Telling stories that shape the marine industry.
I’m a yachting journalist and former professional skipper. Alongside my journalism, I work with marine businesses to shape clear, strategic narratives that define who they are and why they matter.
My writing appears in BOAT International, Yachting World and Yachting Monthly, where I spent a year as Sailing Editor. I continue to report across the industry and write a regular column for Yachting World.
I also run the English Logbook Company, a small but deliberate marine brand built around craft, quality and a strong sense of story.
“all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from whence we came”
President Kennedy’s Remarks at the Dinner for the America's Cup Crews, September 14th 1962
Back to the sea.
Back from whence we came.
President Kennedy captured something essential about the marine world.
People who love being on the water rarely stop thinking about it.
The marine industry exists because of that instinct. The products and services it produces are, in one way or another, a way back to the water.
The strongest brands recognise this.They articulate what it means, and where they sit within that relationship.
That understanding sits at the centre of how I think about narrative.
Background
Westminster. An unconventional beginning.
My career began, a little unusually, in Westminster at the House of Commons, where I wrote speeches, shaped campaigns, and learned the craft of delivering a compelling message.
English Logbooks — craft, story, and a brand that carries itself
In 2018 I founded English Logbooks as a deliberate experiment: what happens when you make an uncompromising product, pair it with a clear story, and let it find its people without advertising?
Bringing it all together
Alongside journalism, I now work with marine businesses to put story at the centre — shaping narrative and positioning, then carrying it out into the world clearly and consistently.
To sea - adventure, a lot of travel and first bylines
I went to sea in search of adventure and travel, building experience through miles, my Yachtmaster, and offshore deliveries. I quickly found that writing and life afloat go hand in hand — my first published piece came from a Swedish yacht delivery where ice filmed the deck.
Bigger adventures
I began skippering Oyster sailing yachts and spent a decade living with what owners notice, what they assume, and what they won’t forgive.
An unusual sabbatical - Sailing Editor at Yachting Monthly
I stepped ashore for an unusual sabbatical, being offered an amazing opportunity to immerse myself in magazine writing as Sailing Editor at Yachting Monthly magazine, winning an for my journalism in the same year.
Story first. Always.
As a journalist, I’ve always been drawn to the question beneath the surface: what is the story here, really?
In the marine industry, the strongest businesses have a clear sense of why they exist — and can articulate it with quiet consistency.
That instinct underpins everything I do.
Practical proof
English Logbooks is my small business within the marine industry. It began when the owner of a yacht I was running wanted a logbook that was properly made — something they’d actually want to keep and use.
I started the business as a deliberate experiment in combining craft and narrative — and in what happens when the product has a compelling story.
In parallel, it helps sustain three traditional crafts — bookbinding, paper marbling and printing — that combine to make a product that stands apart, defining its own small corner of the market.
The business has grown quietly, through word of mouth rather than advertising. I’m not a bookbinder, never will be, but a business with a story that’s baked in is far more likely to succeed.
Today we supply major custom yacht brands and superyachts, as well as private clients worldwide — people who come to us because we do one thing exceptionally well.
