About First Class Sailing
The First Class Sailing Story so far...
Established in 2000 by the late Saul Masson, First Class Sailing is now owned by Principal Charlie Tulloch.
“I first came across Saul on a yacht delivery from Thailand to Malta on a Nicholson 49” says Charlie. “I was the mate and Saul was the skipper. It was an absolutely amazing trip. We saw many whales, caught dozens of tuna, stopped in places like Galle in Sri Lanka to get the starter motor fixed, Aden in Yemen to take on food and water (that turned out to be undrinkable), Djibouti to take on more water, Hurgharda in Egypt to check out the nightlife, we went through the Suez canal and then finally got to Malta. Crossing the Indian Ocean we had days and days of steady winds from behind. It was glorious sailing and a great adventure.”
“For a number of years after that trip I had more adventures skippering on deliveries and teaching RYA courses. I skippered a privately owned yacht for a year from St Katherines Dock in London to Panama, the Galapagos Islands, around central America and back to England which was another magical trip.”
"Sailing for me is about wide open spaces"
“I had just completed a year on container ships and a Merchant Shipping Degree when Saul became ill with cancer and I went to help with First Class Sailing that was already starting to expand rapidly. When Saul died the business passed to his wife Greta. Soon after I bought First Class Sailing from Greta who has her own legal recruitment business C Legal and did not want to take on FCS as well.”
“Initially First Class Sailing was based in Walthamstow, E17. After I’d owned the company for a year or so, I moved it with my then girlfriend, now wife, Begonia to Warsash on the coast. She has her own Environmental Legal Consultancy called The ERIC Group. This decision to move from London came about after too many Fridays making the particularly long drive down to Southampton from Walthamstow to maintain the boats.”
“Now our main office is in Shamrock Quay which is where we keep the majority of our fleet of yachts. We have just as strong ties with London as ever, regularly conducting RYA Shorebased courses in the offices of large corporates and other prestigious organisations in the Capital.”
"I want First Class Sailing to be the best! I want people to love what they do with us and we work hard to make this happen. When people email or phone with an enquiry I want them to get an immediate response from us which is why our office is open from 8am to 7pm. I want people to feel we treat them fairly and with integrity and we guarantee this. I want people to have the best course going which is why we take such care in choosing our instructors and spend so much time maintaining and cleaning our yachts. Ultimately, I want people to be having fun on the water!" Charlie, Principal
Charlie is an RYA/DoT Yachtmaster Ocean Instructor. His Dad taught him to sail on a Drascombe Dabber, called Yabber Dabber Doo, as a boy on the River Dart and he has since logged over 55,000 miles. Before First Class Sailing Charlie taught people to sail at several Solent-based sailing schools, worked as a delivery skipper moving boats of all sizes around the world, worked on charter boats of the UK Coast, skippered a privately owned boat to Panama and around central America for a year, skippered and worked as mate on large 80-100ft sailing trawlers such as Keewaydin, Leader and Provident taking adults and disadvantaged young people sailing, and spent a year on container ships carting anything from onions to DVD players around the world. He has his Second Mate’s ticket and a 1st Class Honours degree in Merchant Ship Operations.
Anne Lloyd
Anne is our office administrator. A boat owner and keen sailor, Anne has had an interesting and varied career starting as a barrister, moving on to do various administrative and diplomatic roles around the world, whilst accompanying her husband Jonathan at the same time as bringing up her son James who is now based in New York and sells super yachts and her daughter Alexandra who is studying fashion in Paris. She now runs a tight ship in the First Class Sailing office ensuring all our clients are given a truly First Class service.
Shaun Clatworthy
Shaun ensures everything runs smoothly on the technical front. A keen sailor and boat owner, Shaun has had a varied career - never far from the sea. He has won national championships in Tornados and Hurricanes and qualified for the world championships and has sailed and raced everything from dinghies to America's Cup yachts. A fully qualified sailmaker and RYA Yachtmaster Ocean, Shaun's most recent role was as a superyacht Captain. When not doing maintenance for us he can be found on his fishing boat out in the Solent catching supper for restaurants in London. He has just bought Nelson, a Border Terrier who is also learning to fish.
Our Instructors
"First Class Sailing instructors - whether on our shorebased or practical courses - are chosen for their experience, their enthusiasm, their personality and their ability to engage with clients from all walks of life and from all parts of the world. We are conscious that our clients have high standards and even higher expectations, so we feel that the choice of instructor for our courses is key to delivering a First Class experience. I am also fully aware that instructors are the face of any sailing school" Charlie, Principal
Whilst we appreciate that everyone has to start somewhere, we do not generally employ newly-qualified instructors, who lack the experience and judgement that our own people can bring to your RYA sailing courses, holidays or trips.
On the navigation side many of our instructors have had high-flying careers of their own, but love to impart their knowledge and experience to you on our theory courses. Our practical instructors are predominantly Yachtmaster Instructors, not newly-qualified Cruising Instructors. Some are RYA Yachtmaster Examiners, others have sailed and raced around the world. All of them are chosen to make sure your course or trip is a really First Class experience.
