Peter King
Help Desk support instructor
Peter has spent a lifetime playing with boats. From dinghy sailing at school, progressing to working in marinas, before becoming an instructor and running a sailing school. Now he focuses on sailing and renovating his own boats and answering your questions on the help desk.
"If I won the lottery, I would still be working for Ardent. If you love what you do, why stop!"
Peter has spent a lifetime playing with boats. From dinghy sailing at school, progressing to working in marinas, before becoming an instructor and running a sailing school. Now he focuses on sailing and renovating his own boats and answering your questions on the help desk.
Qualifications:
- RYA Shorebased Nav instructor (plus VHF and First AID)
- RYA Cruising Instructor
- RYA Powerboat Advanced,
- RYA Personal Water Craft
Additional Experience:
- I was Principle and Chief instructor for PWC and Powerboating of a small training centre and helped develope an Advanced PWC course.
- Co-owner of a Gallery and picture framers with my wife, mainly helping with the management. But also sold my own landscape photography (mostly local scenes).
- I have renovated several boats, starting with little dinghies and as my skills got better the boats got bigger, working my way up to my current project, a Nicolson 38.
Instructor background:
I have always loved boats and being on the water. As an instructor it is always a pleasure to share my knowledge with students and see them develop their skills. From my background managing and renovating boats, I enjoy answering any technical queries around equipment and maintenance. I also like to help advise students on training plans, as its great to help students plan and achieve their goals. Powerboating is great fun to teach, and I like educating people on the subtle differences between sailing and powerboating navigation. I also love coastal sailing, exploring harbours and estuary's, rather than big offshore passages, so have a particular interest in pilotage and love seeing the variety of pilotage plans students create.
Hobbies & Interests:
I generally enjoy being outdoors when I am not working. I do a few trips to the bigger hills of the UK every year to go walking, and locally on my walks I try and find ancient sites like tumuli, stone circles and rows. In the winter months I do a bit of surfing, and over the summer a bit of mountain biking, but mostly you can find me on my days off aboard my sailing boat or helping my wife on her allotment. I have recently brought a new project Nicholson 38 sailboat, so for the next few years my main focus will be renovating and sailing this lovely vessel.
Previous Trips:
First dinghy cruise
When I was 16 I went on my first dinghy cruising adventure sailing my little dinghy 'Nipper' round Hayling Island. Main highlights where sailing under a bridge, camping on a beach, and great sailing conditions! This helped inspire a life time of mini adventures.
Sailing my first 'proper' boat, an Achilles 24
In my 20's I got my first proper boat, 24ft long, which seemed huge at the time. I had grand plans and that summer set off for a cruise from the Solent to the Dorset coast. I was lucky enough to have a heat wave, and spent many delightful days discovering the world of cruising, exploring ports and harbours between my home berth and Weymouth.
Cruising round Europe
After my degree I got a job as a cameraman / video editor on board a cruise ship. We started in Greece, and over several months worked our way around the entire European coast. This trip inspired me to work towards getting my own boat to explore these places in my own time.
