First of all, a brief introduction
Hi, I’m Camilla! I’ve been sailing since I was little and have my Dad to thank for my love of boats. I was born in 1978 in southern England and spent the first few years aboard my parents Moody 40 sailing the Greek Islands. I sailed on and off since then but it wasn’t until I moved to Amsterdam in 2010 (for work) and met Tom that my passion for being on the water was re-kindled. Back in the real world, I’m a Product Manager and have been lucky enough to work for some great companies including Symbian, TomTom, Nokia, eBay and Schibsted in London, Amsterdam and Barcelona.
Hello, I’m Tom! I was born in Leipzig in 1977 and grew up in land-locked Eastern Germany and although I’d never stepped foot on a yacht, I’d been a budding kite surfer for many years. My yacht virginity was finally taken whilst living in Amsterdam, where I also moved to work in 2008. When on land I’m in software engineering, having lead development teams at TomTom, Amazon, Frog and most recently I was VP Engineering at Typeform in Barcelona.
About Bon Bini
Bini, as she is affectionately known, is a Dufour 36 Classic (Cruising edition) born in 2002 and raised in the lovely fresh water of The Netherlands. We bought her from her first owner in 2015 and were amazed about what good condition she was in. She’s the owners version sporting a pullmans forepeak (with the bed offset to port and a little sofa to starboard), a galley which runs lengthways down the starboard side, one head and a sizeable aft cabin. If you want to know what else she has, and the upgrades we’ve made then drop us a note 🙂
How it all started
It was one afternoon in Amsterdam when we were on the lookout for something interesting to do when Camilla said: “How’s about we go sailing?”. She’d sailed as a child and on and off since then, but for me (Tom), having never sailed before I was wondering what the big deal was. And to be completely honest I was also a bit scared having been terribly seasick before and I was not looking forward to experiencing that dreadful feeling again. We signed up with Waypoint, an RYA sailing school in Amsterdam and had the most amazing sailing weekend ever. Looking back, it was this weekend that got me addicted to water and winds.
Selling up and going sailing
It’s one thing dreaming about quitting jobs and going sailing, but the reality of doing it is quite another. It took us a few years of planning and saving but finally on the 7th June 2018 we said a fond farewell to our jobs, colleagues and friends in Barcelona and set sail for Mallorca, the start of our big adventure.
With our first fantastic season behind us we were settled in our winter marina, but wondering what to do for the next 6 months. Even though relaxing and drinking prosecco on the boat sounded incredibly tempting we decided to take the opportunity to work for 6 months. We both found contract jobs, Tom in Warrington (northern England) and me in London which not only helped fill up the sailing kitty, but its also made us truly appreciate being out of the office back on the boat!
Our sailing experience so far
- 2022
- September: Transatlantic, Iceland to Canada onboard Osprey (82ft Grand Mistral) – 12 days, 2,000 NM
- 2020
- July: Barcelona to Marbella, accompanying our house move
- 2019
- 850NM from Italy through to the Cyclades (as of June so far 🙂 )
- RYA First Aid course.
- 2018
- June to October cruising the Western Mediterranean (2,000 NM). We visited Mallorca, Menorca, Sardinia, Corsica, Italy, Tuscan Islands, Aeolian Islands and wintered in Marina di Ragusa (Sicily).
- 2017
- Rolex Fastnet Campaign. We competed in the RORC Myth of Malham (60NM), RORC Morgan Cup (230NM), RORC St Malo (290NM), RORC Channel Race (275NM) then the Rolex Fastnet (740NM).
- RYA Yachmaster shorebased exam
- 2016
- Moved Bon Bini to Barcelona in April (over land) and sailed up and down the coast of the Baleraic Sea with a 2 week holiday in the Costa Brava.
- 2015
- RYA Coastal Skipper, shore-based exam then the practical in the Canaries (Tenerife).
- Bought Bon Bini in August! Competed in the Delta Lloyd 24 hour race, and had various wet and windy outings on the Markermeer and the North Sea.
- RYA Boat Handling course on the Solent.
- One week flotilla in Argolic Gulf, visiting Poros, Epidavros, Angistri, Egina, Methina and Vathi.
- Chartered a Gib Sea 33 and a Bavaria 37 in the Netherlands.
- 2014
- RYA Day Skipper, shore-based exam then the practical in the Canaries (Tenerife).
- One week flotilla in Saronic Gulf, visiting Poros, Ermioni, Plaka, Navplion, Tiros and Dokos.
- Various trips with Waypoint Amsterdam on the Markermeer.
- 2013
- RYA Competent Crew
- Various trips with Waypoint Amsterdam on the Markermeer.
- 5 – 7 July, our first RYA Discover Yachting Course!