SAOR the Syndicate

SAOR The Syndicate

Brief history of our Syndicate, how we are run and link to constitution Doc. Introduction to members…

Nick Innes

Chairman

Maintenance areas: External, Webmaster.

Started sailing in 2016 having decided to try something new, sailing having always appealed. Sailed with Renegade and a few other yachts quickly gaining experience and confidence and lots of sea miles. That led me to gaining my Day Skipper and VHF radio qualification. Joined the Renegade syndicate in 2023, which morphed into the SAOR syndicate when we sold Renegade.

I really enjoy the sails both with other syndicate members and friends/family. I especially like the summer cruise where it’s possible to potter around the Solent or venture further west. I do like arriving at all ports of call, new or familiar, from the sea under the power of sail.

As part of the syndicate I’ve learnt a lot about sailing and boat management and like to help out with the yearly chores when the boat is ashore.

Len Jarman

Bosun

Maintenance areas: All.

I have been involved with various sorts of boats almost all of my life. From a young age I was able to gain experience in small boat handling and was also able to gain experience in the maintenance aspect of boat ownership. By the age of 10 years I was quite comfortable sailing a National 12, one of the ‘boats of the day’. For many years a lot of my time on the water was in angling boats of various sizes and descriptions.

Rapidly moving up the years it was in the mid 1990’s that I was able to become involved with an ex Admirals Cup yacht , ‘Clarion of Wight’ . Forty four feet of thoroughbred racing yacht which opened the door to me to racing such a vessel at various regattas including annually at Cowes. This period also gave me the opportunity to learn a considerable amount more about maintain such vessels.

In 2017 I joined the syndicate for Renegade of Ipswich and fairly quickly was able to accept taking a lead role in the annual maintenance roles and quite soon became bosun. I was able to organise and take a lead role in the annual summer south coat cruise which has proved successful year after year.

Not a certificate to my name, all my experience has come over the years of actually ‘doing it’ so apologies now if I do not use the text book terminology too many times !!!

Tony Elliot

Treasurer

Maintenance areas: General.

I act as Treasurer for the syndicate. I am now the longest standing member having joined in 2011. I have a background in dinghy sailing and racing from when I was a boy. I decided to move up to sailing yachts after a couple of flotilla holidays in the med and I studied for and obtained my Day Skipper Certificate.

I joined our syndicate largely because I wanted to go sailing but only had a limited amount of time and budget available and I enjoy sailing on the East Coast. Thanks to the way we work as a team, I have sailed a great deal in our local area, together with annual trips to the Solent and further west. The sailing has always been good as has the company of fellow members of the team.I have also learnt a good deal from the more experienced sailors in the team.

I look after the money, we always aim to sail on a reasonable budget, keeping costs under control by doing a good deal of maintenance ourselves, but we always keep a small surplus so that we have the cash to pay for the professionals when we need them. Its relatively straight forward and run in a way that is fair to all of us, whilst making sailing available at a reasonable cost.

Mike Shearme

Syndicate Member

Maintenance areas: Electrical.

I have sailed all my life on both sea and inland. Sailing dinghies and motorboats from when I was well below 10 until, when I reached 17, I hired a 26ft Westerly Centaur to take 6 of us,17/18 year olds, from Falmouth up the coast for a week (who would rent a yacht to a seventeen year old nowadays!). After a few more rentals I bought a 1932 Sailing yacht with a couple of friends and we spent the next couple of years doing her up. We sailed her with a compass and a bit of wood on a string for navigation including several trips to Alderney and then moved up to a 27ft Trapper until wives and Children came along. I got back into sailing both a variety of dinghies, catamarans and micro yachts as the Children grew up and then Joined the Renegade syndicate in about 2018 and hence moved to Saor in 25. As to qualifications, I eventually even got an ICC in 2018 just so that I could hire overseas.

Chris Sinclair

Syndicate Member

Maintenance areas: Engine.

I did some dinghy sailing as a teenager on family holidays in Cornwall but didn’t start on yachts until taking early retirement in 2018 when I did various training courses in Southampton where I was working at the time and before joining the Renegade syndicate, as was.

The syndicate has proved to be an ideal way to get sailing without the financial commitment of owning your own boat while at the same time being part of a friendly group of like-minded people with whom to share the experience.

Apart from various one- and two-day trips and one- and two-week summer cruises on Renegade over recent years I’ve also done several courses and mile-building trips in Southampton and Gibraltar, Spain and North Africa. My logbook tells me that since 2018 I’ve covered over 3000 nautical miles – mostly on Renegade but also on various Bavaria and Beneteau yachts. I’m now looking forward to adding to that on Soar.

David Kitching

Syndicate Member

Maintenance areas: General.

I’ve been interested in sailing for many years now but really only started getting onto the water in 2017 when both myself and Jill took our RYA Competent Crew course out of SYH.
Buoyed by the enthusiasm for completing the course and signing up for a number of Day Sails from various locations along the East Coast, the realisation quickly kicked in that work commitments were not realistically going to make going it alone on yacht ownership a sensible option.

Time moves on and now both Jill and I have retired, and recently moved to live in Suffolk, we discovered that there was an opportunity to be able to join the SAOR syndicate towards the end of 2025. Despite the late start, we have been able to participate in quite a number of days out in SAOR alongside existing members of the syndicate, which has totally rekindled our enthusiasm for being out on the water, and we look forward to expanding our sailing knowledge alongside learning/helping with the maintenance and upkeep of SAOR.