The Team Behind the Best Boating App!

Jelte took part in the Clipper Round the World yacht race in 2014 onboard Jamaica. He had plenty of sailing experience, but racing from San Francisco to New York was quite a bit different from anything he'd done before. Sailing thousands of miles off-shore, he learnt how difficult navigation can be. Updating charts, downloading weather forecasts, predicting boat speed, avoiding squalls with 50+ knots of wind; it all took hours and hours below deck, plotting courses on a computer whilst hanging on at a 45 degree heel. Jelte became convinced there should be an easier way.

He spent two years researching and building the foundation for savvy navvy and in July 2017 he left his job at Google to get his vision of easy, safe navigation out to every sailor on the water. The rest they say is history!

Kevin and Jelte go back 18 years, when they worked together for Symbian, creating the mobile operating system of the (then) future.

Having travelled the world for work and pleasure and worked in many industries for large companies, Kevin realised that what he really likes is working in small teams where he can be really hands-on and make a meaningful contribution. So when Jelte explained his vision for savvy navvy and how the app would disrupt the sailing tech world, Kevin jumped onboard immediately.

He has broad business experience across different sectors, including energy, chemicals, hardware and software. He especially enjoys interacting with customers of many lands, solving new problems and negotiating and managing contracts.

In his spare time Kevin is an amateur photographer and drone pilot. He is also a textbook neophyte sailor who looks forward to testing the company yacht. We haven’t told him we haven’t got one yet.

Born in Bermuda and raised in the Caribbean Hannah spent the better part of her life living on or near boats! An avid sailor since the age of two, Hannah mixes her knack for storytelling with a love for the sea.

Hobbies include kite surfing, BBQing, flying drones, travelling the world and paddleboarding with her dog, Kiwi. Hannah also claims to be a part-time pirate.

Stefanos, born and raised in Greece, is well accustomed to the sea, but had never sailed before joining savvy navvy. With a background in physics and a strong interest in all this tech based, he is our lead developer in charge of savvy navvy’s routing algorithm, making sure we use only the best and most sophisticated maths, such that even he could navigate through the roughest seas at the touch of a button.

Stefanos loves music as well as basking in the stunning seaside views of the Mediterranean.

Tim and Jelte worked together at Google My Business; the team that helps put businesses on Google Maps. Before that he was the principle designer for YouTube mobile apps. A cartographer by trade, there is nothing that Tim can't turn his design skills too and we hope you like his design touches in the savvy navvy app as much as we do.

He has been sailing since his teens when he learnt to sail a dinghy on the Firth of Forth in a force 8. He has crewed regularly on a concrete 40ft yacht out of Pin Mill, Ipswich and now has his own sailing canoe.

Meet David, our super awesome Community Partnership Manager!

David has worked on and around the sea pretty much his whole life. Joining the Royal Navy at 16, racing around the world as part of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race then working shore-side on multiple round the world races. David is an RYA Yachtmaster, has sailed over 300,000 miles and is passionate about the water, sailing and seamanship.

As our Community Partnerships Manager David will work closely with the team to grow our network of savvy users and commercial partnerships around the globe to help us grow over the coming years.

Chris found sailing in his early twenties spending most weekends racing yachts along the UK’s East Coast sailing out of Burnham-On-Crouch, doing both inshore around the cans racing and offshore races all over the North Sea. A move to the South Coast in 2010 has allowed him to move his passion for sailing into his work life as a digital-focused marketing manager.

As our Growth Hacker Chris is tasked with the continued growth of the savvy navvy community, overseeing our marketing activity with a focus on paid and organic activity.

When not sailing or Thursday night racing in Lymington, you can find Chris cycling around the New Forest both on and off-road, paddle boarding, eating Welsh cakes and trying to stop his kids from ruling the house!

Matt started sailing dinghies in his early teens in North Wales and went on to become an RYA senior dinghy instructor.

After earning a PhD in physics he wanted to combine his love of sailing and research. Matt is responsible for modelling tidal currents and extracting meaningful data from satellite imagery to enhance the savvy navvy experience.

He's also always looking for a good opportunity to get out on the water, so if you need a crew for your yacht in Texas, please drop him a line.

Andy grew up in a seaside town in Dublin and, having spent his childhood sailing, kayaking and rowing, is passionate about all things related to the water. Prior to joining savvy navvy he worked in various marketing and business development roles for technology companies in both Germany and Ireland.

He met Jelte through a network for Google alumni and, after researching the app in more detail, became convinced that he and the team were on to something special. Following weeks of consistent nagging, he managed to convince Jelte to give him a job and the rest, as they say, is history.

Alexey was born and raised in Russia, Moscow, far away from the sea...but two years before joining savvy navvy he had his first sailing trip in Turkey and completely fell in love with it, he has now completed at over 4 yacht charters. So now here he is helping to build the best leisure boating app in the world!

Before savvy navvy Alexey worked as a tech lead building Russian and Ukrainian IT startups (Atlasbus.ru, Fitnow.io). He also worked as a Product Manager in Yandex (it's like Google but the Russian one).

In addition to sailing, Alexey loves traveling, listening to and playing music, hiking, and snowboarding.

Isabel used to row the canals of the Danish capital in Copenhagen. She has since exchanged the Danish waters for the UK’s Solent, spending her working life on generating PR within the marine industry.

Isabel promoted the Clipper Round the World in media across the globe during the 2012-2013 race working closely with David. They’ve recently reconnected about various PR opportunities, and she has since joined the savvy navvy team, as our PR Manager getting our the savvy navvy app in front of journalists and media outlets around the world.

Our man in Spain, eagerly awaiting to deal with all the customer support queries and questions. Ivo’s background, experience and multiple languages provide the backbone of our support team helping customers with queries, questions and issues, providing valuable input to the Engineering Team to progress the app’s development.

Living just outside Valencia, surrounded by marinas and boat-enthusiasts, he discovered the beauty of boating after he joined savvy navvy's team. He, his wife and two kids spend their evenings near the coast, but you can always find him available to answer your question, help you with your technical inquiry or just for a chat.

Tamsin met David (Partnership Manager) in 2010, and she claims that he changed her life. He recruited Tamsin to take part in the Clipper Round the World Race, where she sailed over 9000 miles as an absolute rookie and spent four months on a 68ft yacht, met some amazing people and experienced some incredible things – cruising through the Panama Canal, coming face to face with many flying fish and much more.

After spending some time cruising around the Caribbean, Tamsin managed to convince her fiancé to buy a boat so now they get to cruise around New York/Jersey. Next is a sailboat, once he has learnt the tricks of the trade! Tamsin currently works as assistant to Kevin, the co-founder of savvy navvy, but also to anyone who needs something done. Helping with logistics, admin and all the other bits that happen behind the scenes.