Crew Profiles:
Grant and Tara’s love of the ocean, sailing and discovering new places is infectious. They are both certified and experienced Yacht Master Skippers with over 35,000 combined nautical miles logged. Over the past 2 years they completed over 80 weeks of charter as captain and chef, sailing catamarans throughout the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Tara is a gifted chef and dive instructor and enjoys sharing both of these skills with guests. They met three years ago in South Africa while attending the Ocean Sailing Academy. In early 2008, the opportunity presented itself to crew on a luxury catamaran and they have been together ever since. In addition to their significant sailing, diving and hospitality experience, their warm, outdoorsy and fun personalities as well as welcoming manner make them a delight for charter guests to spend time with, aboard the Luxury Catamaran Swish.
Grant was born in South Africa and grew up in Botswana, before moving back to Cape Town. He has been sailing the unpredictable African wild coast from a young age with his family. Shortly after finishing high school he moved to the United Kingdom to study Software Engineering. After years of study and part time racing sailing yachts on the south coast of UK, Grant decided that a 9 to 5 job wasn’t for him and so pursued a career in the yachting industry. He holds a Sailing Yacht Master Certification. He has sailed the coasts of South Africa, the U.K., the Caribbean island chain and the USVIs and BVIs. Grant’s technical and computer (software diploma) skills contribute to his expert seamanship as well as in-depth understanding of the varied mechanical, electrical and digital systems aboard Swish. Grant’s open water diving qualification helps Tara’s diving stewardship as a Master Diver and Scuba Dive Instructor.
Tara was born in Victoria, Australia in the outback countryside. From a young age she loved the water and working with animals. While training and competing in the equestrian industry, she also excelled in national swimming competitions. The love of animals and swimming brought her to the ocean to discover more about marine life and so pursued a career as a scuba diving instructor, working the islands of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Scuba diving opened the doorway for her into the yachting industry. Her first step was getting a powerboat license. Next she became a crewmember on Super Yachts in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, working her way up to assistant chef on a 41 Meter mega yacht. Finally she earned her Yacht Master license. In addition to working on yachts in the Mediterranean, the Bahamas and the Caribbean islands, Tara was also part of two Atlantic crossings. She is happy to be back in the BVIs with her life partner, Grant. She looks forward to putting her culinary skills to work for guests aboard Swish.
Grant and Tara’s vast experiences combined in sailing, dive instruction, world travel and gourmet cooking (and lets not forget the best BBQ’s ‘Braai’s’ in the world), blended with the warm hospitality of the Safa’s and the Aussies, will guarantee you the vacation of a lifetime, every time, aboard the Luxury Catamaran SWISH. |
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