Lyme Regis Sea School

About the Lyme Regis Sea School

Our Mission

Located in the heart of Dorset, we believe passionately in the life-changing experience that sailing can bring about in young people. We believe that sailing is not only an excellent sport demanding both physical and mental skills, but that it is also a platform for the development of life skills which go far beyond the ability to competently sail a boat. These skills include the ability to operate as a member of a team, to communicate effectively, and to provide the leadership needed to manage both resources and people. 

Few activities provide the opportunity to develop these skills at such a young age and as the students progress through the various levels towards eventually becoming a Senior Instructor, the growth in self-confidence becomes evident. We hope that every student who passes through our program at LRSS has the opportunity to develop their sailing to this level.

The Sea School was set up in 1995 as a registered charity designated to teach young people and adults to sail. We believe that sailing is a life changing experience, and testament to this is the number of our students and staff who have gone on to successful careers in the maritime industry. Currently, the sea school has over thirty dinghies, five powerboats and over fifty instructors. We pride ourselves on the quality of tuition that we offer and are always seeking to expand as an organisation.

Management Team

The Sea School is administrated and managed by four key people. Find out more about each of them below:

Centre Principal - Joshua Bolton

Having learnt to sail with the Lyme Regis Sailing Club, Josh first helped out with LRSS in 2009. Between then and now, he’s gained knowledge and qualifications – becoming Chief Instructor in 2018 and Centre Principal in 2021. Additionally, he is a secondary school science teacher in the off-season working at a school in Exeter, where he has set up a sea safety and sailing enrichment activity at the school.

He has overall responsibility for the organisation, and oversees all of our operations, from safety, to professional development and teaching standards.

Qualifications:

Senior Dinghy Instructor

SRC (Marine Radio) Assessor

Dinghy Chief Instructor - Natasha Dower

Tash began learning to sail with LRSS when she was 10, and worked her way up through the organisation, starting at age 14 as a helper, followed by qualifying as a Dinghy Instructor, Senior Instructor and Powerboat instructor.

On a day-to-day basis Tash is responsible for the operation of the Sea School, and provides guidance and support to our instructors. She is also responsible for bookings, and leads on publishing and administrating all of our bookable courses. In all likelihood, if you book a course with us, you’ll be in contact with Tash at some point!

Qualifications:

Senior Dinghy Instructor

Powerboat & Safety boat Instructor

Powerboat Chief Instructor - Chris Joyner

Chris heads up our Powerboat program and is responsible for the overall operation of all the teaching that takes place in our RIBs and displacement craft, particularly the courses we offer to the local sailing club and gig club. Chris was also our chairman until the end of the 2022 season, where he retired after nearly thirty years of service to the sea school.

Qualifications:

Senior Dinghy Instructor

Powerboat Instructor, Safetyboat Endorsed

Day Skipper – Sail

Chair of Trustees - Jo Law

Jo took over from Chris as our chair prior to the 2023 season. She brings a wealth of experience from her career assessing finance and risk, and therefore provides invaluable advice and counsel to the organisation on a regular basis.

Other trustees

Hilton Davies

Jim Thomas

Ray Waspe

Senior Instructional Team

Every sailing course at LRSS is supervised in accordance with RYA Training Guidance – and often well beyond the guidance offered. We use a large team of Senior Dinghy Instructors, who have received high-level training, to operate all of our activities safely.

Phoebe Clark

Lead Senior Dinghy Instructor –

Phoebe is in charge of

supporting all of of our

instructors with their

teaching during our dinghy courses.

Simon Law

Senior Dinghy Instructor

Race Coach Level 2

Advanced Dinghy Instructor

Powerboat Instructor

Harry Newbery

Senior Dinghy Instructor

Advanced Dinghy Instructor

Powerboat Instructor

Saffie Clark

Senior Dinghy Instructor

James Best

Senior Dinghy Instructor

Molly Walden

Senior Dinghy Instructor

Powerboat Instructor

Edward Best

Senior Dinghy Instructor

Our training craft

We have a fleet of around thirty dinghies used for training. We take enormous pride in our fleet, and really believe that high-quality, high-spec training dinghies are key to a great customer experience. Therefore, we have a rolling program of replacement, meaning that no LRSS dinghy is over six years old – and most are 1-2 years old! We’d challenge you to find more than a handful of UK centres with such a new fleet. Learn more about the classes of dinghy below, and what we commonly use them for:

Laser Pico

Youth tuition – basic levels

Fusion

Youth tuition – improver levels

Adult tuition – improver levels

Laser Bahias

Youth tuition – advanced

Adult tuition – beginner

International 420

Youth tuition – advanced

Adult tuition – advanced

Joining the team

The vast majority of our team is comprised of sailors who have learnt with us in Lyme Regis, although we do have the odd instructor who comes from further afield. One of the things we pride ourselves most on is our instructor development program. Each year, we spend thousands of pounds on instructor courses and internal training – a program which is open to every member of the team. We rarely take people on from outside of our home-grown team, but do welcome prospective enquiries. Learn more about our sailing roles below:

Lyme Regis Sailing Club

Lyme Regis Sailing Club provides the shore facilities for the Sea School sessions. You will find that the club members are very friendly and a pleasant informal atmosphere prevails at all times. We would certainly recommend that you join the club if you intend to continue sailing after the course.

Please note: Lyme Regis Sailing Club and Lyme Regis Sea School are separate organisations. You gain LRSS membership through your first purchase of an LRSS course. While you are on your course, you have access to LRSC facilities. However, if you wish to continue accessing these facilities, you must become a member of LRSC. LRSS membership does not grant you automatic membership to LRSC.

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