Cockwells Modern and Classic Boatbuilding - the first choice for skilled craftsmen

The Cockwell's team are so much more than employees. All of our craftsmen has a lifelong passion for traditional, bespoke methods; each has skills and experience all but lost in the modern boat building industry. Creativity and flexibility is key to our approach; each commission is a unique project, and a new opportunity to excel.

	Dave Cockwell: The founder of Cockwells Modern and Classic Boatbuilding Limited. Having dedicated his entire working life to the building and restoring of wooden boats, Dave is a skilled shipwright, and has extensive experience in every type of hull construction and joinery. Driven by the search for the ultimate challenge, Dave likes nothing more than to restore the boats that other builders tell him simply cannot be restored…
	Phil Austin: An experienced shipwright who joined Cockwells in February 2008. Originally trained at Falmouth Marine School, Phil has spent the last six years working on refits and repairs at Mylor Yacht Harbour. A sailor with a passion for wooden boats, Phil has spent 18 months restoring his own Folkboat and has recently acquired a gaff cutter as his next project.
	William Anderson-Lambert: Billy completed his 4 year apprenticeship at Cockwells in February 2007. His skills, knowledge and experience have developed considerably since then and he has become a highly skilled boatbuilder. Not long after his apprenticeship ended, he took on greater responsibility by becoming the Project Leader for the build of the Motor Yacht LT2 (completed in the summer of 2008) and is now thriving in the same role for the Pilot Cutter Merlin.
	Craig Chad: Craig was a graduate of the Lyme Regis Boatbuilding academy. He began his boatbuilding apprenticeship when he joined Cockwells in November 2005, and completed it in 2008. Apart from learning all of the skills associated with timber boatbuilding, Craig has also been very involved in the engineering and electrical systems installations of new-builds and refits, and now spends a large proportion of his time specialising in that work. Craig is a keen sailor – he has his own small cruising boat and also regularly crews on a local Corby 25 racing boat.
	Joe Coles: Now our only apprentice left school in July 2007 having just completed GCSEs at Penryn College and immediately began his apprenticeship at Cockwells.
	Christian Jones: Christian Jones is a joiner who started at Cockwells in June 2009. He previously worked at Gweek Quay Boatyard and for his father’s furniture making company. He is a keen sailor and regularly competes in local races.
	Simon Dodd: Simon is our Yard Hand and he joined Cockwells in July 2008. This was a career change for him as he had previously spent 14 years working in Outdoor Pursuits. The last few years of this was spent working abroad as a watersports instructor in the summers and as a skiing instructor in the winters. Simon has recently bought a Firefly sailing dinghy which he is racing keenly at Restronguet Sailing Club.
	Damian Lyall: joined October 2007 having just completed a boatbuilding course at the International Boatbuilding Training College in Lowestoft. This is a complete career change for Damian who previously worked for the Home Office as a Forensic Scientist.
	Jo Cockwell, Marketing & PR: Jo brings a wealth of experience to the team having previously owned her own successful business. Jo is also Dave Cockwell's wife, they moved together from Bristol to Falmouth in 2002, and Jo's support, drive and enthusiasm has been key to the development of the business to date. Jo works for the company on a part-time basis.
	Nigel Sharp – General Manager: Nigel started working in the boatbuilding industry in 1974. Prior to joining Cockwells in April 2008, he worked at Camper and Nicholsons, Southampton Yacht Services and Rival/Bowman Yachts, amongst others. Whilst working as a Project Manager for most of the last 20 years, his restoration projects have included Seven Seas (the 1937 12-metre Class yacht, the first to be built in America), Atlantide (the 122 ft Alfred Mylne gentleman's motor yacht built in 1930), Blue Leopard (the 112 ft Laurent Giles cold moulded 1963 ketch), Quiver V (built for the 1969 Admirals' Cup, the last traditionally-built wooden sailing boat to come out of Camper & Nicholsons), Velsheda (the J-Class yacht), Ilona of Kylesku (the 98 ft 1907 gentleman's motor yacht) and Merrymaid (the 1904 Camper and Nicholsons gaff cutter). His new-build projects have included three strip-planked sailing boats between 55 ft and 82 ft. Nigel has a passion for wooden yachts (he has his own Folkboat, the restoration of which he completed 10 years ago, and is a member of a Falmouth Working Boat syndicate) and has brought plenty of experience and direction to the Cockwells team. He was born in St Mawes and so working at Cockwells has brought him back to his Cornish roots.
	Christine Fairhurst: Chris runs our accounts department and joined us in June 2008. She has completed two transatlantic crossings as skipper and now owns her own cruising boat.