| 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
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