Meet the team

If you’ve booked onto a Deckhand, Stewardess or STCW Course, Rob will be your man! He is a Powerboat and PWC Instructor and has been teaching since 2010. Within that time he has also spent 12 months travelling the Pacific and Indian Oceans on container ships.

With 40 years of experience in the UK’s Blue Light Emergency Public Services and the oil and gas industry in the Middle East, Mark has seen it all. He has served as a Inshore Lifeboat Helmsman and Lifeboat Training Officer, and is currently a Community First Responder with the Ambulance Service.

Simona has worked in the Superyacht industry for over 10 years. During her career she has encountered every possible issue that arises as a professional Stewardess on a superyacht. Simona left the industry to have a family and now teaches others how to start a successful career on a Superyacht.

Rick became a Powerboat and PWC Instructor in 2004, obtaining his commercial endorsement in 2009 and became an Advanced Powerboat Instructor in 2010. He is very handy to have around Flying Fish because he has also been repairing and maintaining boats and PWCs for years.

Sarah joined Flying Fish in 2009 but has been a First Aid trainer since 2004 when she begun teaching the subject to the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service. Since then she has spent a number of years teaching First Aid to children under 11 years old and has been part of a team that went into high schools to highlight the importance of road safety and the consequences of road traffic collisions.

Angus has been involved in sailing and boating for over thirty years. Starting in sailing dinghies and small powerboats, his experience encompasses many types of power and sailing vessels throughout Europe. Angus started Powerboat training in 2001 and has since been clocking up in excess of 2000 training, skippering and delivery hours per year covering over 15,000 sea miles annually.

Lisa began her career working for a company providing Radar, Dome and AV equipment to yachts, then moved on-board and became a Stewardess, working her way up through the ranks on various yachts. Lisa left this life to start a family, however, she is still in the industry, working for YPI where she recruits Superyacht Crew.

Sue is a PWC Instructor and Powerboat Instructor. Sue grew up on the Solent both sailing and water-skiing. With both of these watersports came powerboats and jet skis which gave Sue a great passion for the industry. After a number of years living in South Africa, Sue came back to the Isle of Wight as a Skipper, running charter boats and instructing RYA Courses

Michèle started working with Flying Fish in 2010 to deliver the accredited Food Safety Courses. She has a lot of experience within the Superyacht industry and tailors her courses to make each one industry specific. Michèle is a lady of many skills, being a Chef Trainer and Assessor, Cookery Writer, Nutritionist and Food Safety Consultant.

Sarah helps us get all jobs done. She fixes problems and makes sure everything runs smoothly for all students coming to Cowes.

Mabel is the enabler of your new adventure. She will get you booked onto the right course and do everything to tailor it around you. She also shares her barista skills with the Stewardesses so they can also make top coffee when working on Superyachts.

Andy began his working life as an oceanographer, in an attempt to find a career path that would get him out on the water. He soon decided this wasn’t enough fun and he gave it up to work as a sailing and windsurfing instructor in the UK. Shortly afterwards he met Andrew Lorant and they started to develop the Flying Fish concept of vocational sports training in the world’s best locations. The first trip was to Barbados, to run a windsurfing instructor course. Today he oversees Flying Fish Sailing Academy. Andy has a lifetime of experience as a water sports trainer and many thousands of miles logged sailing offshore.

After 10 years in the London design industry, Russell decided to take a career break. He says “I decided to trade the material comforts of mainstream life for the opportunity to acquire skills that would stay with me for life.” So, Russell joined Flying Fish to do a windsurf instructor traineeship in Vassiliki, Greece. He then spent time as an instructor in Greece and Spain before returning to Flying Fish to work as an Instructor Trainer. Several years on Russell is Operations Director for Flying Fish Australia.

Laura has been working at Flying Fish for four years and teaches Powerboat Level 1 in Australia. Laura handles both the marketing and sales for Flying Fish Australia but her true passion is being on the water. She particularly enjoys twilight racing and coastal trips up to Hamilton Island each year with the Hamilton Island race week being the highlight of the year for her.