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Andy Dowden: Author
Andy is a British yachstman who left the UK in 1981 aboard his own 46 ft sloop to cruise the world. He arrived in Thailand for the first time in 1984 after several years of cruising South East Asia.
In 1989 he set up a yacht services and boat building company in Phuket Island. He is the author of many cruising guides and notes on the local waters; much of Andaman Sea |
Pilot is based on his 24 years of cruising the waters of east and west Thailand and Malaysia.
Still very much involved in the yachting industry, he is involved in the organisation of three of Thailand’s regattas, and the annual International Boat Show in Phuket. Andy lives in Phuket with his Thai wife and family. |
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Paul Johnson: Andaman Islands, Mergui Archipelago, charts and photography
Paul grew up in central Africa then worked as a specialist consultant engineer in London. At 30, he ‘retired’, bought a 65ft yacht and started a luxury charter operation in South East Asia. His speciality is remote area charters in the Mergui Archipelago and Andaman Islands. He has built up a wealth of knowledge of these areas. |
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| Paul’s yacht was chartered by the UNDP for their coral reef survey of the Andaman Islands in 2001, during which, three new species of coral were discovered and the Andaman Islands were declared a World Heritage Site. Paul is committed to helping to protect the Andaman Sea ecology. He has several internationally published articles on the Mergui Archipelago and the Andamans. You can contact Paul by email: paul@boat-yacht-charters.com |
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Captain Bernard Berteau: Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand
Captain Bernard is a French national from Bordeaux. He trained in the French Navy and lived in New Caledonia for many years before sailing to Phuket in 1985.
He worked for four years as the captain of the Junk Suwan Macha, which was the first charter vessel in Phuket, before joining Amancruises in 1989 as their chief engineer. |
He has been instrumental in their development as the premier luxury yacht charter company in Asia.
Bernard has provided much of the detail in this publication on the waters of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. He has a son and lives on Bang Tao Beach. |
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Ian Hewitt: Langkawi & Koh Samui
Ian first came to Phuket on a brief visit in 1993 when backpacking through Asia. He returned and stayed for a year in 1996 to work as a scuba diving instructor at various sites from the Surin Islands in the North to Hin Daeng in the South.
In 1999 he joined Sunsail and, after a variety of positions in the Med, UK and Canaries he moved to Langkaw in 2002 to take up the position of |
| base manager. In 2004 he moved to the Phuket base. He has a Thai wife, and a young son. |
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Grenville Fordham: Editing, design, layout and project management
British-born Grenville is managing director of Andaman Sea Pilot publishers, IMAGE asia – a Phuket company he formed in 2000.
His career spans hotel management, international sales & marketing, property development and, since moving to Thailand in 1995, media and publishing. |
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An established international freelance writer, he has been editor of two national magazines and now publishes information-based guides and magazines on different aspects of Thailand.
On moving to Phuket in 1998, he discovered boats… an accident that led to IMAGE asia inaugurating the Phuket Boatshow, Phuket Raceweek and running the 2007 Koh Samui Regatta. |
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Bill O’Leary: Author
Bill, an Australian USL code professional mariner, arrived in Thailand as crew on the renowned racer-cruiser, Stormvogel, in 1987.
He joined Adrian Zecha’s Amanresorts as the General Manager of their luxury powerboat operating company, Amancruises, and has overseen growth from three boats to over 20 luxury vessels. |
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His knowledge of the locations described in this guide is based on 20 years top end chartering in the islands. A keen fibreglass boat builder, Bill produces the Steppa range of commercial vessels.
Married to Carolyn, they share a Thai house with 4 bi-lingual kids near Surin Beach where he claims the life of Reilly. The Phuket O’Learys have called Thailand home for so long they recently applied for Thai Citizenship. |
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Captain Ed Shiels: East Malaysia and photography
Captain Ed’s maritime career began at 15 when he joined the Royal Australian Navy. He has vast experience, from charter work, diving, passenger vessels to film industry. Ed is a dual certified Master Mariner with Australian USL and British MCA Qualifications.
He is captain of a private luxury Expeditionary Motor Yacht, cruising |
| the equatorial belt of the world. He has spent the last 4 years in Southeast Asian waters diving and exploring some of the remotest reefs and islands in the region. He has cruised the Andaman Islands, Mergui Archipelago, Thailand, Malaysia and Borneo, giving him the opportunity to indulge his passion of under and above water photography. Captain Edward K Shiels, M.Y. Newcastle Explorer, +87 1762 8888 72 |
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Morgan Hayes: Vietnam, Koh Samui and Langkawi
Morgan had worked for Sunsail for over 10 years in various destinations around the world before coming to join their Asia operation in 2003.
After teaching in Sunsail’s RYA sailing school in Phuket for a year, he moved south to run their Langkawi base. Since 2005, he has sailed extensively around the Malay peninsula, Koh Samui and Vietnam, |
| running Sunsail’s new bases in these areas and discovering new anchorages. While having no fixed address, he can often be found at the bar at most of Asia’s sailing regattas. |
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Captain Jimmy Blee: Darwin, Indonesia and Singapore
Originally hailing from the Queensland East coast, Captain Jimmy Blee arrived in Thailand in 1989 to help his long time friend Bill O’Leary set up Amancruises in Phuket.
He moved down to Indonesian waters in 1994, establishing a luxury marine operations base on a remote island near Komodo. |
He has sailed extensively the waterways of Indonesia particularly the Eastern islands, operating many of his own charter vessels. He has lead several expedition-style cruises and other long-range charter adventure trips for the rich and famous to all locations covered in and beyond this guide.
He now runs his own marine consultancy, boat building, sales and repair company, East Indonesia Marine & Charter, (etindmar) on the island of Lombok. Jimmy is a legend in Southeast Asian luxury charter circles. He continues to ply the remote Indonesian archipelago, enjoying the friendly Indonesian lifestyle with his wife and three kids. For information regarding cruising in Indonesia contact Jimmy direct at jj_indoman@etindmar.com |
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Bianca Hein & Scott Neuman: Piracy article
Bianca is a sailor with more than 10 years of experience writing and producing for print, television, radio, and business based growth initiatives – that serve as the foundation for her full appreciation of the craft of writing. Scott, also a sailor, is a |
| professional journalist and currently works as an editor at the Associated Press. |
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