After fifteen years of restoring and building yachts Fairlie have a large mix of age experience and nationalities.

The senior workshop charge hands are all time served traditional boatbuilders (Camper and Nicholsons, Northam yard and Moodys) with a wide range of experience in all types and sizes of yachts. Their apprenticeships, starting in the 1960s, involved working in large yards with a wide range of projects.

The next group of tradesmen in their late thirties and early forties are again experienced tradesmen with a wide experience, some with sea time on large sailing yachts.

The youngest group of tradesmen are home grown, carrying out their apprenticeships with Fairlie Restorations. They have experienced opportunities not usually available to today’s apprentices.

In general boat building the number of tradesmen with experience in traditional yacht building is rapidly decreasing. Experience in the traditional methods of boat building are now only found in specialised yards such as Fairlie.

Fairlie always try to have apprentices in training.

Duncan Walker

“My family lived in NW London and I discovered my interest in things nautical when my father built 5 small boats, plus an uncle founded Sea Ventures, the first bare-boat yacht charter company in the UK. I developed a love of sailing in my teenage years, then on to university to study production engineering and management. Four years later in 1982 after an unfulfilling time in engineering I ran-away to sea at age of 28. I subsequently met John Bardon and in 1984 became part of the commissioning crew of the famous schooner ‘Jessica’! After a spell on ‘Jessica’ and another classic yacht, I joined ‘Altair’ as number 2 in restoration project IN 1985. After this period with ‘Altair’, I joined Tracy Edwards of Maiden fame, and rebuilt Maiden. Then in 1989 I found Tuiga and set up Fairlie.”

Paul Spooner CEng, MRINA

"After sailing dinghies at school I began sailing larger craft in 1992 and have, since then, sailed extensively on many large traditional sailing craft, from barges to yachts, including working as a rigger on square rigged ships for some time.

Shore based, as a naval architect, I have worked for a mixture of companies from small production yacht builders to high-speed passenger craft and modern superyacht designers.

I have worked on the design of tall ships; the 700t, 3 masted Barque, 'Tenacious', for physically handicapped crews. ('Tenacious' is owned and run by the Jubilee Sailing Trust.), and ‘Pelican of London’, a 3 masted Polacre.

During the last 8 years with Fairlie Restorations we have restored yachts such as 'Mariquita', 'Jap' and 'Hispania' and completed extensive refit work on 'Moonbeam 3' and 'Altair'.

Now I am developing the design/naval architectural side of Fairlie Restorations, both with a range of new build yachts, the first of which, 'Niebla', was launched in 2004 and with consultancy work on external projects.

Most of my spare time is spent sailing and maintaining my own yacht ‘Snippet’ a 1913 Humber yawl which is still largely original."