Our Management Team

The overall management of the Foundation is overseen by Trustees appointed by the Royal Cruising Club, with day to day operations undertaken by members of the Executive. Most of the management of the Foundation is done on a voluntary basis

The management team January 2023


  • Antony Wells

    Antony Wells

    Executive Director

    Antony was appointed Hon Director in Oct 2015 following serving as Treasurer since 2008. He is a Chartered Accountant and has recently retired from a career in aircraft financing. Antony has a share in a 12m offshore cruising yacht which he sails extensively. He has RYA dinghy instructor and Yachtmaster qualifications.

  • Emily Winter

    Emily Winter

    Editor in Chief

    Emily has wide experience in publishing and maritime fields including at the National Maritime Museum and recently as administrator for the Ocean Cruising Club. Recently her sailing has been limited to dinghy sailing on the north Norfolk coast, but in the past she has undertaken ocean passages and various channel crossings with her parents.

  • John Lancaster-Smith

    John Lancaster-Smith

    Feedback Coordinator

    Raised as crew for the gaff cutter Marlin RCC, raced dinghies at Pangbourne, chartered in Turkey, Seychelles & California. All prior to purchasing a CO32 and now a S&S yawl, exploring from Baiona to Trondheim. Now enjoying a Shetland home port whilst employed as an airline pilot in West Sussex.

  • Nick Charman

    Nick Charman

    Market Development

    Nick Charman is a former Treasurer of the Royal Cruising Club, and has been sailing since the age of 14. He now owns a Tanton 43, an un-stayed cat-ketch rigged yacht, on which he has undertaken cruises between Corunna, Scotland and Helsinki, and in future plans sailing further afield as time permits

  • Steven Williams

    Steven Williams

    Market Development

    Having a background in publishing Steven Williams founded and ran Midas Public Relations, a leading independent agency for publishing and the arts. He now consults on media strategy and business development across a range of organisations. Born in Plymouth, and from a naval background, he has enjoyed a lifetime of sailing on and from the River Dart.

  • Richard Marsh

    Richard Marsh

    Webmaster & Data Protection Officer

    Richard Marsh is a retired consultant anaesthetist living in Northamptonshire. He has been sailing since childhood and for more than 20 years a member of the 'Pastime' syndicate cruising the waters between Gibraltar, the Baltic and the Azores with an Atlantic crossing in 2001. Webmaster since 2011.

  • Paul Bryans

    Paul Bryans

    Chairman, Trustee

    Paul Bryans has been sailing for as long as he can remember. Initially racing dinghies at school and university before moving on to yacht racing. Paul now cruises extensively and takes any opportunity to visit new locations, as well as returning to favourite places. Paul is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and chairman of their Small Craft Group committee. He is an RYA Yachtmaster Ocean and an Instructor and Examiner.

  • Anthony Fawcett

    Anthony Fawcett

    Hon Treasurer, Trustee

    Anthony sailed Fireflies as a teenager and cruised with his family in a variety of yachts. He is a Chartered Accountant and spent most of his career as a banker. He completed a three year Atlantic Circuit in 2007. Since when he has been cruising around the British Isles, Scandinavia, the Atlantic coasts of France and Spain and has re-visited the Azores.

  • Belinda Vernon

    Belinda Vernon

    Hon Secretary

    Following a career in engineering, consulting and finance, Belinda moved to the charity sector to establish the charity National Numeracy. Belinda developed her passion for sailing whilst growing up in Cyprus and Bermuda and has since cruised extensively with her husband Peter around Europe and the Mediterranean. She and Peter own a Malo 47 based in Scotland

  • Richard Dickinson

    Richard Dickinson

    CCI Coordinator (RCC)

    A retired physician living in Cambridge whose present boat is a Sweden 34 having previously been a half owner of a Grand Soleil 50 which was taken to the Mediterranean for 10 years. Now based in England we hope to cruise Scotland from next year. Has taken part in many 2 handed races and has skippered in races in the Mediterranean.

  • Katie Schuster

    Katie Schuster

    Social Media

    Katie is former Cadet Captain at the Royal Cruising Club. She grew up sailing dinghies on Frensham Pond & Salcombe, as well as sailing with her family on their Beneteau in the Adriatic and elsewhere. With a desire to explore more of the world by sea, she is currently looking to invest in her own boat. Katie freelances in communications and PR.

  • Giles Harrison-Hall

    Giles Harrison-Hall

    Trustee

    A barrister and past Vice Commodore of the Royal Cruising Club. Owner of 'Gaivota' a 43ft gaff yawl built in 1927 which he keeps in Falmouth.

  • Janet Spinlove

    Janet Spinlove

    Trustee

    Janet Spinlove was publisher of Adlard Coles Nautical for 33 years, and a director of Bloomsbury Publishing. Now retired, she sails her Beneteau Oceanis around the UK south coast, to the Channel Islands, and around the Brittany and French Atlantic coasts each summer. She is a member of the RCC and lives in Chalfont St Giles.

  • Nigel  Wollen

    Nigel Wollen

    Trustee

    Nigel Wollen is a past Commodore of the Royal Cruising Club. He is a retired solicitor who specialised in Charity Law. He has sailed all his life , starting in a variety of dinghies, then a Freedom 35 (in which he competed in two 2-handed Round Britain and Ireland Races) and has crewed in 5 Fastnet Races. He has owned a Bowman 40 "Wish Hound" since 1990 and has cruised extensively with his family and friends on the West Coast of Scotland, Ireland, the Atlantic coast of France and Spain, the Azores, Iceland, the Baltic and Norway.