About us and our instructors.

Premier Sailing is owned and operated by Irish sailors Phil and Arabella Denvir.

Both are steeped in sailing tradition, starting from the long tradition of sailing in Ireland. Both are keen racers, having raced small boats and big. They are classic wooden boat enthusiasts, having owned and restored boats like the famous Merle of Malham, and the 1900 classic cutter “Rowena, which they have cruised in Ireland and in the southwest of England. Arabella races on the women’s match racing circuit and is currently ranked in the ISAF World ranking list.

The Denvirs moved to Malta in 1993 and founded Malta Sailing School, which ran the Royal Yachting Association Certification program for adults and for children. They are also well known for having founded the Malta Young Sailors Club, which is a thriving Optimist and Laser racing club for young sailors.

The Royal Yachting Association is  the national governing body for recreational sailing in the UK. The RYA have developed a training scheme and certificates of competence which are recognised worldwide and used extensively in Europe.

In 1998 they moved to the USA to establish Premier Sailing, which now has several operations in Virginia – in Irvington, Williamsburg and Virginia Beach.

Their philosophy is to give high quality personalized instruction in a safe, friendly, and fun environment, and to encourage their students to pursue excellence.

 

Our instructors                   

Our instructors are chosen not just for their qualifications but also for their experience, their teaching manner and their general outlook on sailing. As a result of this we have a wonderful variety of personalities who are our instructors.

Joe  -  Joe teaches US Sailing keelboat courses, has been sailing for years and years,  has previously lived and worked in many different countries around the world, and every winter takes his boat down to Florida in search of adventure and to escape the misery of winter in Virginia.

Leon - Leon teaches US Sailing keelboat courses, has sailed his boat for many years in the Chesapeake Bay, and regularly spends winter months in the Bahamas sailing with friends and, yes, escaping the misery of winter in Virginia.

Claude – a Frenchman, a Catamaran sailor. Like all the French, Claude is born to sail, and grew up sailing in France before to moving to the US. He specializes in the team building part of our corporate sailing programs but also loves to teach keelboat courses.  He returns to us in 2009 when he recrosses the Atlantic after spending four years cruising around the Mediterranean with his wife and two daughters.

Franz -  Originally from California, Franz races in Key West, Charleston Race Week and other regattas.   Franz is a master boat builder and carpenter and maintains his own classic yacht. Franz skippers in our corporate sailing events.

John -   one of the founders of the famous Turkey Shoot Regatta, and former marina owner/operator, John has many delivery and racing miles under his belt, and skippers in our corporate sailing events and in our team building events.

Dwight - a retired air force test pilot, a keen big boat and sunfish racer, Dwight skippers in our corporate sailing events and in our team building events.

Jerry – a keen racer and sail maker, www.latellsails.com , Jerry skippers our corporate sailing events, and works in our race training.

                           You should be Sailing !

 

Lucy - Senior Instructor.  Lucy is a graduate of our Young Sailors program,  has taught for us for many years and is now our senior instructor.   She teaches both small boat and J24 courses to adults and to children.   She spent 2007/8 travelling around the world  and has returned to the US to pursue a university degree and to work for us of course.   Lucy comes from a local sailing family.

Robert - Robert knows PSS inside out,  and is an invaluable member of our team, having learned to sail with us,  having raced J24s with us, having done maintenance on all our fleet, and having worked as an instructor with PSS for the past several years.  Rob is now a student at William and Mary but will return this summer to work for us.

Andy Notto  - is a graduate of our Young Sailors program, having started with us when he was about 10 years old,  and has been instructing for us and racing with us for several years.  He is a fine Laser sailor, a committed teacher, and his dry sense of humour has led him to a secret other life as talented stand up comedian. 

Virginie  -   lives in Paris for most of the year but returns to Virginia every summer.  Another PSS graduate and another fine laser sailor,  Virginie started instructing for us in 2008.  Obviously she takes care of any French speaking students.

Leo -  is a graduate of PSS, loves to sail and to fish, is yet another fine laser sailor, and has been instructing for us since 2008.

Glen

Brad

Ryan Higbie

Hannah