Charter Yacht Astral Music - Meet the Crew
When taking a crewed charter yacht, the success of your sailing holiday is affected as much by the crew as by the location, wind, weather, food and wine put together. In the circumstances, we felt it would be better to get other people to write this bit.
John and Louise
John and Louise met in Gocek in 1997 when John was taking a sabbatical and Louise was delivering a yacht. A shared love of Turkey and sailing (and each other) saw them married within a year.
In 2002, they sold their house in London and moved to Gocek to live their dream.
John Helliwell - Skipper
Born in Yorkshire in 1953, John spent over 20 years in South Africa, living in and around Cape Town from the age of 9 years old. He studied Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and returned to England at the age of 30 where he spent 15 years in the computer business which included working as a salesman for such well known companies as Memorex, EMC and Hitachi.
John started sailing around "The Cape of Storms" at the age of 12 and much of his early experience was gained on an old, winchless gaff rigged ketch skippered by a Sergeant Major in the South African army. He is qualified as RYA Yachtmaster and has over 20,000 miles experience sailing in the waters of South Africa, The British Isles, France, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Greece and, of course, Turkey. Astral Music is John's 4th boat.
In addition to everything to do with boats, John's interests include cooking, good wines, Rugby and Formula One motor racing.
John is personable and easygoing and is a good raconteur with a fund of stories to tell on a wide range of subjects. He makes it a matter of personal pride to see that his guests enjoy themselves.
Louise Helliwell - Hostess
Born in 1962 in Emsworth on the South Coast of England, Louise moved to London in 1980 where she trained as a nurse. After traveling in Asia, she returned to study psychiatric nursing and qualified as a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist in 1990. She has since gained Masters Degrees in Health Psychology and in Business Administration. Before leaving London, she had her own practice specialising in problem solving and stress and conflict management. Fortunately, these skills are not in much demand on a sailing holiday.
She started sailing dinghies aged 11 and continued to sail and race until her move to London. After that, she was much in demand as weekend and holiday crew for "big boat" racing and cross channel trips to The Channel Islands, Brittany and Northern Spain, and the occasional yacht delivery.
Her responsibilities on board include the itinerary and passage planning, provision planning and stocking the boat, tour advice and crew responsibilities when guests just want to relax.
Her interests include walking, reading, sewing and Turkish language, culture and travel.
For more information, contact John & Louise Helliwell, or call us on (+90) 536 720 0392 or you can use the Enquiry/Booking form.
|
