Nautical training, aboard your own vessel.

Available for all nautical training on board your vessel.

STCW Qualified

Full STCW qualified (Manila 2010

30 years of experience as master

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New boat, new water, or a bigger trip ahead?

New motoryacht or sailing ship? New sailing area? Need training on board? Barend comes aboard your own vessel and works through exactly what you want to be confident with, at your pace.

40,000

nautical miles of experience

Experience you can feel on the water

Barend has 40,000 nautical miles of sailing experience across all kinds of sailing vessels, and is well versed on motor vessels of every size. The training is practical, on your own boat, shaped around where you actually sail.

What a training day covers

A day is built around what you want to work on, usually one or two of these.

Voyage preparation

planning the passage, checking the boat, getting ready for what’s ahead.

Manoeuvring

handling under motor and under sail, coming alongside, anchoring, wind and current.

Ship readiness

getting your boat ready for sea, or for a specific area you’re heading to.

You sail your own boat. Barend coaches from aboard. Hands-on where useful, hands-off when you are doing fine on your own.

What a training day covers

A day is built around what you want to work on, usually one or two of these.

Voyage preparation

planning the passage, checking the boat, getting ready for what’s ahead.

Manoeuvring

handling under motor and under sail, coming alongside, anchoring, wind and current.

Ship readiness

getting your boat ready for sea, or for a specific area you’re heading to.

You sail your own boat. Barend coaches from aboard. Hands-on where useful, hands-off when you are doing fine on your own.

Where the training happens

Wherever you sail, the training comes to the water you actually use.

Inland waters

canals, rivers, and the smaller lakes.

Wide open waters

the IJsselmeer, Zeeland, and the Wadden Sea.

At sea

coastal passages and open-water trips.

A voyage to Spitsbergen

One of the trips Barend prepared and sailed was a voyage to Spitsbergen, high in the Arctic. Preparing a vessel and crew for those waters, with ice, cold, and long distances from help, is a different kind of readiness from a summer cruise. That same preparation thinking goes into every training day, scaled to wherever you are actually going.

Who this suits

A good fit

Experienced owners seeking practical coaching on their vessel.

You own the boat and spend real time on the water.
You want to sharpen a specific skill handling, navigation, night watch.
You're preparing for a bigger passage and want a senior eye aboard.
You'd like to debrief a recent trip with someone who's been there.

Probably not this

This isn't a beginners' course.

First boat, first season: a sailing school with a structured programme is the better starting point.
Looking to earn a certificate. The focus here is practical skill on your specific boat, not certification.
You're preparing for a bigger passage and want a senior eye aboard.
Group courses or classroom theory, every session is one-on- one, aboard.

How it works in practice

Where

Aboard your boat, at your home port or a mutually convenient marina in the Netherlands or Belgium.

When

April to October, weather permitting. Weekdays and weekends both possible.

Duration

A typical session is half a day or a full day on the water, with longer formats possible for passage-training.

Rhythm

One-off sessions or a short series across the season, depending on what you want to work on.

Price

Day rate on request, sent by message. Travel within NL / BE is included; outside, by arrangement.

Frequently asked questions

I already have my certificates. Can you still help?

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Can you help us prepare for a longer trip, like a North Sea crossing or a summer cruise?

That’s one of the more common reasons people book. A day or two of preparation, a check of the boat and the passage plan, and you leave with a clearer picture of what you’re sailing into.

Do you come to our home port, or do we come to you?

Barend comes to you, anywhere in the Netherlands or Belgium. Travel within NL/BE is part of the service.

Ready to book a day on the water?

Send Barend the boat, your home port, and roughly when you’d like to sail. You’ll get a reply with availability and a suggested day rate.