Your Skipper and Crew

Nothing instils confidence in a crew and guests more than knowing their skipper is a man of vast experience and capable of handling the vessel through all weathers and conditions.

Angus Smith, who owns and skippers Elinca, has sailed across many oceans and covered almost 200, 000 nautical miles while delivering super yachts for private and charter hire, as well as working as captain for 5 years aboard SV Dat Helja in the Mediterranean and Adriatic. Before working abroad Angus worked for a number of years as a skipper on sail training ships taking socially excluded young people sailing. Angus is also a fully qualified boat builder and has worked as a project manager on many superyacht projects.

Angus's love of the sea stems from his childhood surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Minch in the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. After his schooling his love of boats and boat building grew, after an apprenticeship as a boat builder He began refitting yachts and constructing rowing boats in 1988 and a short while later he assisted in the building of a 10m traditional Hebridean fishing boat for a BBC television documentary and a 7m replica of a Fyfie, another traditional Scottish fishing vessel. In his spare time he still builds boats and teaches traditional boat building skills.

Having returned to the Hebrides at the beginning of 2006 after 15 years sailing abroad, Angus is delighted to be once again sailing in his native waters and developing new routes from the Hebrides with Beyond the Blue Horizon, routes reminiscent of those taken his Viking ancestors and explorers during 800 AD- 1200 AD from the Hebrides during their 500 year occupation.

He takes great pride in welcoming all on board Elinca, (whose name is spelled from the initials of the members of his own family.) The mate is his son, Innes, who is a budding adventurer and Yachtmaster in his own right, has scaled the heights of remote destinations such as Rockall and kayaked in some of the most unforgiving waters in the world. He regularly leads kayak expeditions using Elinca as the mother ship.

The other people who regularly crew Elinca are also native Hebrideans who like nothing more than to be out on the water. Often guests will hear Angus instructing the crew in his native tongue, Gaelic, adding a real Hebridean flavour to the sailing experiences.

For further information about the boat and its facilities please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mobile: 07920 067 774