Meet your surveyor

A change of direction saw Simon teaching A Level Physics during which he was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Cadets, running many trips aboard ships including HMS Albion and the cadet ships HMS Bristol and HMS Hindostan. He taught cadets sailing on dinghies and yachts such as Fox Terrier 22s and Contessa 38s.

As a surveyor, Simon started studying with Omega Yacht Services to gain valuable knowledge from experienced surveyors. He is also completing a Diploma in Yacht and Small Craft Surveying with the Marine Training Academy. This was a natural progression using his love of yachting and his background in naval architecture. He is an Associate Member of the Society of Consulting Marine Engineers and Ship Surveyors as well as IMarEST and has a good working knowledge of both multihulls and monohulls.

Simon is a member of the Lyme Regis Sailing Club and works with The Lyme Regis Sea School teaching all ages to sail. He enjoys yacht cruising both here and the Mediterranean and can regularly be found racing yachts and dinghies in Lyme.

Simon Ransome-Williams brings a wealth of experience to the role of Yacht surveyor. He has an Honours degree in Ship Science (Naval Architecture) from Southampton University. He has worked as yacht builder, a yacht broker and as professional yacht crew. In addition, he is an RYA Senior Dinghy Instructor and holds an RYA Yachtmaster Coastal Certificate. In addition, he has been a volunteer instructor for the Royal Navy Cadets and is also a qualified Teacher of Physics.

Simon learnt to sail as a child on the lakes near Ringwood in Hampshire and first experienced yacht cruising on his fathers’ Silhouette Yacht around Poole Harbour and The Solent.

This early love of sailing led to Southampton University, where Simon gained an Honours Degree in Ship Science. This gave him a solid background in fluid dynamics, propulsion and ship design. At the weekends, he crewed on Three-Quarter Tonners and sailed with the University.

On leaving University, Simon joined a team of three graduate friends to build a 30ft trimaran called ‘Caledonia’ for the Carlsberg Single-handed Transatlantic Race. He was involved in every aspect of the build, from constructing the male mould to fitting the mast and deck fittings. The yacht went onto break the class VI record, beating all the yachts in Class II (50 ft) and in Class V (35ft.) He learnt a huge amount about yacht building and enjoyed sailing her during the sea trials and completed a transatlantic crossing returning the yacht to the UK after the race.

After this, Simon worked for several companies building both production and one-off yachts. Notably, he worked producing the prototype of the John Shuttleworth ‘Cheetah’ cruising catamaran and used this as a plug to produce mouldings for production. He developed knowledge and skills in vacuum bagged layups and production yacht construction.

The knowledge gained as a yacht builder led Simon to start working as a yacht broker for ‘Multihull World’ based at Port Solent in Portsmouth. This post not only gave him a wide knowledge of yacht manufacturers and their advantages and disadvantages, but also involved working at The Southampton and Paris Boat shows. As part of this role, he delivered yachts all around the UK and Europe, including a magnificent Fountaine Pajot Marquises 56 and a Bowman 57.