Introducing your Skipper – Nicole Livingstone Smith

 

I have always been passionate about sailing having started out aged 5 with my Mirror dingy on Ullswater in the Lake District. We lived in London but had a house in the Lakes and every holiday would head up there and spend the summer playing with boats. At University I sailed for the team until the lake froze over and we would have to give up. In the summers, I would often join the parents of friends cruising round the Scottish Isles, seeing otters, whales and other wildlife, which still remains a passion to this day. After a particularly hairy university sailing trip in the Western Isles where the confidence of youth = stupidity I became very mindful of what the seas can throw at you. Force 10 in Scotland on a yacht is an interesting place to be!

 

These experiences and the many following years spent sailing in the UK, as well as in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, have allowed me to become the skipper I am today. 

 

I started yacht ownership through Sunsail in 2009 and launched ‘Singles Sailing Holidays’, as it was known then, to find other like-minded souls to sail and share my love of sailing with. I am supported by my partner, Simon Palmer, as lead crew.

 

We spent 6-8 weeks a year sailing in Greece, Croatia and Turkey. Fethiye finally became my base when the Sunsail contract ended.

 

Last year, I sold my faithful boat ‘Swallow’ and bought ‘Zulu’ and, at the same time, made the move to be based in Gouvia Marina in Corfu.

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