Tony Stanton

Personal Experience

Born in Liverpool, about a mile across the Mersey, Tony grew up in an area where sailing, ferries and shipbuilding is in the DNA. Most locals were connected to the sea one way or another and the lucky ones went sailing in their spare time. Growing up with an awareness of tidal waters, dangerous seas and tales of fatalities, instilled in Tony a sense of fascination, respect and admiration in equal measure.

At age 18 when most of his friends joined the coast guard or ship building industry, Tony bucked the trend and went to University inland to study Economics and Statistics. A 5 year career in marketing with Apple was followed by a few years singing in a rock band by night and racing his Honda RC30 by day. A chance conversation overheard put Tony firmly back in the marketing seat just as the Dotcom era was about to explode. A successful career ensued and provided enough money for Tony to follow his passion of boating.

Tony had previously secured a day skippers certificate in the Solent, undertaken in weather, which he recalled was particularly turbulent and very exciting. By now he was the proud owner of a beautiful boat, which he had moored in Mallorca because of its easy accessibility from the UK.

The thought of becoming an RYA trainer never crossed Tony’s mind, until some years later, his partner Sarah had designs on learning to sail and took a PBL2 course here in Mallorca; it wasn’t a positive experience. Like many people looking to get qualified, he just booked and paid for a course without doing the research. €1,200 later they wondered what had gone wrong? Why had Sarah not enjoyed the course?

Seeing an opening in the market, Tony returned to the UK and booked himself onto every RYA course available back to back, which he passed with flying colours. With determination, passion and honed communication skills, it came as no surprise that Tony was soon offered a post as an instructor. Observing first hand how the schools in the UK did business, Tony clearly saw something, which in his opinion, was lacking in Mallorca.

Returning to Mallorca Tony dipped his toe into the Mallorcan RYA Training method having undertaken a Yachtmaster, after which he was offered some Powerboat work. Tony felt that the RYA Training offered in Mallorca was all about making money, which strengthened his resolve that he could deliver a professional service at a better price. Drawing on his 27 years in marketing and communication, Deep Blue Sea Training opened its doors for business in 2014 & took over Solaris Sailing School in 2021.