About the Solent Boat Butler

I was lucky to be born into a sailing family and have loved being in and around the water all my life; a passion inherited from my father and shared with my sister and I. From a young age we were always messing about in boats with family and friends; sailing dinghies and the family Contessa 32 in the summer and helping with maintenance in the winter.

After completing both a BSc and Masters degree in IT at the Univerty of Portsmouth (because it was close to the sea!), I worked in the corporate world in various sales and marketing roles with the ubiquitous company cars and other trappings of that life but my heart was always elsewhere. In my personal time I was competitively racing, cruising and maintaining my boat, building sailing dinghies, helping friends and family with the maintenance of their boats and trying to pass on my passion to my kids (or anyone else that was interested). Eventually, I became sick of the corporate world and took the plunge to follow my passion professionally by helping people get the best out of their boats… the Solent Boat Butler was born in 2017!

I still manage to get out cruising and racing as much life allows. I’ve done some interesting cruises (including crossing the Atlantic three times, once single-handed), raced to the Azores and back and done deliveries in the Med and down the European Atlantic coast. I still race both single-handed and with friends; in 2024, I managed to race my "floating bungalow" (Westerly Sealord 39) to a respectable 3rd IRC Overall in the Solo Round the Islance race which was pleasing as it's a race I have previously won overall in my IRC optimised Contessa 32.