Sailing Experience

I have logged over 200,000 nautical miles, with more than 90% of that time as Skipper, navigating a diverse range of yachts through some of the world’s most challenging waters. My experience hasn’t come from fast-tracked training but from years of hard-earned miles at sea, learning alongside some of the country’s finest yachtsmen.

I hold an SAS Yachtmaster Ocean qualification.

    • Represented Rhodesia in Optimist World Championships 1974, 1975 and 1976
    • 1978 and 1979 Represented Eastern Cape (South Africa) Youth Team (Lasers and Laser 11’s) 
    • 1985 – Sailed as crew in the South Atlantic Race, Cape Town to Uruguay on Wings, a Charger 33’
    • 1985 – Delivered race yacht back to Cape Town from Uruguay. Part of the crew.
    • 1985 – Skipper. Delivered a Farr 38, Crystal Spray, from Port Elizabeth, South Africa to Mauritius
    • 1985 – Skippered a Farr 38 in the inaugural Beachcomber Race from Mauritius to Durban, South Africa
    • 29 years of coastal passage making and racing along the South African East Coast as skipper and crew including 3 Vasco da Gama races from Durban to East London and 3 Lipton Cup challenges.
    • 2000-2016 – owned, raced and cruised three different yachts around the southern and western coasts of South Africa.
    • 2007 – cruised the Tierra del Fuego area of Patagonia.
    • 2008 – skippered the winning yacht (Patches) in the Governor’s Cup Yacht Race from Cape Town to St Helena
    • 2010 – co-skippered the winning multihull yacht (Banjo) in the Governor’s Cup Yacht Race from Simon’s Town to St Helena (double-handed)
    • 2013 – launched my expedition yacht Jerrican. Dix 43’ Pilothouse. I was involved hands on in the completion of the vessel from hull, deck and bulkheads.
    • 2014 – sailed over 9000nm in support of a filming expedition to the Chagos Archipelago for Redfern Natural History.
    • 2015-2018 – multiple deliveries in monohulls and catamarans in the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, North Atlantic and South Atlantic.
    • 2022 – sailed solo from Cape Town to Horta in Azores, Falmouth in UK and Gijon, Spain on my OE32
    • September 4 2022 – 9 June 2023 – participated in the Golden Globe Race, solo, unassisted and non-stop using no modern technology (ie sextant navigation and not GPS) I made a 3 day stop in Hobart to clear my hull of goose barnacles.
    • January 14 2024 – April 28 2024 – skippered Sterna, a Swan 53, in the last two legs of the Ocean Globe Race from Auckland, New Zealand to Punta del Este, Uruguay and then from Punta to Cowes in the UK.
    • July 2024 – solo delivery of a 36′ sailboat from St Helena Island to Cape Town.
    • November 2024 – watch leader on Dama de Noche, an Oyster 82 from Palma de Mallorca to Antigua.