Thank you to the individual that nominated me for this award. I am honoured to be nominated for the Best Life Time
Achievement Award for my career in yachting. Just hearing Life Time Achievement made me reflect on my past 40
plus years of being on the water and over 35 years since I joined my first yacht…a life time of amazing memories
and experiences that I truly treasure.
Having grown up in a beautiful small town surrounded by water in South Florida, my weekends and summers were
filled with sailing, surfing, and boating. As my sailing skills progressed from a Minifish, I was lucky enough to start
racing with a family friend on his MORC sailboat which progressed into racing on various SORC sailing vessels. By
the spring of 1987, I was employed on a 50m sailing yacht working as a deckhand as well as working on this
owners’ other racing sail vessel as the Bowman before departing for college. This was the start of a storied career
that I am blessed to have and enjoy to this day.
By 1997, I received my first captaincy on one of the top 50 largest motor yachts in the United States which was a
treasured time of my career spent with an owner who loved traveling outside of the normal cruising grounds
chasing fish and adventures. I truly owe much of my career to this incredible yacht owner who I shared many
adventures with traveling from near the arctic circle to points south of the equator. He taught me much about
executive management and what it truly meant to be a superyacht captain.
During my career, I have had the honour of running some very prestigious busy private and charter yacht programs
around the world from 38m vessels to over 106m. None of my accomplishments would have happened without
the support of some of the finest crew, incredible owners, managers, brokers, and shoreside management support a
captain could ever hope to work with.
I am lucky enough to still call many former employer’s friends to this day as well as many of my crew. Another one
of these generous yacht owners I was lucky enough to work with was on a charitable foundation called Operation
Cruise from its founding. It was developed to take groups of eight soldiers from the US Special Warfare Operators
community, who were severely injured on duty for a week’s long cruise with their significant other on a superyacht.
Listening to some of the stories these Operators and their wives told really tugged at your heartstrings. With the
support of my incredible crew, we put on a wedding for a military couple who had been trying for years without luck
due to his deployment demands. I have never seen a crew so determined to give the best service to those that had
sacrificed so much for so many.
What I am most proud of are so many of my former crew…stewardesses, chefs, deck staff, and officers that I have
worked with and trained over the past few decades who have grown into senior yachting roles and industry leaders
onboard yachts as well as shoreside management positions. To see former deck hands that are now captains of
their own prestigious yachts makes me beam with pride.
I feel that those of us that are “lifetime” members of this incredible industry have an obligation to mentor and share
our knowledge as well as our learned experiences with those taking over from us as we continue to grow and
evolve. I have personally made it a point to share my knowledge whether it is giving a lecture to a couple of hundred
people looking to join our ranks, fellow captains needing information on cruising grounds or giving my officers as
much drive time and management opportunities as possible to make sure they are ready for the next step in their
career. The teaching and sharing of our many years of acquired skills to paramount to the continuing evolution of
yachting.
Many thanks to all my fellow nominees in each category for all their hard work within our industry and the silent
work of many more behind the scenes.
