I help owners become more competent and capable captains.

My happy place is on the ocean in a sailboat with other sailors. I came to offshore sailing not as a career, but as a calling, and the work I love most is helping yacht owners make the transition from anxious and inexperienced ocean sailor to capable and confident skipper of their own vessel.

I’ve spent the last 36 years leading people through unfamiliar and sometimes high stakes environments. I was one of a small group that set up bungee operations at the Victoria Falls Bridge in Zimbabwe / Zambia, and at the Gourits and Bloukrans bridges in South Africa. I’ve raised four children with the same wife. We built and ran a guest farm together. Across all of it, I’ve watched what happens when people are taken beyond their comfort zone and given the space and support to thrive.

That’s the same work I do at sea. The mechanics of an ocean passage matter, sail trim, weather routing, watchkeeping, navigation, and I take them seriously. But the success of any voyage is determined just as much by how the crew connects and cooperates. Trust, honest communication, and a sense of humour are not optional equipment.

When I’m aboard your boat, I’m the captain. Insurance and maritime law require it, and I take the responsibility seriously. But my real job is to work myself out of a job, to teach you enough about your vessel, the ocean, and the work of being a skipper that the next ocean passage is one you can make on your own.

I also teach at Southern Yachting Academy in Knysna and run owner assisted deliveries from South Africa to wherever the boat is going next. I travel with a sextant and like to pull out paper charts from time to time. I’m almost always fishing when under way.

If any of this resonates, let’s talk.