Robert – Sailing The Strait
My name is Robert and I was born on 20 August 1969 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
I discovered sailing as a child. Growing up near several lakes, I learned to sail on the family’s Laser dinghy, and by the age of eight I was already spending as much time on the water as possible.
As a teenager, my interest shifted from small boats to yacht sailing. At eighteen I began chartering larger sailing yachts with friends and started dreaming about long-distance cruising and sailing around the world.
From Amsterdam to the Atlantic
In 2004, at the age of 34, I moved to Estepona on Spain’s Costa del Sol and bought the yacht that I still use today for Sailing The Strait. I chose Estepona because it offers year-round sailing and direct access to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Atlantic and Mediterranean meet.
More than two decades later, the same yacht continues to take guests sailing along the Andalusian coast, to Gibraltar, Ceuta, and Morocco.
In 2011 and again in 2012 I crossed the Atlantic Ocean. The first voyage took me from Spain to Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela (approximately 4,000 nautical miles). The second crossing ended in Saint Lucia in the Caribbean (around 3,000 nautical miles). These passages gave me valuable offshore experience and confirmed my passion for long-distance sailing.
Including my Atlantic crossings and more than twenty years sailing from Estepona, I have sailed well over 30,000 nautical miles.
Qualifications and experience
I hold the Spanish Capitán de Yate qualification, the highest recreational sailing licence in Spain.
However, I value practical experience at sea even more highly. I have been sailing since childhood, have owned and maintained my own yacht since 2004, and have completed two Atlantic crossings. I have also spent more than twenty years sailing the waters around Estepona and the Strait of Gibraltar.
The yacht
I sail a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 37.1, French-built in 1994.
I bought the yacht when I moved to Estepona in 2004, and she is still the same boat I use today for my charters. Over the years I have continuously maintained and improved her to ensure she remains safe, comfortable, and reliable.
The Sun Odyssey 37.1 is known for its balanced sailing performance, seaworthiness, and comfortable cockpit. It is a true sailing yacht designed to travel under sail.
Why this charter is different
The experience is defined by the yacht and how it is used.
The cockpit is the central social area of the boat, where guests sit comfortably around the table with 360-degree visibility. From here, you can watch the coastline, look for dolphins, and enjoy sailing without needing to move around the boat.
On many catamarans or motor boats, the best views are from the front nets or foredeck, where guests are separated from the skipper. On my yacht, guests and skipper share the same space.
This creates a more personal experience. While sailing, I can interact with guests, explain how the yacht works, share stories from my Atlantic crossings, and talk about life at sea.
Most importantly, this is real sailing. Whenever conditions allow, we sail. Guests are welcome to take the helm, help hoist the sails, or simply relax and enjoy the journey. No experience is required.
Sailing routes
Two-day trip to Ceuta
A crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar to Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa.
Ceuta is a clean and interesting coastal city where guests can explore, walk through town, and enjoy dinner ashore. The passage itself offers a unique sailing experience through one of the most dynamic maritime areas in the world.
Three-day trip to Morocco
A longer passage to the Moroccan port of Smir.
From there, guests can travel inland to visit Tetouan and the blue city of Chefchaouen. This route offers a mix of sailing, culture, and exploration beyond the ordinary.
The itinerary is designed around the prevailing winds in the Strait of Gibraltar, which are typically either easterly (Levante) or westerly (Poniente), making both southbound and return passages by sail logical and enjoyable.
Wildlife
During sailing trips along the Costa del Sol and through the Strait of Gibraltar, it is common to encounter marine wildlife, including:
- Bottlenose dolphins
- Common dolphins
- Sea turtles
- Ocean sunfish (Mola mola)
Sightings cannot be guaranteed, but dolphins are frequently seen in this area due to the rich marine ecosystem where the Atlantic and Mediterranean meet.
In fact, some of the best days for spotting dolphins are often light-wind or windless days. When the sea is calm, the surface becomes much flatter and visibility improves significantly, making it easier to see dolphins from a greater distance.
In addition, there is an active local network of skippers and charter boats who share sightings with each other in real time. This informal communication helps increase the chances of encountering dolphin groups during a trip, although nature always remains unpredictable.
Common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins are the species most frequently observed in this area.
What is Sailing The Strait?
Sailing The Strait began with a simple idea: to offer something small, personal, and genuinely focused on sailing rather than mass tourism.
Over time, it developed naturally into a more complete sailing experience—defined not by what is typical in the charter industry, but by what is often missing from it.
Today, Sailing The Strait offers private sailing trips that focus on real sailing whenever conditions allow, rather than relying on engine-based cruising. Guests are invited to actively participate, whether that means taking the helm, helping with the sails, or simply enjoying the journey.
A key part of the experience is life on board around a shared cockpit table, where guests and skipper sit together with full 360-degree visibility of the sea and coastline. Food, drinks, and conversation are part of the sailing experience, not separate from it.
The offer also extends beyond local day trips to include multi-day passages across the Strait of Gibraltar to destinations such as Ceuta and Morocco. These trips combine sailing, navigation, and cultural exploration, making use of the prevailing winds to create natural sailing routes south and north.
In essence, Sailing The Strait is designed to be the opposite of standard “boat tours”: it is a hands-on, personal sailing experience built around wind, sea, and shared time on the water.