The Industry Experts
As part of our commitment to excellence in the delivery of Deck Officer training (yacht) we have assembled a number of leading figures from the maritime worlds. These experts include:
Jon Ely (Chief Executive)
Jon has served as a Deck Officer with P&O and has an honours degree in nautical studies. Jon is a Yachtmaster Instructor and Development Director of the UKSA and now co-ordinates the deck officer training programme as well as being responsible for developing new courses and programmes.
Douglas Sewell
Douglas is responsible for all Deck Officer training at UKSA. During his service in the Royal Navy, Douglas observed the “remarkable development” of the UKSA. In his last appointment, as Senior Naval Officer (MV Northella), he was responsible for an extensive programme of navigation and pilotage training for young naval officers. His previous sea-going career combined merchant navy RNR service including command endorsement. Douglas now forms the keystone of the Deck Officer syllabus and training at UKSA.
Paul Bennett
A qualified Chief Engineer and Engineering lecturer of note and experience, Paul is at the forefront of the development education programmes for yacht engineers. He has a lifetime of experience as a marine engineer and an unsurpassed knowledge of marine installations, engineering techniques and fault diagnosis.
Rod Moody
Since gaining a Masters (FG) certificate in the Merchant Navy, Rod has served on many ships as Master, on everything from small yachts to 300,000 tonne tankers. For over 20 years he was a Trinity House and Medway Ports Pilot. After taking early retirement he has lectured at Southampton Institute at Marchwood on their ship handling facility; training ship’s Masters and Pilots from all over the world on the mechanics of ship handling.
Jonathan Hadley-Piggin
Jonathan has served as a navigation officer with BP shipping and then with the Royal Navy on a variety of warships and nuclear submarines. He now forms part of a team heading the Shipping and Marine Department of the law firm Shoosmiths. Jonathan will be delivering the ships business and law module within deck officer training.
David Sutton
A practising Naval Architect and yacht surveyor, David is a very experienced yachtsman with an extensive background in ship and yacht construction and design, formerly working in local yards such as Vosper Thorneycroft and FBM at Cowes. David is also a commander RNR with sea command experience and is regularly engaged by MOD Navy in defence sales at Portsmouth.
Andy Spatcher
Don’t let the motorbike leathers put you off, Andy is a master of medical training! He is a qualified paramedic having trained at Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar, before being seconded to HQ commando forces. He has traveled the world whilst working in the oil and gas industry and now teaches on the UKSA Professional Crew and Skipper Training Course.
Paul Martin
Paul currently teaches short range and long range radio communications on the UKSA PCST course. As an ex Merchant Navy radio operator and with 25 years at coastal radio stations he certainly knows his stuff. He runs an independent Europe wide communications consultancy, is a GMDSS instructor and examiner teaching Europe wide.
John Walsh
John is a retired Royal Naval Lieutenant Commander who specialised in Navigation and has co-ordinated the UKSA’s Caribbean Ocean Master training courses. He has been the skipper of 140ft MV and is a Yachtmaster Examiner. Having been an instructor most recently at the UKSA in celestial and ocean navigation and tropical meteorology he is well placed to pass on this knowledge to deck officer students.
