How would you say your early experiences of working in watersports helped your career progression? 

I started sailing 35 years ago in a Mirror dinghy and went on to single-handers and competed at national and international level.  Sailing has always been a big part of my life so the opportunity to work as a dinghy instructor was a ‘no brainer’! Instructing gave me an insight into both working and in particular working in the marine industry from the grass roots level.  Interacting with many different levels of experience and differing personalities of both my fellow instructors and the students I taught was a main feature and gave me the platform and confidence I needed to move forward in my career. It also allowed me to progress my own sailing and I have gone on to crew and skipper many yachts in a range of events from top regattas to club racing, logging numerous miles cruising in coastal and offshore waters.

What are the best and not so best bits about working in the marine industry?

Highlights of working in this industry would be that you are involved in a sport that you have a passion for!  So this makes the motivation to do the job that much easier as well as giving enormous personal satisfaction of a job well done.  A negative point would be that the industry is based around the end users’ leisure time … so this can mean that the word `professionalism` is not always associated with the marine industry. This can be frustrating but if a professional approach is applied success is very much assured!