My name is Shelley Burggraaff. Born in 1983 and raised in Mijdrecht, a village near Amsterdam. Until I reached the age of 18 I had (practically) never sailed before. That changed by the encounter with a Norwegian sailor in Fiji followed by a fantastic 7 month sailing experience on the Pacific Ocean. Read more about this in the plan.

You could say that this experience changed my life. After returning home I missed Fiji and the sailing so much that I started searching for a job in the sailing business. I found a nice job at de Bootsmannen where I sell and organize corporate sailing events and events on the Fort Island Pampus. Unfortunately that doesn't mean that I get the opportunity to sail every day. So I started sailing in my spare time more and more often with (new sailing-) friends. Sailing on the Dutch lakes is fun. But actually "sailing another round " and coming back in the port of departure is not enough for me. When I'm on a boat, I want to see an empty horizon. And continue sailing... Or exotic places of course, preferably Polynesian :-) Visiting other people's culture and home while bringing your own home seems like a very special way of traveling to me. The desire to own a boat and travel far has never left my mind since returning from the Pacific Ocean...