Rich and Sam look forward to welcoming you aboard Aurora and showing you some of the world’s best cruising grounds.

Highly experienced, they have worked together as a professional captain and chef team on a variety of charter and private yachts throughout the waters of the Caribbean, New England, Mediterranean, New Zealand, and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North and Central America.  They have also crossed the Atlantic and sailed from Alaska to New England via the Panama Canal.

Rich holds a commercially endorsed RYA Yachtmaster Offshore license, and his qualifications extend well beyond official certifications.  He has accumulated more than 55,000 sea miles, and has sailed nearly half of those single-handed, including a 3,000-mile, 28-day, non-stop passage from Japan to Alaska, taking in the Aleutian Islands and the Bering Sea.

Born and raised in England, Rich is a PADI diver, dedicated surfer, and a British Surfing Association-qualified instructor who traveled far and wide in search of the perfect wave.  While on one of his quests, he turned to sailing as a way to reach remote and uncrowded beaches.  With no experience under sail, he bought a yacht during a surfing expedition through Australia and, within a year, had taught himself to sail and was headed out into the Pacific with his surfboards strapped on deck.  He has drawn on his wealth of adventures to write many feature articles for major sailing magazines on both sides of the Atlantic, and he is now working on the final draft of a book about his experiences.

When friends asked Rich to legally marry them on board, he became an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church, so if you’re considering a combination wedding and honeymoon, look no further than Aurora and Rich.

Sam was enticed away from Britain and corporate life by Rich while he was on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.  A complete novice to sailing, she joined him on his yacht and her baptism by fire quickly ensued.  After only a few weeks of coast hopping southward, they set off on a 1,300-mile, non-stop passage to the Galapagos Islands.

Prior to embarking on her life afloat, Scots-born Sam used her B.A. in Commerce as a marketing manager, initially in the computer industry.  After joining a tropical plantscaping company, she became known as “Samta” when she headed up a department specializing in the design and installation of Christmas displays for shopping malls and hotels, and went on to win two international awards for her work.  The same artistic flair, imagination, and organization skills that she brought to those assignments now enhance her enthusiasm for looking after her guests on board Aurora.

With more than 30,000 sea miles and visits to hundreds of ports of call in over 25 countries under her belt, Sam has developed a diverse and creative cooking repertoire that features a broad selection of dishes redolent with the flavors of the world and was recently featured in Gourment magazine.  Wherever she has sailed, she has sought out the local gastronomes and complemented her natural zest in the galley with classes in epicurean institutes from New England to New Zealand.

Sam also has a voracious appetite for games and used to be a Question Mistress in a pub Quiz league.  For her, every day presents the opportunity to design fresh new recipes for her guests - and to try and surpass her formidable best-ever Scrabble score.

Together, as they have done for countless guests – including heads of state, Sam and Rich will ensure that your time aboard Aurora provides you with memories you’ll treasure forever.