The Team

Karen Potts

Owner/Director

Karen and Graham Potts acquired Hamble Point Yacht Charters from Doug and Wendy Hamilton, who had successfully built up the business over the years. Karen and Graham have a strong business background, having founded a successful business in the IT industry prior to their involvement with Hamble Point Yacht Charters. Karen can usually be found managing background activity of the all important accounts and helping Alex. in the office during the week.

Graham Potts

Owner/Director

Graham is the co-owner with Karen. Graham has a strong business background fantastic IT skills, he steps in and manages our systems when it all gets too much for us in the office!

Alex. Dunn

Office & Reservations Manager

Alex. has worked for many years in the corporate world in senior management positions, customer Service, event management, operations and sales. She gave up the rat race in 2011 to become a freelance RYA Yachtmaster Instructor and race skipper. Alex. has worked all over Europe teaching people to sail and race. While she still loves to teach and does head out teaching and skippering for us, she is primarily based in the office managing the charter bookings, the website and Seafin events. Alex. can be seen out most weekends in the Solent as her other love is Stand Up Paddleboarding.

Steph Banham

Senior Administrator

Steph recently joined the team as Senior Administrator supporting Alex. Steph is very customer-focused and has experience of managing race boats. Previously, Steph was the Executive Director of the International 29er Class, the youth skiff that feeds the Olympic 49er. Steph is passionate about the sport and enjoys both inshore racing aroung the cans in the Solent and offshore racing and has clocked up 5000 nautical miles. Other loves include open water swimming (even in the winter with no wetsuit!) and paddleboarding!

Steph Watts

Administration Assistant

Steph is one of our part-time administrators usually in the office on Wednesday and Thursday. Working closely with Alex, she provides support for the business's day-to-day running. Dealing with new bookings and compiling the weekly yacht paperwork , Steph helps to ensure the smooth running of the office and gives us lots of laughs in the process. Steph is also a keen yacht racer and enjoys the offshore scene and is normally at the pointy end which is not for the faint hearted! It has confused us all now that we have Steph's to contend with!

Janina Parker

Fleet Team Administration Assistant

Janina has joined our office team to help support our fleet and valeting teams and ensure everything runs smoothly. With a background in project management and recently project managing the development of a skate park located in Brighton she has a great skill set for the job.

Natasha Fairbrother

Marketing Assistant

Natasha concentrates on our newsletters, marketing, and social media and gets involved with everything else too! With over 10 years of experience within the banking sector and healthcare sectors her most recent work was with one of the UK’s largest charities. Her creativity and passion shine through her photography and she has worked with brands both locally and regionally creating content for websites, social media, and e-commerce.

Andy Nock

Fleet Manager

Andy has worked in the marine industry for many years and has a wealth of experience in maintaining yachts and professional customer handovers (he even has a Level 2 City & Guilds in Customer Service)! Andy works with the rest of the fleet team to manage the ever busy and changeable schedule of ensures our yachts are maintained and serviced to the highest of standards. Andy is experienced in coding yachts and knows his stuff when it comes to ensuring the boats comply with regulations. You can also see Andy as the star of our handover videos!

Lee Gallacher

Fleet Technician

Lee is full of fun and character and always a pleasure to sail with, he is highly skilled with lots of experience skippering and as a cruising instructor locally. His working background was originally with Southampton Harbour Patrol (Associated British Ports) In his spare time, Lee likes to volunteer for a homeless charity providing mental health support. Lee has a great sense of humour but is incredibly dedicated and takes great pride in his work.

Brad

Junior Technician

Brad joined us last season on the valeting team. He settled in very well, is hardworking and conscientious and this has enabled him to progress rapidly to Junior Technician. Brad is the youngest member of the fleet team and a quick learner with a great sense of humour. It's been a joy to see Brad grow in experience and apply himself outside of his comfort zone, he is a much-valued team member and we're excited to see his career develop!

Robbie

Lead Valeter

Robbie has taken over our role as Lead Valeter, with over two decades of experience cleaning and valeting the role suits him well. In his extra curricular time Robbie enjoys fishing and motorcycling as well as mountain biking! He enjoys taking care of exotic pets too and has both a chameleon and tarantula and is an all round nice guy!

Joe

Fleet Team Engineer

Joe recently joined our fleet team, he rapidly fell in love with sailing during the pandemic in which he used his time to complete his Yachtmasters at the ripe age of 17! Athletic by nature Joe also enjoys skiing and diving during his free time. With an outgoing and adventurous personality Joe loves a challenge and won't give up until he overcomes it!

Ruby

Office Dog

The latest addition to the team, meet Alex.s rescue Sproker, Ruby! Ruby has the most adorable eyes and the sweetest temperament and has slotted into the team perfectly! Currently helping in the office, we're certain she might be venturing out into the marina and pontoons with the fleet team soon. One thing for sure, she is a charmer and loves to greet our customers at the door.

WHAT CLIENTS SAY

This is truly a 5 * service. The team really looked after us both ashore on arrival and also while at sea. We were a relatively inexperienced crew but always felt the team ashore had our backs. Thoroughly recommended.

This is truly a 5 * service ()

I just wanted to say Thank-you very much for the weekend charter. It was exactly what we were after (albeit cold!) plus Andy was an awesome teacher and great company. We’ll definitely be keen to book again soon!

Thank-you very much (LH)

We had a fabulous four days. Marina is ideally placed for the Solent, boat was in great condition, well equipped and a joy to sail. We were well briefed and the shore side team including the dog very friendly.

The shore side team including the dog are very friendly! (SM)

We charted one of the sailing yachts for a fantastic weekend cruise in the Solent. The boat was in superb condition and well equipped, the staff was very helpful explaining how things work on the yacht and there was also a video available with all the important information. 10/10 would recommend!

The boat was in superb condition and well equipped (CB)

Had a fantastic week chartering Blue Otter, Alex was incredibly helpful and sent loads of information and date checking prior to booking. There was a handover video and both the handover and return were really smooth. The boat was lovely and well maintained and Lee was really helpful in recommending places to visit (and helping identify the steering issue as an autopilot takeover - doh!). Definitely will be back and would fully recommend!

Would fully recommend (KT)

Just back from a lovely week in the Solent. Great service from HPYC from first inquiry through to return handover. Very straightforward to deal with, and the yacht was in excellent condition. We've chartered from many companies in the UK and abroad and the attention to detail (and flawless inventory!) was second to none. Everything about the yacht and equipment had clearly been well looked after and was in immaculate condition. Great service, will use again.

A lovely weekend in the Solent! (Jo Fearnhead-Wymbs)

Always very friendly service, and well-maintained yachts. Easy check-in and checkout. Will be back...

Friendly service (Jonas D)

We had a great time and were very happy with everything. Your team were genuinely friendly and were very helpful when we needed it. Is a big contrast to many charter companies I have dealt with in the past.

We had a great time! (WP)

Watching the sun go down with a glass of bubbly on the deck of a sparkling yacht was unbelievable. What a treat, and a much needed change of scenery in these troubled times. We will be back for sure

What a treat (RSS)

Fab service, nothing too much trouble, including my daft questions. I'll be a repeat customer for sure!

Fab service, nothing too much trouble (ColinM)

We had a great time sailing with Lee for a few days at the beginning of September. Hamble Point Yacht Charters supplied us an impeccable 45 ft Hanse yacht, which was handled with complete mastery by Captain Lee. It was a privilege to sail with Lee, who is clearly a highly skilled professional taking great pride in his work ... but who is also a fantastic character with a great sense of humour and plenty of fun stories to keep the whole family entertained. He balances the serious side of safety and learning about sailing with a whopping dose of amusement and good cheer. We sailed the Solent in some decent seas, visited Bucklers Hard on the banks of the Beaulieu River and learned lots about British nautical history. Our boys started somewhat of a fishing trend catching bass off the back of the boat in Portsmouth and we would love to sail with Lee again in the future. The man truly knows his stuff, maintained the boat impeccably and went to every effort to ensure that we had a great time. Many thanks to “Shippers” and Hamble Point Charters. We’ll be back.

Best time sailing w/e with Lee ... many thanks to Hamble Point Yacht Charters ()

Chartered bareboats with HPYC on numerous occasions most recently in Sept 2020. Always helpful and accommodating. Highly recommend.

Always helpful and accommodating (SP)

We had a fantastic weekend sailing on Loxley B. Boat in super condition and spotlessly clean, Alex. and the team very thorough and always on hand to answer any questions. A great experience. We will be back. Thank you!

Our first but not last charter!! (CT)

Lots of information from office with a friendly service. We selected a one of the cheaper yachts and was please with find everything work and was cleaned and tidy. We will definitely be back

Very organised and friendly service (AP)

This was the first time we had tried chartering and as experienced racing sailors we didn't know what to expect. Covid has closed down all our events this year so this was a chance to get afloat at least once in 2020. What a great experience and Alex and all the Hamble staff could not have been more friendly or helpful. We had a great three days and we will be back !! We would have no hesitation is recommending Hamble Point Yacht Charters.

First ever charter - we will be back !! (LB)

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The Team

WHAT CLIENTS SAY

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