A young boatbuilder who knew nothing about computers 18 months ago has launched his own internet company.

Peter Leonard, who is part-owner of a thriving boatyard, is now able to help his customers surf the web as easily as they sail the seas.

His family have owned the successful Peter Leonard Marine boatyard on Denton Island, Newhaven, for nearly ten years.

Now co-owner of the business with his father, Peter Leonard senior, the 25-year-old has worked at the yard since leaving school aged 16.

The firm carries out the traditional services of chandlery, boat-building and boat repairs as well as providing moorings for boats from small fishing vessels to 80ft cruisers.

But these days the yard is also home to a totally different kind of business as the office base for a growing internet company.

It all began just over a year ago when the boatyard family bought a new computer to help them with their business.

Mr Leonard said: "It had internet access but I always seemed to find the phone line was busy when I tried to connect to the service provider.

"I didn't think it was very good. It was slow and it was full of adverts. I thought maybe I could do it better."

Although he did not know the first thing about computer programming, Mr Leonard set to work with the aim of setting up his own internet service provider (ISP).

He said: "I did some research, got some friends and colleagues on board and Fire-Bug was born."

Mr Leonard enlisted expert help from friends David Elliott, James Humphrey and Jeff Hyland and Mr Leonard senior to set up Arrowcrest Computing Ltd last October.

He drew on his own and his father's business experience from the boatyard to ensure the company got off the ground.

The website went live six months later.

Now people wanting to access the internet to carry out searches or links to interesting sites can simply sign up to Fire-Bug.com.

There is no need to insert a CD-Rom to establish a connection as this is done online. After logging on to the Fire-Bug.com website, subscribers are asked to fill in their details and follow instructions to set up an account.

When the process is complete, the subscriber's modem will automatically dial Fire-Bug to gain access to the internet.

Mr Leonard believes his ISP has an advantage over bigger service providers because it is faster and is less likely to be blocked by too many users.

He said: "We offer the same kind of things as other companies but because we have nowhere near as many users trying to log on, it is very unlikely they will get the 'busy' signal.

As well as easy internet access, Fire-Bug offers a homepage packed with news and information.

Mr Leonard says: "We have not got adverts all over our site getting in your face.

"I try to include things which I find interesting rather than things people tell me I should be interested in."

To begin with, Fire-Bug targeted mainly local users, with features such as South Coast weather.

But Mr Leonard said: "Surprisingly enough, most of our users are from the North of the country.

"Because of that, we are going to expand to cover things like local news and weather for the whole country, not just the South.

"We also have visitors to our site from all over the world - places like New Zealand, America and Malaysia."

But Mr Leonard and his Arrowcrest colleagues remain committed to their local community.

They are all from the Newhaven and Seaford area. Mr Leonard spent his school years at Seaford Community College.

The company has recently donated a web page, designed and hosted free of charge, to the Seaford Youth Centre, where Mr Leonard is a youth worker in his spare time.

Despite the new firm's success, Mr Leonard said he is keeping his feet firmly anchored on the ground.

He said: "It would be nice if this could earn me a bit of money. I would like to be able to retire early but I will never give up the boatyard.

"We have put too much work, time and love into it to do that."

www.fire-bug.com