About MSOS

Sara has 15 years’ experience as a critical care nurse working in London’s busiest trauma centres including King’s College Hospital, and as a field nurse supporting local communities in India & Bulgaria. During the pandemic Sara supported the Nightingale Excel London field hospital as a nurse educator to rapidly upskill nurses to critical care. Sara’s qualifications include mentorship, intensive care, anatomy and physiology and tropical nursing.

Sara is passionate about maritime medical response, and has supported the super yacht industry for the past 13 years working as a nurse on both motor and sail yachts, and as the product and training manager for a large telemedical company. She is now based in Palma as a freelance maritime medical instructor and nurse advisor. 

On a training day with Sara you can expect to engage in hands-on action based skills, and have those skills reinforced with fun and engaging true to life simulated scenarios tailored to your vessel and medical kit.

Amanda has been a registered nurse and professional sailor for 20 years. She’s from a family of active sailors and has sailed extensively herself, covering 60,000 nm at sea. She has nursed in the Outback with flying doctors, in refugee camps and offshore on oil rigs. She has also been the medic on multiple sailing races, the Sydney Hobart, the Fastnet, and the Rolex 600 amongst them.

Amanda has a master’s degree in Marine and International Medicine, and has worked widely with a number of yacht racing campaigns around the world.

If you have attended a course run by Amanda, you will have experienced the passion she has for marine medicine, being prepared and preventing trauma and illness at sea.

John has worked as a Critical Care Paramedic for over 25 years. His extensive background outside of hospital care extends from flight medicine to advanced water rescue as a Paramedic in Florida. John’s Marine rescue skills have been sharpened through years of active work with Fort Lauderdale Marine Rescue team, training constantly with the U.S. Coast Guard.

John continues his cutting edge medical training with local authorities to bring the latest and most up to date techniques to the marine industry.  He actively works on the busy streets to make sure the knowledge he shares with his class is “real life” training. His excitement, passion and experience are shared through his teachings.

Mark is a highly skilled and compassionate Paramedic Practitioner who goes above and beyond for both his patients and his colleagues. As the Managing Director of his own Private Ambulance Service, he leads with integrity and a commitment to excellence, ensuring top-tier emergency care. His passion for patient care and medical training is truly inspiring—his expertise in first aid and medical training equips others with the knowledge and confidence to save lives. A true team player, Mark embodies professionalism, leadership, and unwavering dedication to the well-being of others.

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I spent my childhood immersed in the maritime world of Jersey, surrounded by a family of sailors and water sports enthusiasts, which continues now in the Mediterranean. I began my nursing career in 1989 and quickly realised my passion for acute medicine. This led me to specialise in critical care from 1993. Throughout my career I served as a senior staff member in adult, paediatric, neonatal intensive care, and coronary care units until 2021. Furthering my commitment to patient safety, I qualified as a Resuscitation Council UK generic instructor in 1997 and imparted my expertise in Advanced Life Support, Advanced Paediatric Life Support, and Neonatal Life Support until 2020. My experience extended to the critical role of a transport nurse, where I provided care for neonates, paediatrics, and adults during both air, land and occasional sea transfers.

Relocating to France in 2019, I began training yacht crews in December of that year. This allowed me to utilise my extensive critical care nursing background to equip yacht crews with the essential knowledge and skills to effectively manage medical emergencies at sea. My transition to MSOS in February 2023 was a welcome move. My deep understanding of medical equipment and the MSOS kit, coupled with my passion for working directly with appreciative crews, allows me to enhance safety and preparedness within the maritime community.

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Steve has a medical career stretching back 17 years, prior to which he was a member of the armed forces serving across the world. Upon leaving the Military, Steve became a Paramedic and quickly progressed to an  Emergency Care Practitioner, becoming the programme lead for Emergency and Urgent Care BSc at Bournemouth University. 

This experience led Steve to realise emergency medicine was his preferred specialism and he completed the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) training. Steve remains one of less than 50 people in the country to hold this qualification. 

Steve continues to work in various emergency departments, choosing flexible work patterns which allow him to be involved with MSOS training in the Southampton classroom or with clients around the world. 

Steve is a keen outdoorsman, who enjoys skiing and snowboarding with his family and has completed multiple cross channel sailing voyages in a variety of sailing boats. Steve has been committed to medical education one way or another for over 12 years and continues to strive to ensure all those who receive training with him benefit from his passion for simulation and interactive teaching methods.

Clare has worked in a variety of different fields within nursing, having started her career in Paediatrics, Emergency & Theatre medicine in Sydney. Alongside medical training for MSOS, she currently works in the operating room at Royal Cornwall Hospital and has witnessed a lot during her career in nursing.

On meeting her future husband, a professional sailor, Clare moved in to the Superyacht industry and was thrown in at the deep end, working on a professionally-crewed 75ft racing yacht. 

This experience ignited Clare’s passion to protect and educate those in the yachting industry and she began working with MSOS as a Training Instructor in 2016. With such a personal connection, Clare feels strongly about equipping crew members with the knowledge and necessary skills to stay safe at sea. 

Clare recognises the importance of crew members being able to work effectively as a team and the need to care for each other until further medical help arrives. In her training, she shares her passion with everyone she teaches and instils crew members with the confidence and skill to react and respond in the event of a medical incident.

Floris is both a qualified doctor and an experienced sailor. He has raced yachts for over 15 years, including two Atlantic crossings, four Fastnet Races, and two Middle Sea Races.

Alongside his extensive time at sea, Floris has worked as a registrar in anesthesiology at Amsterdam University Medical Centres and has held posts in intensive care and emergency medicine. He holds a Master of Science in Medicine from the University of Amsterdam, and his medical thesis focused on injuries and illnesses during the 2011–2012 Volvo Ocean Race.

Floris is also an experienced instructor, teaching MCA-approved medical courses, RYA First Aid, and Advanced Life Support. With his combined expertise in medicine and offshore sailing, he brings real-world insight into medical training at sea.

If you attend a course with Floris, you will benefit from his wide experience in both frontline medicine and offshore racing, as well as his passion for preparing sailors to deal confidently with medical emergencies at sea.