In 1986 I started my apprenticeship for the position of Vehicle technician for Vauxhalls in UK, I had a 4 yr. apprenticeship and made my way to work shop foreman, but then decided to go on an adventure in the Caribbean, this was now Oct 2001.

After Living on 2 difference sailing boats in the Caribbean, sailing from Trinidad to Panama City, via the Panama Canal, this is wear I discovered that there is a super yacht industry, so I embraced it and moved to the south of France to find a job on super yachts.

I found my first engineering job straight away on a small 30 meter yacht on the Côte d’Azur, Antibes to be exact ,and sailed everywhere from Gibraltar to Greece and Venice, on varying in sizes from 30m- 50 meter motor and sailing yachts.

In 2002 I met my wife Manuela, she was a stewardess on the yacht next door and got married and started a family, Elisa was born in 2005 and Chloe in 2008. This is what prompted me to start my own engineering company and to go land based so I could spend more time with my family rather than being away for months on end.

I decided to Created my own engineering company here on the cote d’Azur, called Ensign Marine Engineering, it was hard work finding clients but finally after lots of doc walking the clients started to call, and the team started to grow along with our facilities, a nice big 400m2 purpose built workshop. Now we carry out anything from engine overhauls, fabrication to major refits., to storage of chase boats and all the other water toys.

We are a team of four at the moment and hope soon my oldest daughter will join us to carry on the boat sales side of the business, which has been getting better year on year. This new venture with the Catamaran Company is great timing and will slot in well with Ensign Marine Engineering sales and service, being here for 20 years has put me in a great position to find buyers, sellers, surveyors, berths and of course any engineering services.

At the weekend, I relax by Snow boarding in the mountains just behind where I live, Medieval Archery with local archery clubs, Scuba diving and water skiing, the Mediterranean is just a stones throw away.

Holiday’s normally consist of chartering a sailing yacht, normally a 34-40 ft mono hull, with the family and sail from South of France to Balearics, Corsica and Croatia. Probably my favorite sailing holiday was on an 50ft Catamaran, we sailed from St Tropez to Corsica and back, taking two weeks so no hurry, this was with two other families from my wife side, twelve people in total, plus my youngest was only 18 months old, which was challenging.

I am sure with all my experiences and skills I will be able to guide any new and seasoned sailor through the process of owning and cruising there yacht in the Mediterranean.