The Team...
Paul Auston, Chairman. He started Checkmate’s manufacturing business’s of which he is also
Chairman. He has over 27 years of Industrial and Commercial experience
Des Crampton BSc (Eng), Chief Executive, Checkmate Seaenergy. Des started his career as a mechanical engineer in the steel making industry before taking up the challenges of the UK ports industry, most recently as Managing Director of Medway Ports and a director of Mersey Docks and Harbour Company and Peel Ports. His technical and commercial skills are of particular benefit to the company. Des is a lifelong offshore sailor who last year single handed in his own yacht in a race from UK to the Azores .
Mark Prentice BSc, MIME, C Eng. Technical Manager of Checkmate Flexible Engineering LLP, Seconded to Checkmate Seaenergy he brings to the Anaconda project his unrivalled knowledge of rubber fabrication and flexible structures as well as his experience of mechanical and structural design.
Steve Rimmer BSc. Project Manager. He trained as a chemist and has worked in technical and managerial roles in the rubber industry for over 30 years. Steve has extensive knowledge of rubber compounds being responsible for rubber compound characterisation, optimisation and testing. As well as having extensive knowledge of materials, Steve is also experienced in rubber manufacturing and fabrication.
Ushpal Thind BEng. Project Engineer. Ushpal joined Checkmate some years after graduating in engineering from Imperial College London. Seconded to the project, he works on all aspects of the design, manufacture and testing of our products. He contributes to all aspects of the Anaconda project, most notably to model design and testing.
Professor Rod Rainey, MA MSc DIC CEng FIMarEST. Co-Inventor of Anaconda. He is Head of Floating Structures at WS Atkins plc Oil and Gas Division. Rod is one of the UK’s leading experts on floating offshore structures, and has a unique combination of practical and theoretical know-how in this field. He has been employed by WS Atkins for over thirty years. Prior to this he was employed by
Yarrow Shipbuilders and was a research fellow at Imperial College. He is an international recognised authority in the field of Hydrodynamic loading, and hosted the International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies, at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He has published extensively in the international technical literature. He is a visiting professor at University College London and at
Southampton University.
Professor Francis Farley, ScD, F Inst P, FRS. Co-Inventor of Anaconda. He is an experimental physicist with wide experience of making things work: wartime microwave radar which controlled the Dover guns, innovative experiments in particle physics at CERN and Brookhaven and new wave energy devices. He is a fellow of the Royal Society which awarded him the Hughes medal. Francis
has worked on wave energy since 1976 and has filed 14 patents in this area.
Des Crampton BSc (Eng), Chief Executive, Checkmate Seaenergy. Des started his career as a mechanical engineer in the steel making industry before taking up the challenges of the UK ports industry, most recently as Managing Director of Medway Ports and a director of Mersey Docks and Harbour Company and Peel Ports. His technical and commercial skills are of particular benefit to the company. Des is a lifelong offshore sailor who last year single handed in his own yacht in a race from UK to the Azores .
Mark Prentice BSc, MIME, C Eng. Technical Manager of Checkmate Flexible Engineering LLP, Seconded to Checkmate Seaenergy he brings to the Anaconda project his unrivalled knowledge of rubber fabrication and flexible structures as well as his experience of mechanical and structural design.
Steve Rimmer BSc. Project Manager. He trained as a chemist and has worked in technical and managerial roles in the rubber industry for over 30 years. Steve has extensive knowledge of rubber compounds being responsible for rubber compound characterisation, optimisation and testing. As well as having extensive knowledge of materials, Steve is also experienced in rubber manufacturing and fabrication.
Ushpal Thind BEng. Project Engineer. Ushpal joined Checkmate some years after graduating in engineering from Imperial College London. Seconded to the project, he works on all aspects of the design, manufacture and testing of our products. He contributes to all aspects of the Anaconda project, most notably to model design and testing.
Professor Rod Rainey, MA MSc DIC CEng FIMarEST. Co-Inventor of Anaconda. He is Head of Floating Structures at WS Atkins plc Oil and Gas Division. Rod is one of the UK’s leading experts on floating offshore structures, and has a unique combination of practical and theoretical know-how in this field. He has been employed by WS Atkins for over thirty years. Prior to this he was employed by
Yarrow Shipbuilders and was a research fellow at Imperial College. He is an international recognised authority in the field of Hydrodynamic loading, and hosted the International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies, at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He has published extensively in the international technical literature. He is a visiting professor at University College London and at
Southampton University.
Professor Francis Farley, ScD, F Inst P, FRS. Co-Inventor of Anaconda. He is an experimental physicist with wide experience of making things work: wartime microwave radar which controlled the Dover guns, innovative experiments in particle physics at CERN and Brookhaven and new wave energy devices. He is a fellow of the Royal Society which awarded him the Hughes medal. Francis
has worked on wave energy since 1976 and has filed 14 patents in this area.
