Testimonials

Membership

Hi Sue, Richard and your team,

Wishing you every success in your new enterprise. Susan and I are very happy with the highest levels of service. It is a breath of fresh air to consistently receive service that delights.

Philip and Susan Collett, members on Siriana, Lymington (September 2010)

Email to new Owner of Miramar – I am very pleased to say that I couldn’t have been more impressed with Sue and Richard’s membership programme! I have been a member for almost 3 years now and I have never had any reason for complaint! Not bad! In 2008 we had a very unfortunate incident with “Scramble” (the yacht on which I have been a member until this year), where, during the Round the Island race, we were t-boned by a 50ft yacht (not our fault in any way!). The yacht was out of the water for almost a year, but the service I got from Richard and Sue was superb. There was a replacement yacht chartered in within 2 days, and when that was found to be below standard it was replaced quickly. They are always on the other end of a phone, and always friendly and accommodating – I would say you have chosen well!

It would indeed be good to sail together, perhaps if possible before the channel crossing so that we can get to know each other better. I will watch out for sailing slots which you have booked where you have invited others, and if I am free I shall join you. Perhaps you might like to do likewise. I do tend to arrange my life a little last minute though so I may not be able to give you much notice. If I am planning on going out and booking a slot at late notice I shall also send you an email. I look forward to hearing from you in due course and hopefully many years of sailing together on Miramar.

Nick Drew – Scramble and then Miramar

Whilst Scramble is unwell, it’s really fantastic how quickly you have resolved the challenges, and emphasizes to me why we joined you originally. Thanks for all the hard work.

Steve Trigg – Scramble

We joined without even seeing a boat and all the way along our expectations have generally been exceeded. I think we may be lucky in the members on Dumbledore, but the boat seems to be always very clean and well maintained. I think I’m especially appreciative because having run a ski business for a few seasons I know just how hard you have to work to maintain quality and keep people happy. The “formula” works for us as we are both so busy.

Maggy Dean – Dumbledore

Just a very short note to wish you, Richard and all the family the best for 2008. Here’s wishing you a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year. You work incredibly hard on making your business feel like so much more than just a sailing timeshare, Andy and I feel very much a part of the community. We look forward to seeing you at the boat show and later in the year.

Andy and Jane Nurse – Aragorn

I joined as a power boat member in the autumn, and was able to complete my Day Skipper training over the winter, which was in itself enjoyable & interesting. Since then I’ve been able to enjoy using the boat several times a month, in particular often taking advantage of short term vacancies on the Calendar to use the boat effectively “free”. The booking software is very easy to use and intuitive.

In the past I’ve always been sceptical of any “time-sharing” type arrangements for anything, but have been really pleased with the way this works. I get to use the boat for a reasonable amount of time, and it’s really cost-effective – giving me the use of a new boat for less than the cost of just a marina berth.

I find the team led by Sue and Richard to be very professional, and above all this is clearly a company run by boating enthusiasts for boating enthusiasts. The best aspect is that everything is looked after for me – I don’t have any of the hassles or costs of ownership, but am free to enjoy the boat several times a month for a relatively modest cost. My friends & family all love trips out on Sirius – joining has certainly given my social life a big boost !

Paul Scott – Sirius B

I like the convenience of being able to use a well maintained and high spec boat at times which suit me, and at a known fixed monthly cost. By using the same boat each time (as opposed to charter) I can build up my skills and get a little more out of the boat each time I go out.

Nigel Jones – Hufflepuff

Having sailed many times whilst on holiday, I had for some time been keen on owning a yacht of my own. However, the prospect of only being able to use it once or twice a month due to the many other calls on my recreation time meant it would be an expensive option that didn’t seem to offer value for money. The only other alternative was to charter, but as I hadn’t achieved Day skipper this was not possible. Sue and Richard provided the ideal solution. I could sail a new yacht without any of the hassle of marina fees, maintenance or depreciation. What’s more, having signed up I could take my Day Skipper practical on my own boat.
As it happened both my son and I took Day Skipper and because there were just the two of us I believe we got much more from the Yachtmaster with us than would have been the case with 6 or so on board a training school boat. Our experience has been excellent. They do just what it says in the pr material. The boats are excellent; the booking system works well and gives everyone a fair allocation; so I can safely say there are no catches.
With spring around the corner I am really looking forward to getting lots of use out of the boat and continuing the relationship with all of Sue and Richard’s team.

Robin Chillman – Nemo

Membership is an excellent way to experience the joys of sailing without the cost and responsibility of owning my own boat. For a fixed monthly fee, I have the opportunity to enjoy my sailing hobby whilst leaving all the organisational headaches to the friendly and efficient team led by Sue and Richard.

Graham Petersen – Hufflepuff

Thank you so much for a lovely evening last Saturday. It was really good to get to know you a little better and to meet so many other members. It is a super idea to have the social gatherings and makes it so much nicer to put a face to the people you may be phoning or e-mailing. The food was delicious, the wine flowed, and the weather held… what more could we have wished for. Many thanks from both of us again. Wish us good weather for our first real trip on ‘Fat Lady’ next week.

Alan and Angela Cantwell — Fat Lady — Summer Social

We have been members for 3 months. We are busy with our children and running our business. For us this is ideal. We have easy access to our boat to make maximum use of our limited leisure time, the online booking systems works well. Richard and Sue keep the boat in A1 condition. For us that means more time sailing, less time dealing with boat problems.

James Wiles — Nemo

Richard and Sue have given us a simple, efficient way to enjoy big boat sailing whilst rapidly building up experience and sea miles. The boats are in good condition, the system works well and the organisation impeccable.

Graham & Carole Plant — Scramble

Owner-Membership

There were two things that the FlexiSail scheme offered that attracted us to yacht ownership.

Firstly, we felt that without the potential for income from the ownership revenue share scheme, we could not justify buying a new yacht and have enough time to sail it at a busy time of our lives.

Secondly, the condition of the boats that have been in the scheme for 5 years was excellent and probably in better condition than an equivalent second hand private yacht of this age.  Along with the FlexiSail approach of a maximum of 8 dedicated members to one yacht (unlike other similar charter schemes) this gave us confidence.

Initially after meeting some members, we realized there was some sense of ownership towards their named yacht, leading to a more responsible attitude to chartering a boat, which comforted us as prospective owner members.

Ultimately, the greatest benefit for us is that we will own our well maintained boat outright by the end of the scheme, having had some financial help towards the mortgage and enough sailing time locally that we can manage.

The added bonus of joining FlexiSail is that we have met some like- minded fun people along the way through the varied well-organized social activities.

Tony and Nickie Dixon — Owner-Members, Howler

FlexiSail was a great help to me right from the outset. Miramar is my first ‘owned yacht’ and Richard Pierpoint at FlexiSail worked through the specification and MCA coding process with me — attending meetings with the yacht agent, helping with negotiations and marine finance and generally making the whole process of becoming an owner of a significant capital asset an absolute breeze. Richard gave me valued and practical advice on subjects ranging from deck and topside fittings; through choice of anchor, interior finish and marine electronics; to being present at the commissioning and handover (subsequently following through the ‘snagging list’ through to completion). FlexiSail’s support throughout the acquisition process was invaluable to me as a first time buyer.

Miramar is at the end of her first season having logged some 2,500 Nm and I have been very pleased with the quality of the regular maintenance carried out by Nick Gale and his team and the speed with which any issues arising have been dealt with. The issues get logged; I get a promise on when these will be dealt with and they get dealt with as per promise — you can’t ask for more than that! One of my main objectives was to have worry free ownership and this really has been realised through the FlexiSail scheme. I am looking forward to the next four years.

Mark Malitskie — Owner-Member, Miramar

We fancied owning a boat and not having the hassle of looking after it week on week. We were looking for a good quality second hand boat and found our Beneteau Oceanis 40 already in the FlexiSail fleet. She was a 3 year old yacht in great condition — better in fact that other privately owned used boats that we had seen.

We have been delighted with the FlexiSail programme and the service we receive. The social events are fun and we have enjoyed meeting the actual members that have access to our boat.

We sleep well at night knowing that our boat is being professionally looked after and the bills are paid — we have none of the heartache of boat management.

Justin and Jennie Carter — Owner-Members, Fat Lady

One of the main challenges of boat ownership for me has been the day-to-day maintenance and care of my boat as I live a distance away from the Solent. FlexiSail provide peace of mind with their highly professional organisation. All aspects of boat ownership are taken care of, particularly daily boat-keeping, regular routine servicing and unscheduled maintenance.

The membership scheme ensures that a limited number of vetted and regular members only use the boat. Members feel an element of ownership themselves and look after all aspects of usage much better than normal charterers. ‘Siriana’ looks newer every time I get a chance to take her out. The booking system and a fixed number of members means that I rarely cannot go out for a cruise when I want to.

Sue and Richard are a pleasure to deal with and work hard to make the experience of being an owner or member highly enjoyable and sociable.

Jonathan Pegler – Owner-Member, Siriana

I joined as an owner member 4 years ago. Living in the Midlands limits our time for sailing and the boat sharing scheme is ideal. We have been delighted with the standard of maintenance and the care with which other members treat “their” boat. Shadowfax still looks really smart. Richard and Sue look after their members with just as much enthusiasm. With Flexisail to share the costs and maintain our boat we can just enjoy our sailing.

Alex Stephenson – Owner-member, Shadowfax

“I went along to the Southampton boat show for years, but never imagined I could be the owner of one of those beautiful vessels myself one day.

Then a couple of years ago, someone showed me a leaflet on this owner-membership programme. The more I found out about the scheme the better it seemed, and now I am the owner of a Bavaria 29 Sport.

There are still times, when we’re cruising down the Solent on a sunny evening with the wind in our hair, that I can hardly believe it’s real!”

Andrew Foster – Owner-member, Sirius B

“We joined because we wanted to own a boat, but had limited leisure time as to when we could sail. Plus, having previously owned a boat we were aware of the costs that this involved. This programme offers us a cost effective solution to boat ownership and we are still able to sail our boat on a regular basis.”

Pete and Clare Lubrano – Owner-member, Scramble

Social

Congratulations on a fabulous Christmas Dinner on Saturday.  Very well organised, excellent food and a great tribute to you both that so many people wanted to come.  Well done!

I hope you manage to have a good Christmas break prior to the all guns blazing build-up for the London Boat Show.

All the very best,    Rodney

Rodney Steel – Member on Bilbo Baggins

What a brilliant night! Food wonderful, company great, organisation superb, attention to detail fantastic.We really enjoyed meeting everybody and it was really nice to chat to other Siriana members in Gary and Jane (Richard; apparently the compass light comes on when you push the buttons on the depth gauge/log continuously !) but it was also great to meet more of the team like Alison, Nick and James and their partners – not to mention ‘Boat Butler’ Nick (who could be a lifesaver after a long day out)

And thanks for making us feel so welcome………….and the prezzies.  What more can we say !

Kindest regards, Lloyd & Ruth

Lloyd & Ruth Rodgers – Members on Siriana motorboat

Thank you so much for organising last night’s Christmas party, we all had a great time and met some charming people.

Theresa and I both really appreciate the effort you are putting into making Flexisail a real community and so much more than just a business.

As our first anniversary of membership approaches, we both reflected last night that we made a great choice signing up with you, and the dinner was a great example of the thought and consideration you and your team are investing in creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for members.

Jonathan and Theresa Guppy — Miramar

Just a big thanks for arranging with Nick for a place on ‘Zanzara’ his Sigma 38 for Wednesday 4th race. I had a fabulous time and thoroughly enjoyed the race, boat, the company and even the weather, which had rain, sun and a 180 wind change.

The day proved to be an introduction for me into proper competition sailing with a few interesting moments and very fast tacking. Nick and his crew really made me feel welcome and very involved as a temporary crew member.

David Holmes – Phoenix – Cowes Week Racing

Just a note to thank you for Saturday on Zinzara. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and welcomed the opportunity to get hands-on involvement in big boat racing. Would love to join you again if you’ll have me!

By the way, great to see a good result today.

Rodney Steel – Bilbo Baggins – Cowes Week Racing

Thank you Sue and Richard for the excellent organisation as usual.

Best regards

Andy Nurse – Aragorn – Summer Social

Thanks so much for organising such a fun day and a lovely evening. We thoroughly enjoyed it and met lots of great people.

Looking forward to the next one!!

Linda Kewley – Fat Lady – Summer Social

I just wanted to say what a lovely weekend we just had. From the meeting of new friends; to the fun of the buoy hunt; to the get together before dinner and dinner itself and then of course to the amazing weather today – which we used to the full – it was fabulous!! Thank you and well done to the two of you from Corinne and me.

Mark & Corinne Malitskie – Owner-Members on Miramar – Summer Social

Thank you so much for organising the Summer Social. The format was a wonderful way of getting the members together and the whole day was a grand success on all fronts – well done. Sorry we didn’t finish the crossword but we were all too busy enjoying ourselves! As our first time on Bilbo Baggins, Jamie and I couldn’t have had a better introduction to the other members and it was good to meet Carl Grim and family in the evening too. By the way, having everyone badged up was a very nice (and essential) touch which demonstrates your attention to detail that I’m sure we all appreciate.

Rodney and Jaime Steel – Bilbo Baggins – Summer Social

Just a quick mail to thank you both for Saturday’s sailing social. We both very much enjoyed and I am sure that is down to your superb organisation!

Nickie & Tony Dixon – new members on Aragorn – Summer Social

Joe and I very much enjoyed our respective days out sailing! The dinner on Saturday was lovely and it was great to meet the other members. Well done for all your hard work.

Maire & Joe Keenan – new members on Miramar – Summer Social

What a great day on Saturday, I’m so pleased I went along and met many of the members on Bilbo Baggins, and thanks to you and Richard for organising everything.

Gwen Stirling – Bilbo Baggins – Summer Social

Karen and I would like to thank all of you for an excellent summer social event. We had a great time and met some lovely people, so thank you for a really enjoyable weekend. Many thanks

Ashley and Karen Stevenson – Hufflepuff – Summer Social

A quick note to thank you and Richard for organising again the trip across to Cherbourg. All the organising bits (not involving engines, seaweed, lobster pots etc!) worked beautifully. The Yacht Club meal was great and the people welcoming.

Andy Nurse – Aragorn – Channel Crossing

All – Thanks for both organising the weekend (Richard and Sue) and for the company (everyone else). Great fun all round and hopefully we will be able to arrange to sail together between ourselves in the future.

Paul Kavanagh – Fat Lady – Channel Crossing

I think that we had the best time on Legolas! It was a great trip for me so far as the variety of experience; different ports, conditions, mooring spots etc. Paul and I enjoyed spending the time with Stuart and Alison and really hope to do some more sailing with them in the future. Simon was a very good skipper (great at making the teas and coffees too). I am sure that Alison has spoken many times about the amazing pod of dolphins we saw – what a privilege.

Linda MacKenzie and Paul O’Halloran – Shadowfax – attempted Channel Crossing May 2010, but sadly didn’t make it due to catching a line round the prop!

Absolutely great! Some good sailing there and a brilliant night sky on the way back. I didn’t think you could see the radio mast on the IoW from 40 miles off, but there it was beckoning us home! The only other worry was the possibility we would run out of pork pies – but happily the supply did not fail us. Thanks for organising this excellent crossing.

Ian Craig – Shadowfax – Cross Channel

It was fabulous. So many highlights…. Francesca’s food, the blue sky and sunshine, crossing the shipping lanes, the excellent company of skipper and crew, watching the other boats leave Cherbourg before us, the amazing array of stars in a cloudless sky at night…. Many thanks to you all for making it happen.

Maggy Dean – Dumbledore – Cross Channel

Thanks very much to everyone for making this weekend thoroughly enjoyable and especially to Jeff without whom it wouldn’t have been possible and to Francesca without whom I wouldn’t now be on a diet. Francesca, the food was fantastic as usual! It was a great team effort and I look forward to meeting you and hopefully sailing with you again soon. Sue, the weekend is definitely something I would do again.

Andy Crabtree – Dumbledore – Cross Channel

Alison and I had a great time on Shadowfax with Ian and Bill over last weekend crossing to and from Cherbourg. In terms of how to improve the event I have nothing to add – you did a great job. We may not have had the fastest boat but what we lacked in speed we made up for in humour and entertainment courtesy of Bill who kept us all in good spirits there and back.

Count us in for the next trip!

Stuart and Alison McDonald – Aragorn – Cross Channel

Just a quick note to thank you and Richard for organising the trip. I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoyed it. In fact I think I am still hyped up on the excitement of it all! Count me in whenever you are organising another trip. Thanks again.

Francesca Kotecha – Dumbledore – Cross Channel

Hi to the crew – Thanks for a great weekend. Much enjoyed your company – we certainly pulled our efforts together to make a good team. A shock with the result – not bad for the novice boat! Look forward to meeting you all again, and hopefully sailing in the near future. And thanks to Sue and Richard for a superbly organised day and all your hard efforts. These events certainly add to the whole sailing experience. Thanks

Tim and Sherry Fleetwood – Fat Lady – Summer Social

Many thanks for organising the social event; it went very well and we all enjoyed it. It was good to meet some of the other members. I know that the organisation of such an event takes a lot of time and careful planning if it is to succeed. Well done!

Andy & Jane Joseph – Legolas – Summer Social

We just wanted to say thank you for organising the get together on Saturday. The restaurant and food were lovely and it was good to meet up with old and new sailing buddies. Well done to all the organising team.

Andy and Jane Nurse – Aragorn – Christmas Party

Jeff and I would like to thank you for all your hard work in organising such a fun day on Saturday. The smoother it runs the more work that has gone on behind the scenes. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and what with the glorious weather we felt very lucky to be part of it all. Well done to you both. With love,

Jane and Jeff Parkinson – Legolas – Summer Social

WOW, what can we say but thank you for such a fantastic weekend. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and you could not have picked a nicer family for us to share it with. The children got on famously and I feel we have made some very good friends. We are even talking about booking up a date for us to sail together again. This is what it is all about!!

Anyway, thank you once again for organising such a great time.

Pip and James Crowley – Fat Lady – summer Social

I meant to email last week and thank you for a brilliant social event. The whole weekend went really well. We weren’t expecting bubbly on the boat and the food was superb. James and I had no expectation at all of winning the beautiful trophy, but it turned out we had a winning combination: James’s skill and experience specially with the boathook challenge and Bill’s determination to take all the photos, fill in the form and make sure you saw all the evidence!

Also, it was a pleasure to meet Jill and Mike Howard fellow members on Dumbledore. Mike and James have quite a lot in common. We’re getting a lot out of our membership and I have to thank Richard for persuading me onto the stand at the London Boat show! Many thanks.

Maggy Dean and James Moore – Dumbledore – Summer Social

Training

Richard — just a short email to say thanks to Flexisail, SNC and particularly Alasdair for a very enjoyable and worthwhile weekend. The balance and structure of the weekend was pitched perfectly to suit the participants; I was particularly impressed by Alasdair’s astute personality quickly assessing the “crew” for ability and knowledge and adapting his style of teaching and communication to suit all.

For me personally, getting back into sailing yachts after several year’s absence, the weekend was very worthwhile and has now encouraged me to try and make more “on the water” time, not always easy with a company to manage. For Trish, my partner, a relative novice, she was given enough encouragement and basic training to enable her to decide to continue with her own sailing experience and development.

In summary, the professional approach by Flexisail led and promoted by Alasdair was key to the success of the weekend which it was.

Rob White

I am a member on Dumbledore together with my son-in-law. Earlier this week, Alasdair Marshall ran two days of bespoke training for us aboard Dumbledore. The training was adjusted to suit two different levels of competence (my son-in-law is a much more experienced sailor than I am!). Alasdair is very knowledgeable and we both feel that we learned a great deal from the training which was both enjoyable and challenging. The manoeuvring under power exercises were particularly helpful to me in building my skills and confidence for taking the boat in and out of marinas.

Andrew Holmes and Richard Percy — Dumbledore

The induction day with Alasdair was excellent. Damien and I were hoping to convince Al that we could safely sail the boat. With Damien’s day skipper and my comp crew a little rusty, we were anxious. Al brushed and honed us with berthing tips rope work skills and a great day of sailing. When at the end of the day Damien and I were tired from all the new skills and thought we couldn’t taken any more in, a very enthusiastic Al wanted to share more sailing skills with us ,but just slowed it all down to our tired pace and Damien and I went away with increased confidence.

Damien and Trudy Brennan – Phoenix

All three of us thought Alasdair did a great job with the first three days of our Day Skipper Course. He know his stuff, is very enthusiastic and has exactly the right balance between keeping you at it/testing you, but at the same time making it fun. The boys absolutely loved it and were very pleased with their progress particularly in the fairly boisterous wind conditions.
The other thing I liked about Alasdair’s style is that he encouraged us to make the decisions ourselves rather than just giving us answers to our questions, i.e. forcing us to get used to making Skippers’ decisions. However, he was always there to help out in the event that we messed up, of course! It worked really well and he’s a great asset to SNC.

Rodney Steel – Bilbo Baggins

I must congratulate you on your new staff member, Alasdair. He is such a good instructor and fun to be with.

Linda McKenzie – Shadowfax

Thanks very much for organising the Day Skipper course for us. We concluded the proceedings this afternoon and I must say it was great fun and we thoroughly enjoyed sailing with Ray over the last two weekends. It was also very informative and a great learning experience. Ray was great fun to sail with and really knows his stuff!

Graham Potts – non-member

Just a short note to thank you very much for a terrific course last week. We all enjoyed learning with you and are all set to make a start as a sailing family. Thanks in particular for your patience with the kids – despite needing some ‘down time’ occasionally with a DVD, they also had a great time. Of course, we were all delighted to come away flushed with success in getting our Day Skipper and Competent Crew ‘qualifications’. We will put our new-found skills into practice this weekend and hope not to embarrass ourselves (or our erstwhile instructor!) by crashing into the pontoons!

Andrew McLean and family — Phoenix