Worlds Experience:
2004 Sailed with my 78-year-old Dad as crew – said at the time to be the oldest person to crew in a Wayfarer Worlds.  Dad’s energy levels wouldn’t allow us to sail all the races, but this “father/son” experience was fantastic and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.  Dad is gone now but it was he that introduced me to sailing when I was just old enough to be able to decide between going to Sunday school or go sailing.  The fact that he needed a crew for Sunday morning races helped the decision process.

Sailing History:
Dad raced a home-built International 14 in the ‘60s, mainly against the Trout Lake Wayfarer fleet (a fleet lead by Don Rumble, the CWA’s first honorary Commodore and a good friend of my Dad from sailing and skiing).  From the age of about 8 to 14 I would crew for my Dad.  Later, he acquired a larger boat for cruising and my sailing “career” went into a hiatus for about 20 years as I progressed through high school, college and into my working life.

In the mid-80s, when my son was about 10, I purchased a Laser 2 and had a lot of fun with that for about 6 years.  That Laser 2 was replaced in 1992 with my first Wayfarer #2178 Nip ‘n Tuck (later renamed Windshaker).  W2178 made three appearances at Killbear rallies.  In the mid-90s, a Laser 1 also made its way to our place on Trout Lake in North Bay which I still keep for fun larking about on a really windy day.

I re-captured the racing bug in 2003 when I crewed for those in need at the Wayfarer North Americans and at the Wayfarer invitational at Tawas Bay, Michigan.  Those experiences inspired me to locate and re-build W282 Banshee, a boat that had been brought from England to Canada in the spring of 1960.   I wanted her for the Worlds in 2004 and, in reality, I only finished the work a month before the Worlds.  Banshee has been the “go to” boat for me from 2004 through to 2011.  Then along came the opportunity to acquire W10865, which we have named Beowulf.

My whole career has been in the mining industry, taking me to more than 40 countries around the world.  My role in recent years has been that of a senior executive involved primarily with our company’s international business units.  At the present time, my work is focussed on South America, with projects in Chile and Argentina.  We are living in in the foothills of the Andes in the community of Lo Barnechea, a suburb of Santiago.

I have been a skier since the day I was born.  There was no choice - my grandfather gave me skis as a present the day I was born.  Winters were spent on the ski hills and I still love to ski.  I am a CSIA Level 3 ski Instructor and race coach and was a technical director of a ski school for more than 10 years.