Crew Profiles

Deck Department

Captain – Charlie Rentoul – Scottish

Charlie grew up on the shores of the Atlantic ocean on the West coast of Scotland and spent his childhood sailing the Inner Hebrides. Upon completing his education in Edinburgh, he started working on sailing yachts in 1999. He later switched to Motor Yachts and during his 16 years in the industry he has worked on board the prestigious yachts MY Southern Cross III (55m), MY Leander (75m) and MY Zenobia (58m). He joined Amaryllis when she was being built in Germany in 2011. He has a strong passion for road cycling and his other hobbies include golf & running.

Chief Officer – William Gould – British

William grew up in the North of England and spent his childhood sailing dinghies. He started working on sailing yachts in 2000, he later switched to Motor Yachts and during his 15 years in the industry has worked on board the prestigious yachts MY Queen K, MY Coral Island (73m) and MY Aurora B (50m). He has cruised extensively around the Caribbean, US East Coast, Bahamas, Mediterranean, Baltic, North Atlantic including the Artic, Indian Ocean and circumnavigated. His hobbies include mountain biking, rock climbing, diving and practicing yoga.

Second Officer – Harry Moores - British

Bosun –

Harry has been onboard since December 2012 and was promoted to Bosun in March 2015. He comes from a family with a strong royal naval back ground and so a career on the sea was inevitable. Harry was born in the historical English port of Portsmouth and now lives in Devon. As with many of our crew, he is keen on fitness and well-being and has a degree in Sports and Exercise Science. With this he previously worked as a Personal Trainer and has extensive gym and fitness knowledge. Harry has sailed recreationally for many years and enjoys yacht racing. He is now applying his past experience in beginning a professional career on super yachts. In his time away from Amaryllis, he enjoys keeping fit and has particular enjoyment playing cricket as well as other team sports.

Deckhand – Olly Whitten – British

Olly is from Bedfordshire, England. His passion for the water began with dinghy sailing on lakes near to his home town; he then had the opportunity to join a yacht racing team on the East coast, Olly then began teaching junior members of the team racing skills once he had gained the instructor qualifications required. It was from there he learnt about the industry and made it his goal to gain the qualifications required to start his search. He joined the industry in 2013 and is looking to continue working hard and training to work up the ranks.

Deckhand – Grant Botha - South African

Deckhand – Isabella Königsburger – German

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Grant grew up on a farm in the Stormberg mountains of Southern Africa. He has a love for the outdoors and sport, the latter of which he played throughout his school career, in particular rugby, cricket and tennis. At the age of 21 he had completed his commercial helicopter license on which he is also rated as an instructor. He has worked as a game ranger for three years prior to his yachting career assisting in conservation of African wildlife, in the Madikwe Game Reserve. His passion for travel and the ocean inspired his move to the yachting industry where he hopes to make a career for himself.

Deckhand – Oliver Crowden - British

Oliver grew up in Oxford, England. Oliver studied music and this shows in his keen sense of music and his ability to play guitar. He enjoys attending festivals and live shows to further his knowledge in the musical field. He is an avid snowboarder which led him to working a winter season in the Alps as a chalet chef. Oliver joined the industry in 2014, and has been based in the Mediterranean up until now. He is committed to a life at sea and is working to develop his career on board yachts.

Deckhand – Sean Dods - Australian

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Sean is from Adelaide in South Australia. His love for the ocean stemmed from family visits to New Zealand where he lived on board launches whilst sailing and fishing in the Bay of Islands. This extended to 5 years working in the shipping industry and fishing trips with his father. Sean is passionate about Football and takes pride in his background playing semi-professionally for his hometown. Sean has achieved his degree in commerce and has extensive hospitality experience making him well versed to know what it takes to pursue a career in yachting. He is well travelled but one of his goals is to continue checking off new destinations on his bucket-list.

On-Board Chef

Chef – Leishan Van Den Berg – South African

Leishan hails from Stellenbosch in South Africa and has always had a passion for food. This led to Leishan attending the Silwood Kitchen Cordon Bleu School of Cooking in Cape Town, where she used her love of cooking to develop professional culinary skills. Since then Leishan has worked in many high caliber restaurants in South Africa and ran her own catering company, as well as gaining many years’ experience on yachts. She has worked on well-known vessels such as MY Event (63m) and MY Sunrays (83m). As well as cooking, Leishan loves to enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle.

Sous Chef – Charlotte Boden - British

Charlotte originates from Somerset in England. In her early 20's, she moved to Mallorca, Spain, to pursue her passion for cooking and learning about different cuisines. She has been on super yachts for over ten years as Chef. Charlotte has progressed in her culinary skills by working as a chef across Europe, travelling through South Asia and beyond and by attending culinary schools. She has expanded her knowledge of Fine Dining and Molecular Gastronomy and now her cooking combines a fusion of different cuisines. Charlotte enjoys practicing yoga and staying in touch with her family.

Interior Department

Chief Stewardess – Louise Homewood – British Louise hales from Cheltenham in the UK. From school she went onto study Catering and Hospitality at Henley on Thames College of culinary arts. On completion Louise embarked on a career in fine dining, working in some of the UK's Michelin awarded restaurants. Since 2006 Louise has enjoyed putting that knowledge to great use in the yachting industry with experience on prestigious sail yachts such as SY Hyperion and SY Rosehearty, as well as MY Amadeus and MY Leander. Louise has traveled extensively during her time onboard yachts and takes every opportunity to explore new places and cultures. She has a love for the ocean and keeps active with surfing, yoga and diving.

Purser – Kari Walsh – American

Kari was born and raised in the Bay Area in Northern California. While attending Arizona state university she played women's water polo and earned her degree in business communications. After university she moved to the city and realized her desire for exploration. She has always had a passion for being on the water so she ventured into yachting. She has completed a passage through the Panama Canal as well as Caribbean and Mediterranean seasons. Kari's interests include exploring new places, reading, and fitness.

Second Stewardess – Sarah Jacobs

Stewardess – Jessica Freling - British

Stewardess – Aime Green – South African

Jessica lives in Antigua; she has been on board Amaryllis since 2014. Her previous yacht was SY Twilight (38 m) where she worked as a Sole Stewardess. Jessica has done competitive show jumping and dressage representing Antigua throughout the Caribbean and America in 2006 to 2011. Apart from Show Jumping her hobbies are swimming, sailing, skiing and travel. Jessica enjoys expressing her artistic flare through the flower arrangements onboard MY Amaryllis.

Aimé is from Plettenberg Bay, South Africa and joined the industry in May last year. Growing up in a small coastal town and working in her parent’s restaurant. After completing school, Aimé spent a year working at a school in England and traveled during the school holidays. She enjoys being outdoors, being active, a good book, baking as well as exploring new places. Aimé finds working with a great team, keeping busy and being out on the ocean a very rewarding career.

Stewardess – Megan Standley - American

Stewardess - Stewardess -

Megan is from San Luis Obispo county in California. Megan has past experience working at a local shipping store where she could save each and every penny to go toward her desire to travel. She loves exploring new places, learning about other cultures and getting to know different local customs. She also enjoys surfing, playing volleyball, photography, and event planning. Her interests have made yachting the perfect career path.

Engineering Department

Chief Engineer – Ian Whibley - British

Ian, from the UK, has a Degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s Degree in Materials Science and also holds a CoC Yacht 2 Engineering qualification. His background is in material research, product design and project management and he has translated these skills to his yachting career. Ian’s past yachts include MY Sun Ark (36m), MY QM of London (50m), MY Predator (73m) and he joined Amaryllis early on in the building stage to complete much of the initial setup. Ian’s interests include a wide variety of music, wine appreciation and fine dining. He doesn’t have much time for those any more as he has recently become a father.

Chief Engineer – Joris Van Der Tang - Dutch

Second Engineer – James Lewis - British

Second Engineer – Benjamin Semmens – New Zealand

Third Engineer – Andrew Barker – British ETO -

James decided to work on super yachts after achieving a Bsc (Hons) Marine Technology degree from Plymouth University. This was a comprehensive four year course and included a year in industry building small yachts. James has been working on yachts since 2010 with his last yacht being Candyscape II (62m). As well as his keen interest in engineering James enjoys various water sports. He is a keen surfer and qualified RYA Windsurfing Instructor, as well as being a PADI open water diver. James loves surfing and travels the world in search of the best surfing hot spots

Benjamin grew up on his family’s farm in the far north of New Zealand where they raised beef cattle. After finishing a 5 year heavy diesel apprenticeship in Whangarei. He decided to venture into yachting in 2009. He has an array of experiences from working on big tuna surface long lines to quarry machinery. His two previous yachts were Abeking and Rasmussen. Ben thoroughly enjoys spending his spare time building high performance engines and free dive fishing.