I grew up in the Netherlands, on the water.

Sailing on a lake where curiosity mattered more than results. That early environment created something lasting. A connection with movement, weather, and the discipline of reading conditions rather than fighting them.

Offshore and ocean racing came later. Long distance sailing leaves little room for error or ego. You learn that performance depends on trust, clear roles, and calm decisions when conditions change quickly. In 2003 my team won our class in the Transat Cape to Rio. In 2006 we won the race overall in 16 days, on a yacht I had built myself. That record still stands.

From racing, building became a natural step. Sailing teaches you what works. Building teaches you why. Materials, structure and reliability stopped being theory and became realities tested at sea.

Working with advanced materials raised a different set of questions. Performance alone was no longer enough. The ecological damage hidden behind many composites, from landfill waste to glass fibre pollution across sectors such as wind energy and marine, could no longer be ignored. That concern led to the development of DANU™, a patented recyclable composite technology designed to replace waste with value through sustainable, circular material loops. A response to what I had witnessed firsthand.

Everything that followed grew from that sequence. Practice, adaptation, and decisions made in real conditions.