Paul retired early from his academic job so as to be able to spend more time on sailing and related activities.

He started sailing in the early eighties and the hobby turned into a passion soon after.    He enjoys not just the pleasure of sailing, but also the science behind the sport, and the technical aspects involved in maintenance and repairs.    He gradually up-sized from a small self-build dinghy (Mirror) to the currently owned Catalina 387.   Needless to say, he does all maintenance work on the boat himself, as, as he states, 'in that way I know my boat in and out and there will be hardly surprises when on the water'.
He holds a Dutch certificate for offshore and inland waters, the International Certificate of Competence (ICC) and is a RYA/MCA certified offshore Yacht master. He has logged more than 40.000 miles in his sailing career, of which more than half in the regional waters. From 2003 to 2006 he conducted sailing classes for the American Sailing Association (ASA) from competent crew up to coastal skipper level.
He now conducts personalized sailing clinics for those interested in improving their sailing skills and/or exploring finer points of sailing such as boat & engine maintenance, navigation skills and preparation of healthy yet delicious victuals (he is a retired university professor in Human Nutrition).

When Mabel got to know Paul her experience with water sports dated from her secondary school years when she was canoeing in Singapore waters. Her first sailing experience was in Netherlands in beautiful sunny weather and a nice 10 to 15 knots breeze. It was comfortable. Apart from getting used to the sailing, she also discovered Paul's favorite beer and learned to enjoy the strong (8.5%) brew. A few months later she got to know the maintenance part of boating. It was spring and the boat needed a good scrub and a new layer of anti fouling. On her next sailing trip in summer 1998 she experienced near gale force wind (30 knots) on the IJsselmeer in Netherlands on the way from Stavoren to Lelystad. It was a rather comfortable course and under reefed head sail alone she steered a surfing boat through the water as a ‘professional’, reaching Lelystad (the home marina) in record time.
From 2000 onwards when we sailed in Singapore on Mei Poh I (the Sun Odyssey 33) we seriously trained as a team, and Paul taught her all the skills and tricks. Mabel is a qualified coastal skipper now.

Most of the times we sail as a couple, and on the many long and overnight passages we have made in the past years, we have proven to be a good team, each of us with her/his own strengths: boat maintenance and technical aspects are Paul's forte, while Mabel specializes on victualing and preparing delicious meals from hardly any ingredients. Or so say it differently, Paul catches the fish, and Mabel cooks it.