Mark Cooper, Chief Instructor
Mark has been with the school since 2007 and is an RYA Yachtmaster Instructor, Advanced Powerboat Instructor, and Senior Dinghy Instructor. He has spent most of his life since a young boy participating in water sports.
Raised in Cornwall , Mark was a keen surfer and windsurfer in his younger days. He has also campaigned catamaran dinghies in worldwide events for 30 years, being the F18 catamaran National Champion in 1999 – a major personal achievement.
Mark retired from the Royal Navy in 2004 after 23 years service as a hydrographic surveyor. He is a great leader for our team, creates a happy atmosphere on board, and his yacht is always the tidiest and best organised!
When not sailing you’ll find him on a friend’s boat or in a nearby taverna sipping a cold beer, talking about boats and enjoying the Greek après sail.
Alex Fajardo
Alex – our Spanish instructor with the Scottish accent!
Alex was born in Barcelona and learned to sail on the Solent, UK, one of the world’s busiest sailing areas. He also took some courses with us here at Aegean Sailing School many years ago, so we were delighted to welcome him as a member of our team in Spring 2016.
He’s sailed in many places in Europe, from the Canary Islands to Scotland, where he lived and instructed for some time (hence the accent!). He is an RYA Yachtmaster Instructor, RYA Power Boat Instructor, and also a Radio, and Radar Instructor. In addition to practical instruction, Alex teaches several of our weekend theory courses.
Alex previously taught kite boarding in Spain, Greece, Mexico, Vietnam and Kenya and is also a Skydiving Instructor.
His native languages are Spanish and Catalan. In addition he speaks fluent English and French, and basic German,
Jake Walker
Jake has instructed with the school for five seasons. Like Mark, he can instruct in both monohull and catamaran. He has a popular laid back teaching style.
Romeo Dretcanu
Romeo joined our team in 2015. He is an RYA Cruising Instructor who has sailed extensively in the Mediterranean and the UK and has delivered yachts to the Caribbean. In January he became the first Romanian to pass the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean course.
Romeo is a non-smoker whose hobbies are photography, Latin dance (I haven’t actually seen proof of this!) & cooking. He speaks English, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Romanian … and probably Greek too very soon!
Melody McKay Burton
Melody set up Aegean Sailing School in 2004 with George Burton, her husband. When they started, she did everything from marketing to cleaning the yachts! Nowadays she concentrates on communicating with customers and potential customers.
Melody is the author of Learning to Sail in Greece. She’s put the knowledge she’s gained through 12 years of running the school into this booklet. As a qualified skipper herself, Melody knows what is involved in getting through each of the courses. She sends out regular chatty emails to those on her Sailing Mailing List, covering a huge variety of sailing and non-sailing topics.
Melody’s background is IT and she enjoys playing with the ‘techie’ stuff and running the website. Her hobbies are knitting, painting, and genealogy.
Elena Thoma
Elena joined us in 2012 and manages our office with efficiency and a smile. She’s the person you’re most likely to speak to when you call or email us. After studying tourism and management she joined her family retail business and travelled extensively through Asia and the Middle East buying for their shop in Athens. She now lives on Aegina and enjoys the variety of her role at the school. Her ability to multi-task and to speak Greek, English, and some French, is a great asset. She enjoys sailing when she can. In her time off she enjoys the arts and loves to cook for her friends.
Sue Trimi
Sue has lived on Aegina for over 30 years, having married a Greek and settled and raised her family here. Sue worked in the travel industry, for Thomas Cook and local travel agents. She is fluent in Greek as well as her native English and has more knowledge of Aegina than anyone else in the company. Sue’s terrific sense of humour and pleasant demeanour bring harmony to the office while her scrupulous book-keeping skills keep us all in line when it comes to cash! You’ll meet either Sue or Elena when you arrive at the school at the start of your course. Sue qualified as a competent crew when she joined the school in 2012.
Nektarios (Erion) Doce
Nektarios has been with the school since 2008. For 9 years he worked within travel agencies on Aegina dealing with all aspects of tourism and managing the rental of bikes, cars, and accommodation. In the winter months he gained his practical skills working on yachts in the local boatyards. His interest in yachts led him to progress to learning to sail. Nektarios is a very capable yacht and powerboat skipper and joins our bareboat charters when clients need a little helping had on board. He is in charge of ensuring everything on board the yachts is ready for you to leave, and his smiling face will normally welcome you back at the end of your trip. If you are looking for a fun trip in our RIB exploring the secret places around Aegina or Agistri, Nektarios is the one to speak to. He can also arrange hire of motor bikes, quads, and cars for those who want to go sight-seeing by road. In his time off he is a keen fitness fan and gym member and tries his luck on fishing trips.