About us and our instructors.

Premier Sailing was founded 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.

In 1998 they moved to the USA to establish Premier Sailing at The Tides Inn in Irvington.

With great regret we have to add that Philip Denvir passed away in July 2011.  He is deeply missed by all of us, instructors, staff and customers alike. 

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

That's Capt. Willis in the middle,

 he's not really an Instructor but he does drive big Tugboats.

Behind him from the left:- Virginie, Andy, X and Rob.
 

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.

Ed -  owns and cruises a lovely Catamaran with his wife, Ed brings his offshore experience to our keelboat courses.   He enjoys instructing and has lots of fun with his students.

Jim -  Another cruising man, Jim started teaching for us in 2010 and is a very thorough, committed instructor, and brings all his teaching skills and sailing skills together at PSS.

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.

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.

 

Robert - Senior Instructor and J24 Instructor.  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   -Senior Instructor  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. Andy starts at ODU this Fall.

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.  Leo is a great instructor, is great fun, and looks after his students very well.

Caitie -  a lovely Laser sailor, Caitie has been instructing for us since 2010.  She spends her summers here working for us and sailing her laser on a windy stretch of the Bay.  Yet another graduate of Premier Sailing.

Ana - New for 2012, Ana is a graduate of Premier Sailing, works wonderfully with children and has a great sense of fun.

Our Williamsburg Instructors:

Brad - Senior Instructor for our Williamsburg location.     Brad is a student at UVA and has been instructing for us since 2007.  He and his many siblings and cousins are all graduates of our sailing program at Two Rivers Yacht Club

 .

Hannah - Senior Instructor at our Williamsburg location.  Hannah started sailing with us when she was 8 and was one of our favourite students.  She has been one of our favourite instructors since 2007.   Hannah will take one of her semesters on a large research sailing ship this spring.

Chris -  Chris is a lovely 420 and sunfish sailor and another graduate of our program.  He is also Hannah's brother!   Chris has been instructing for us since 2008.

Peter  - our most newly qualified Williamsburg instructor, Peter has risen up through the Premier Sailing ranks to become instructor.  Very interested in his students and a very capable instructor, Peter sails sunfish in Florida every year.

Former Instructors that we miss!

Andy Smith, Kristin, Matt