Chichester Maritime Ltd

Chichester Maritime Ltd. is a leading RYA Teaching Establishment that has always specialised in teaching first class RYA navigation and VHF radio theory.

Since 1995 we have also supplied instructors to many of the leading U.K. sailing schools for their shorebased courses.

We have now taken classroom instruction into the twenty-first century by becoming the first truly online shorebased school. Combining professionally written, interactive courses with modern communications, we can now offer individual and up-to-date tuition at a fraction of the cost of hiring a personal tutor. Our qualified RYA instructors are enthusiastic small craft sailors with a wide knowledge and clear teaching style that is second to none.

The Principal of the school is Sue Fletcher (FRIN). Besides being a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation she is also a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society; a qualified navigation instructor and SRC Course Assessor (VHF); and a writer on nautical subjects. Amongst other work she is a yachting correspondent for Practical Boat Owner magazine and author of 'Reed's VHF DSC Handbook', the RYA recommended text for the new VHF Short Range Certificate Course.

Her research for the book led her to be invited to participate in the European Working Committee, that formulated the specification for the new GMDSS small craft radio, and to write the GMDSS VHF radio procedures for small craft in the UK. She is now working closely with the US authorities to produce a handbook for their VHF DSC users and a model GMDSS course for the US recreational boater.

Rod Fletcher, a qualified RYA navigation instructor and an instructor/assessor for the SRC, has been sailing since the mid 1960s, starting in dinghys but soon moving into offshore sailing. He was the youngest skipper to be appointed to the Lloyds Bank yacht the 'Dark Horse' in 1976 and has extensive yacht delivery, cruising and racing experience including the Fastnet Race and Tall Ships racing.

A Systems Designer by profession, he now divides his time between navigation instruction, software development and managing the Chichester Maritime web sites.