The Crew

Having only lived one year of her life in a house, Laura’s first nature are boats and water. At the age of 14 she set off on a journey to sail solo around the world, which she successfully completed at age 16 making her the youngest person to ever complete such a voyage. Besides the ocean and sailing Laura loves sharing her experiences and passions especially with the new generation. Having lead several youth camps, hikes and sailing lessons, the idea slowly evolved to set up the Laura Dekker World Sailing Foundation. She welcomes new challenges openly and jumps on any adventure (land or sea based) she can get. In her quiet time Laura enjoys reading, playing the guitar and her beloved violin which she has dragged around the world several times

Aged 11 Sander decided he wanted to have a mini 6.50. A little boat, but very fast and seaworthy making them extremely expensive. Nevertheless, this didn't stop him, at the age of 17 the drawings for his own boat were ready and he successfully build his own prototype mini 6.50. He now works as a professional boat builder, sails as much as possible and of course still loves to jump on every big challenge that comes along.

Tim is Laura and Sander's oldest child, and the youngest crew member, he doesn’t hesitate to tell our new trainees how to furl the genua or raise the sails. He loves watching the birds and sea-life and watching the moon and stars in the rare circumstances we leave him up late enough to see it. He creates a big part of the entertainment onboard and likes to ‘’help’’ in whatever duties need to happen. Furthermore, he enjoys swimming, music and dancing and building things from lego.

Laura and Sander's youngest child, sailed 12,000 Nautical miles + 10,000 nautical miles in mommy’s belly and was born onboard Guppy. He doesn’t know anything other than boat life and is curious and learning about any and everything. Annoying his older brother is high on his list but throwing things overboard to see how fast we can turn around to pick it up may be even more of a favourite. Alex is a happy, cheeky and lively little boy who loves the outdoors.

Lucas has been sailing since he was a baby on his parent's boat. At 7 he started sailing alone in dinghies, going from optimist to competitive racing in the laser. At 14 he joined us on an Atlantic Ocean crossing. since then he has always tried to combine school and sailing in such a way as to sail as much as possible. After the crossing onboard Guppy, he started sailing offshore races on a volvo open 60 and has now logged over 10,000nm.

Oliver is another one of our Atlantic Roundtrip Trip students, having sailed with us for 6 months didn't seem enough so he signed up as crew. This time into the cold and remote places or the north. With his witty jokes, happy smiles and positive attitude Oliver is always sure to bring a smile to your face. He is always ready to help and learn more about everyone and anything.

Pia has been an active member at the DLRG ( German Life Guard Association) for many years, now teaching the younger kids to swim and teaching them safety in and around the water. She spends most of her holidays doing volunteer work with children or sailing. Her love of sailing made her join one of our Atlantic Trip voyages , consequently, Pia has clocked a fair amount of miles onboard Guppy, which only got more as she has been crewing for us on our summer trips in 2022, 2023 en again in 2024 :) She is excited to come on board again to share her great energy, knowledge of sailing and adventures with the children.

Annabelle has been sailing since the age of 8 in various destinations around Europe. In 2020 she's been part of the first teenage group to cross the Atlantic Ocean onboard Guppy. Now she has just returned from her own Atlantic Roundtrip on her fathers sailboat. Annabelle has logged about 17,000 nm by the age of 19.