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Hello, we’re
Skippers Online
We work hard to deliver high quality, enjoyable and fulfilling RYA online theory courses.
We focus on product quality, customer service and excellent support because that’s the things we like when we buy anything.
“We share a passion for sailing and boating, and know that developing your theory knowledge will lead to an even greater enjoyment of your time on the water.”
We love teaching the really useful stuff that makes being on the water even more fun, safer, and more interesting.
We focus on product quality, customer service and excellent support because that’s the things we like when we buy anything.
It’s been over 10 years now since we first started teaching RYA Sail Cruising qualifications as a practical sailing school. Now we specialise in teaching via our online theory courses.
We were known as Kipper Sailing when we first started - delivering RYA Sail Cruising qualifications by way of 9-day combined theory and practical sailing courses.
From an instructor’s perspective it was clearly evident that student’s knowledge of the topics taught via online learning was vastly superior to that which they achieved in the classroom.
So we embarked on a 2-year development programme to build online learning courses for the entire RYA Day Skipper and Yachtmaster syllabus with the goal of delivering the best possible training products to enable students to study for and pass their RYA examinations.
Now more than 120 RYA Training Centres sell our courses to their students to make sure that they are as well prepared for their practical training courses as possible.
We’ve trained over 12,500 students in 85 countries and are continually working to ensure our online RYA theory courses are the best available.
And with our team of highly experienced instructors providing one-to-one support, we’ll make sure you have everything you need to succeed.
The Skippers Online Team
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Iain Barbour
CEO
Passionate about sailing and teaching sailing, Iain is a Yachtmaster Instructor and also a volunteer Skipper with Ocean Youth Trust Scotland. When not looking after Skippers Online he’s often out sailing around the west coast of Scotland - inspiring groups of young people on adventure sailing trips. A previous career running a magazine publishing company has also given Iain a love of all things creative and customer focussed.
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John Corden
RYA principal instructor
John is a life-long sailor and Yachtmaster Instructor, but it also helps that in a previous life, he spent nearly 30 years in the software products industry, progressing from programmer to Chief Operating Officer of a successful £60m turnover software company. So he knows a thing or two about developing successful software programmes.
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Mervyn Wilson
RYA Yachtmaster Instructor
Mervyn enjoyed an outstanding career as a commercial project manager including working on the Mass Transit Railway in Hong Kong. He first started sailing in the UK before becoming the founder and chief instructor of his own RYA Training Centre in Thailand. After running that successfully for many years, he joined us as an instructor working from Phuket. His location allows us to provide instructor support across different time zones.
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Alan Mellor
RYA Ocean & Yachtmaster Instructor
Alan started sailing dinghies whilst at college before moving on to offshore sailing. He continues to teach practical sailing courses as well as being an instructor for Skippers Online and is engaged in his own personal programme “Sailing the world” where he aims to sail in a different part of the world each year that he has not yet visited - Desolation Sound, Vancouver is his current highlight.
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Ally Brown
Course administrator
Ally is in charge of ensuring your course runs smoothly - from despatching your student packs with the physical RYA course materials to the far flung corners of the globe, to processing your qualifications and registration with the RYA. Often very busy but always calm and never flustered.
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Mark Blakey
RYA Ocean & Yachtmaster Instructor
Mark has been a keen sailor since the age of 14 and has sailed extensively around Europe, the Canary Islands and the Azores with his wife in their own boat. He has worked as a delivery skipper, and in the offshore wind industry, and spent 7 years volunteering as a crew member at his local RNLI station in the UK.