Skipperaris says

My first sailing experience was when I was 14 and joined the Greek Royal Sailing Club as it was known then. This was the beginning. We went out in groups on Lightning dinghies and learnt the essentials of setting sail, sail trim, helmsmanship and all the basic maneuvers like tacking and gybing. Every outing seemed to us like a long journey that we did not want to finish. We got back exhausted but eager for the next one.

After school came university and then work as it happens to some people. Sailing was limited. There was a long time of amateur sailing and boat building since then. This included racing and teaching sailing to children and adults at my sailing club.

In between I was a Mechanical Engineer, a control engineer and many other 'normal' professional identities with sailing as a hobby.

Later on, as a teacher with long summer holidays, I found out that what I loved could also be my job. Since then I have worked for almost 20 years as a professional skipper, taking people on sailing trips. They form my client base of today.

Many are friends from all over the world, and we keep in regular contact.

I like sailing and I like people. I feel very fortunate to have both in my daily work, in my life at sea which is the last free place on earth for dolphins, sea gulls and people with a free spirit.

How am I related to the sea? Everyone is related to the sea. The greater part of our bodies is fluid, almost exactly the same composition as sea water. A living memory of our evolutionary past, according to biologists, a demonstration of our affinity to the water of the oceans which cover the greater part of our planet. Through my work, which is also a way of life, my relation to the sea is a little closer than for most people.

This is where I spend my days afloat, sailing and working as a yacht skipper.

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