Who Takes the Helm

From an early age, I knew that the sea was where I belonged. I grew up among sailing boats, boatyards and waterfronts in Chiloé. During the 1980s, my father ran a boatyard where some 125 vessels were built, and from a very young age I accompanied him among the docks, tools and boats.

At four years old, I first sailed through the channels of southern Chile. It was the beginning of a lifelong connection with Patagonia and with the sea that would ultimately shape my life.

In Dalcahue, we came across one of the hulls my father had built years earlier at his boatyard. Over several summers, we began transforming it together into our own sailing boat, Lakutaia. Years later, she would become my first vessel for charters, journeys and expeditions.

In 2008, I obtained my Coastal Captain's licence. Over the following two years, I accumulated the sea miles and experience required to qualify, in 2010, as an Offshore Captain.

In 2009, I began developing what would eventually become Western Patagonia, and in 2010 our first commercial journeys set sail. Since then, sailing and exploration have remained at the heart of my professional life.

Over the years, I have led expeditions, documentaries and scientific projects, working alongside research, film production and conservation teams, and navigating territories where knowledge of the sea and the environment is essential.

Three decades navigating these waters have also built something that cannot be found on a nautical chart: a network of people and relationships across the territory. Local captains and operators, maritime suppliers, air support, logistics teams, communities and collaborators with whom we have built close relationships over the years.

It is a network that allows us to move through Patagonia with local knowledge, trust and the ability to respond when conditions demand it — connecting sea, land and air to make expeditions possible that go far beyond simply sailing.

Today, I continue to do what first drew me to the sea as a child: to understand the territory from the water, to navigate it, and to find ways to go further. I personally design each itinerary and remain involved in every expedition, ensuring that each journey has the level of planning, knowledge and experience that this territory demands.