Simon Smith skipper.

Simon Smith, principal of Safe Sailing is a professional yacht skipper, sailing instructor and sailing safety consultant.


He has sailed for over twenty years and has been an RYA Yachtmaster instructor for more than a decade. He has taught at some of the most prestigious sailing schools around the Solent and was staff skipper for the Ocean Youth Trust North West, onboard Greater Manchester Challenge.

The boat is a 76ft gaff ketch, designed as a traditional sail training vessel with no modern winches, just wooden block and tackle.


Another good experience was skippering for the Ocean Youth Trust Scotland, on their two Challenge 72 boats, running courses in October and November on the west coast of Scotland. The students were cadets from the Glasgow Nautical College completing their practical sea phase.


Over the years Simon has skippered many vessels in different parts of the world. One of the most memorable trip was in 2009 on board Polar Bear (Challenge 72 converted for expeditions)running two trips to Jan Mayen Island in the Arctic Circle. During the six weeks he encountered some of the most stunning scenery, numerous wildlife and challenging weather systems.

Simon has also experience in sailing multihulls, working as delivery skipper for new Fountaine Pajot catamarans.


Being a marine engineer he has been involved in full refits of vessels, including installations of new engines and renewal of standing rigging.

In over 250,000 of miles afloat, Simon has encountered and survived the kind of sailing emergencies that haunt sailors' nightmares, including engine room fires, structural failure of a wooden hull, ramming, crew wipeout due to seasickness, storms and a crew member overboard (recovered within 5 minutes alive!).


Some of Simon's qualifications include:


-RYA yachtmaster with commercial endorsement for sail and motor yachts


-RYA yachtmaster instructor for sailing vessels


-RYA sea survival instructor


-MSA ship captain’s medical


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