dredging and diving. Becca is also a talented illustrator, artist and face painter. |
Andrew Viney Second mate |
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| Andrew sails Squibs and Laser 4000s in his free time and likes most things nautical. He joined OYT South's sea staff in 2006 to gain experience of big boats. An IT professional when he works, he is very funny and laid back. He passed his second mate's assessment in 2008. |
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Rob Dickinson |
| Rob previously sailed as a mate in the Gordonstoun School boat. An early draft of this web page led to him being voted "most gorgeous member of male sea staff" despite the big orange lifejacket. Readers note that we will not be giving out his phone number. |
John Clack First mate |
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"When not sailing with OYT South I’ll be at jazz gigs - I love live music. OYT highlights for me have been visiting ports when musical festivals have been running – a Gaelic festival at Lorient, a midsummer festival in Cherbourg. |
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Matt Bland |
| Matt first sailed with the OYC in 1998 aged 17. Sailing made him decide on a seafaring career and he is now a Third Officer in the Merchant Navy. This photo, entitled "Me and My Penguins" was taken while he was working in fisheries protection in the South Atlantic. He likes sailing with OYT South because he loves meeting new people and watching them develop. He qualified as a first mate in 2007. |
Ben Martin First mate |
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Ben is in his final year of a degree in economics at University of Bath, which keeps him busy when not sailing! Having done many years of sailing 30-footers around the south and east coast with family, he moved on to OYT South firstly as crew, qualifying as watchleader in 2006, and stepping up to second mate in 2007. He was nominated by OYT South in 2008 for an ASTO exchange award, which he won, to spend time on board a sail training vessel in Canada. In 2009 he passed his first mate's assessment, aged only 21. |
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Yvonne Taylor |
| Yvonne runs a company offering RYA and other yachting-related courses. She has a particular expertise in first aid and advanced medical courses, and safety at sea. She is also a Trustee of OYT South. |
Craig Dickerson |
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Craig is a former OYT South staff bosun. He arrived as a volunteer during the winter refit 2002-3, and barely went home again until the end of the 2005 season. After a year in recovery, a lot of sailing in the Caribbean and a ski season, he is now running his own garden design business and has occasionally been seen back on board John Laing, claiming that the engine had missed him. |
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Phil Runchman |
| Phil recently retired as a Surgeon Captain in the Royal Navy. Most of our mates think John Laing is quite large for a yacht but Phil is more used to aircraft carriers. Maybe he didn't get to steer the aircraft carrier enough as that seems to be his favourite thing on board John Laing. |
Joe Parker Second mate |
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Joe is currently writing a D Phil thesis in Comparative Macro-Evolution of Retroviruses, which he is completing on an exclusive diet of noodles. He sails in John Laing to get more sleep and avoid both the thesis and the noodles. |
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David Blogg |
David first sailed in John Laing in 2003 and has tried to return as often as possible, but finds that his work coupled with skippering smaller yachts in his leisure time gets in the way. He also likes nothing better than fixing things, which comes in handy during the winter refit. David works in the defence industry, mostly on projects associated with the UK Royal Navy. His knowledge of warships and submarines is particularly useful when visiting Portsmouth and Gosport; especially if the crew need to be entertained during a trip ashore. He was upgraded to 2M in 2009. |
Hugh Myers |
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Hugh spent seventeen years in the British army, and then 20 years in the Middle East, in the army of the Sultan of Oman. Now retired, he has been involved with the Ocean Youth Trust since 1994. |
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Liz Key |
| Liz has a background in youthwork and has been involved with sail training for several years, including four seasons as a cook with Trinity Sailing's Leader. She did two years as our Staff Bosun, and went on to become a mate in Pegasus in early 2010. |
John Parkin |
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John is another long-serving first mate. He is committed to adding some classical music to the boat's repertoire, though he is learning to live with the normal diet of modern music. He brings a professorial demeanour combined with a nice sense of humour to his voyages. |
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Stuart Raynsford |
| Stuart first sailed with OYT South in 2006, though he has substantial sailing experience in other boats. Refit 2006-7 revealed his extensive maintenance skills and enthusiasm for fixing things - which rapidly earned him a place as a relief bosun. He was upgraded to second mate in 2008. |
Miranda Camping |
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| Miranda did several voyages in John Laing as a crew member and also helped with maintenance and other jobs on board in order to earn her bosun's recommendation. |
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Geoff Eddy |
| Also new to OYT South at the September 2006 familiarisation voyage, Geoff gave a lot of support over the winter and passed his third mate's assessment early in 2007 and his second mate's assessment at the end of the same season. |
Heloise Finch |
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| Heloise was an active OYT mate a few years ago but then moved abroad, believing for some reason that living on a tropical island (among other places) would make up for not sailing with us for a while. Fortunately she has at last seen sense and made the effort to come back for a few voyages. |
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Tristan Caudrey |
Tristan is an apprentice marine engineer who has sailed with us a number of times, including a Tall Ships voyage in 2006. He's one of the few relief bosuns who can safely be trusted to take bits of the engine apart. |
Brendan Stewart |
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| Brendan has worked in fishing trawlers in the north east. He did a leg of Tall Ships 2006 and earned a recommendation as trainee bosun because he stayed cheerful and hard-working whatever the weather. He needs to learn that it is possible to wash clothes rather than throwing them away when they get wet. He won an ASTO International Exchange in 2010, as OYT South's nominee. |
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Lisa Davis |
| Lisa used to work for Raymarine, one of our key sponsors, and knows almost everything there is to know about our radar and other key pieces of equipment - which makes her a very useful person to have on board! She's gone on to paramedic training - another useful on-board skill. |
Andrew Kitching |
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| Andrew sailed as a crew member aged 14 in 1997 with a young skipper called Dave Carnson...Ten years went by and Andrew became a watch leader with OYT North West before returning to OYT South in 2007 on a voyage skippered by....Dave Carnson. |
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JP Haddon Third mate |
| JP, from Northern Ireland, seen here doing his leprechaun impression, used to sail in Lord Rank with OYT Ireland, but now living and working on this side of the Irish Sea, he joined our team in 2008, and passed his third mate's assessment in 2009.. |
Paul "Cakes" Barber |
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| Paul sailed in John Laing as a crew member in 2004 before going off to train in outdoor activities and becoming a dinghy instructor. He came back to OYT South in 2007 as a new trainee watch leader, and liked it so much he decided to stay for five months as a full-time refit volunteer. He has since been travelling, but hopes to sail with us again soon. |
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Bob Trimble |
| Bob is a highly experienced sailor who met staff skipper Wolf on a first aid course and got lured into OYT South from there. He breezed through a third mate's assessment and half his second mate's assessment during his first full voyage in John Laing in 2008. |
Emma Burrows |
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| Emma sailed with us as a crew member for several years. She graduated from Cambridge University in 2009, and completed her mate's assessment that summer - sailing from Russia to Finland, a more glamorous location than most people get for their assessments! She helped a lot with the refit that winter, and was upgraded to second mate in 2010 before going off to a new glamorous job! |
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Jon Seddon Second mate |
| Jon got involved with us at the 2007-8 winter refit and impressed everyone by working very hard while always looking as though he was enjoying it. He has previously spent a season as a flotilla engineer in the mediterranean and has been an excellent addition to our sea staff. |
Lucinda Neall |
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| Lucinda first sailed in John Laing when she organised a voyage for a group from her local youth club. Next time she brings a group she will be aiming to qualify as a mate. |
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Craig Burton Relief skipper |
| Craig is a former Sea Cadets skipper who now runs ASTO (the Association of Sea Training Organisations). He will be skippering John Laing for one voyage in 2008. |
Colin Robertson |
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| Colin sailed with OYT South as a mate on a number of occasions some years ago. He has recently returned to the charity and we hope to see a lot more of him in future. |
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James Turner Second mate |
| James first sailed with OYT South at the end of 2008 and qualified as 2nd Mate. He is a yachting journalist and RYA sailing instructor who has spent a lot of time in recent years working with young people of all abilities in secondary education. |
Sarah "Tee Hee" Tredinnick |
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| Tee Hee learned to sail in John Laing, and became a qualified mate, but then disappeared for several years in order to become a qualified teacher. In her first teaching job, she started bringing school groups to sail with us. |
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Ben "Sparky" Whinnett First mate |
| Ben completed a Yachtmaster course in 2008 and is busy extending his sailing experience. He joined OYT South's full-time core refit team for winter 2008-9, having completed a mate's assessment at the end of the 2008 season, and was upgraded to second mate early in 2009 and to first mate at the end of that season. |
Karen Harris |
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Karen came to us orginally via a very long-standing friendship with another mate, Phoebe, which brought her to refit and various other OYT South activities over a few years before she finally agreed to come sailing. She's now trying to fit qualifying as a mate in with her commitments as a vet. |
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Annie Holt |
| Annie is a primary school teacher who got involved with OYT South in 2008. After helping at lots of maintenance days and refit, she did a couple of short voyages with us, and was signed off as a qualified third mate early in 2009. |
John Gilmour |
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John is a teacher with a rather nasty nautical bad habit. Before becoming a teacher he worked for the Queen helping to navigate one of her submarines. Since then he has settled down next to the sea and every now and then gets to help the local lifeboat crew save people from the unfortunate situations they find themselves in. He has twice brought school groups to sail with us, and qualifed as a third mate in 2009. |
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Clare Thorpe |
| Clare (aka Clareski) has been a volunteer with the Ocean Youth Trust since 2001 and will sail on any boat that will have her! In her spare time she plays with nuclear waste and organises small yacht sailing for "the Captain's Daughters". |
Andy Bristow |
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Andy skippered the Army charter of John Laing which sailed to Antarctica in 2001-2. He's now involved with OYT South again and settling in happily to sailing with rather different types of crew! |
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Jez Snead |
| Jez joined us for the volunteers' training week in early 2009, stayed on for the next voyage in order to learn how to boil the kettle, and has made such good progress in mastering this and other essential on-board skills that he has qualified as a third mate. When not sailing he is a lawyer. |
Fergus Anderson |
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Fergus is a Yachtmaster Examiner who became involved with OYT South in 2009.
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Kerrin Koetsier |
| Kerrin sailed with us as a crew member in 2008 and quickly impressed with her commitment and enthusiasm. After helping at the winter refit, she became a relief bosun in 2009. |
Paul Sillett |
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A former business man, Paul now spends a lot of his time on or under the water. As well as being mad keen on sailing, Paul is also a powerboat, first aid, and scuba diving instructor. Having met some OYT staff on the Ship Captain's Medical course in January 2009, he completed a sea staff voyage in April and his third mate's assessment in June 2009. Hobbies include cooking and sleeping in confined spaces. |
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Kirsty Keith |
| Kirsty was heavily involved with the OYC in the 1990s and did a leg of the World Voyage, after which she needed a long rest - returning to us in 2009 and almost immediately qualifying as a second mate. |
Richard Haig |
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Richard is a professional sailor who joined OYT South in 2009 and is rapidly adapting to sail training with large groups of young people in a 72-foot boat! |
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Andrew Wilkes |
| Andrew spent many years in the telecoms industry and now spends his time running a small business in Lymington; his main objective being to escape from "shore-side" and go sailing as much as possible. Although he has sailed south to Cape Horn and north to Baffin Island, some of his most interesting sailing has been in John Laing in the English Channel. He joined the sea staff in 2009. |
Phoebe Second mate |
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Phoebe is not her real name - this was inspired by the TV series Friends and has stuck so that many people don't realise she has another name. Phoebe has just completed an archaeology degree at Southampton University (with a first), and is now working full-time in sail training. She has been sailing with OYT South since 2001, starting as a sixteen year old crew member and working her way up. She was once Youth Trustee of OYT South, and has gone on to full-time work in sail training. |
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Nick Higson |
| Nick sailed as a crew member on Tall Ships 2009, and was quickly invited back for watch leader training. He passed a mate's assessment early in 2010 and is now trying to do as much sailing as he can fit round his university studies. |
Rachel Wright Third mate |
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Rachel joined our sea staff in 2010. |
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Gerry Moore |
| Gerry did a taster voyage with us in 2009 and joined the sea staff in 2010. |
Frederik Ferner Third mate |
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Frederik got involved with OYT South after meeting one of our mates at a music festival. He did an adult voyage from Germany to Poland in 2009, and came back as a volunteer in 2010. |
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Simon Jinks |
| Simon was formerly the Royal Yachting Association's Chief Cruising Instructor and is one of the UK's most experienced instructors and examiners. He completed an OYT skipper's assessment in 2010 - an experience that was possibly more daunting for the person assessing him than it was for Simon... |
Audrey Knight Third mate |
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Audrey first heard of OYT South through a sailing instructor and after a couple of voyages, she has now qualified as third mate. She loves sailing on all types of boats, but John Laing is a contender for favourite as it's the only time she gets to play her favourite game which is the After Eight game - bring on the chocolate! |
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Terry Bufton |
Having retired from a full career as an engineer in the RAF, Terry joined the OYT South team as a consequence of getting smitten on a 2009 RYA familiarisation trip. Despite being in the RAF rather than the Royal Navy, Terry has been active in offshore sailing since 1964, and now enjoys teaching and yacht deliveries in tropical locations. |
Dave Price Third mate |
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Dave’s first ever cruise was with OYC in the 1960s - he was smitten with navigation then and has loved it ever since. After 37 years behind a desk he qualified as a Yachtmaster in 2002 and a Cruising Instructor in 2009. |
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Rooby Woods |
| Rooby joined the sea staff in 2010. |
Amy Keightley Third mate |
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Amy joined the OYT team in 2010 and did her first voyage in June where she passed her third mate's assessment. She is a keen dinghy sailor, canoeist and lover of all watery things. In her normal life she is a doctor in land-locked Derby and is keen to get to the boat whenever possible to cure nasty land sickness. |
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David Aspinall |
| David is retired, after a career in the aggregates industry here and on the continent, latterly as director of a marine dredging company. He enjoys just messing about on the water on anything that floats, but especially long distance cruising and yacht delivery - particularly when it is somewhere hot! He had a cruising yacht based in Hamble for 20 years, and now has one based in Greece where heI can swim before breakfast. He does lots of yacht Race Officer work. His aims are 1) to help all OYT crew to enjoy sailing as much as he does and 2) to take part in extreme washing up and the creme caramel game as often as possible. |
