Chris is a professional skipper who has circumnavigated the world on Salamander for three years with his family and has already completed 14 Atlantic crossings and is a regular and well-known ARC participant with ARC 2017, ARC 2018, ARC 2019, ARC 2021, ARC 2022, ARC 2023 and ARC Europe 2019, ARC Europe 2022, winning 1st in Class in ARC 2021 and the ARCH MAREZ TROPHY in ARC 2023

 

Prior to becoming a skipper Chris enjoyed life as a professional architect in London for nearly 30 years running his own practice. He had been introduced to travelling the world as a teenager in the 70's when his parents lived in Singapore. His parents introduced him to weekend dingy sailing in Chichester at the age of, it is thought, 7 or 8.

 

Subsequent Adventures included:-

 

• Far East Travel Adventures - Organising independent Travel Adventures in India and the Far East in the 70's for friends.

 

• Motorcycle Adventures - Arranging an independent Motorcycling Adventure to Istanbul in the mid 80's to pick up a friend arriving by plane from Abu Dhabi, and going on to explore the interior and borders of Turkey with Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria, covering 8.000 miles, riding on potholed roads and dusty dirt tracks, crossing rivers and ensuring any travel between ever present military checkpoints along the route was outside the strict hours of curfew.

 

• Jungle Adventures - Extensive travelling in the Far East in the 90's, included bartering in Indonesian to charter a succession of boats to explore the Mahakam River and its tributaries, looking for Dayak longhouses in the jungles of Kalimantan, Borneo, exploring Burma, as it was called, before the country opened its doors to tourism and travelling into the interior of Sulawesi and the Highlands of Irian Jaya to find recently discovered primitive indigenous tribes.

 

• Helicopter Adventures - In the 90’s and 00’s Chris was invited to compete as a navigator in national helicopter navigation competitions. In 2000 Chris was Champion Helicopter Navigator in the Helicopter Club of Great Britain annual competition.

 

• Diving Adventures - In the 00's Chris qualified as a Padi Scuba Diver in Sipidan, in Malaysian Navy patrolled disputed waters between Borneo and the Philippines. Further family Diving Adventures were organised in Sabah, Indonesia, Africa, Honduras and Belize. 

 

• Family Holiday Adventures - Family holidays in the 00’s included further Adventure Travels and repeated visits to Africa, Central Asia, the Far East and Central America. It was soon noted however that family holidays in Europe had been limited to a weekend in Paris and a weekend in Venice!

 

• Motorhome Adventures - To redress the balance Family Adventure travels in the 00's therefore swung towards Europe covering over 46,000 miles in a luxury 40 ft. American RV, or motorhome, visiting most if not all of the countries between Norway in the north and Morocco in the south, Portugal in the west and Greece in the east, including the Scandinavian countries, the Arctic Circle and the Baltic States. The motorhome was equipped with Europe–wide satellite communications to keep in touch and carried a large motorcycle and 4 folding bicycles for local transport. The motorhome allowed us to resume skiing in St. Anton, Austria, for a number of years.

 

• Sailing Adventures - In 2009 our motorhome adventures brought us to the Ionian in Greece to meet with some friends who had come to learn how to sail. It occurred to us that a sailing boat could take us further than the motorhome. The rest, as they say is history.

 

Chris has a Certificate of Competence - RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Offshore with Commercial Endorsements, valid for use as Master of Yachts of up to 200gt. in accordance with UK Merchant Shipping Regulations - RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory - RYA/MCA Powerboat Level 2 with Commercial Endorsements