Eric Murray's sailing school

Eric Murray joined the Met in 1965 and trained at Peel House and Hendon. He moved into Traffic at Barnes in 1968 and sat his Sergeant's exam. Eric then transferred to Harlesden and then onto attachment to the Special Escort Group in 1979 where he remained until his retirement in 1995.

Eric now owns and runs Solaris Mediterranean Sea School on the island of Mallorca, Spain. "I'd always been passionate about the sea, I learnt to sail in the Moray Firth in Aberdeen when I was a child, and then took up scuba diving in the 1970s, training as a diver with the British Sub Aqua Club." Eric started to sail regularly as an adult after a holiday to Malta in the late seventies, and subsequently had taken all of his Royal Yachting Association exams by 1981. Eric then took his Royal Yacht Association instructor qualifications in 1985 and has been a registered sailing instructor for the last 28 years.

After his official retirement Eric sailed the Caribbean for a year and a half with friends and family and then took on freelance instructor work. A phone call from a sailing school inviting him to take up a post in the Balearics set him on a new course and Eric moved to the beautiful island of Mallorca thirteen years ago in 2000. "One of the most enjoyable elements of police work was being part of a team, teaching a group of people to work well as a crew on a boat has similarities. You don't have to be as disciplined, but you definitely have to work together." Eric took over the business in 2005 and now runs the very successful school which has taught well over a thousand people from all walks of life how to sail. "Solaris Mediterranean Sailing School is not just another sailing school situated in the sun. The whole concept of the organisation is to offer not only sailing and seamanship tuition but also a unique and totally different Mediterranean holiday experience".

"Mallorca is nothing like what a lot of Brits think it is, it is not just about Magaluf. My wife and I live in the Tramuntana mountain range, which is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. My sailing school is based in Port Andratx which is one of the most prestigious and beautiful sailing grounds in the Balearics: it's a fabulous place to live. The boats have been extensively equipped to give students the utmost in navigational and domestic quality. I'm confident that the school provides a unique and completely different sailing experience; you can either study for a qualification or choose to have a skippered charter. The choice is the client's, either way they go back home having had a great experience and with a sense of achievement."

"Retirement in police terms is the cessation of one way of life and the beginning of another. It is your chance to do something equally as financially rewarding and personally fulfilling, but you have got to plan ahead. I haven't got any regrets about my decisions, I don't think I would do anything differently."

www.solarisatsea.com