Meet the Team
Bob Harper - Delivery Skipper
Bob has been sailing for many years and owned his own sailboat ‘Breakaway’ (a Tradewind 33 from the 1970s) until recently. He gained RYA qualifications over the years and is also an RYA Yachtmaster. He used these skills as a volunteer First mate with a sail training organisation Ocean Youth Club and as coach for the NI Blind Sailing Team in 2 world championships, before heading off on ‘Breakaway’ on a 5 year circumnavigation along with his wife Christine. Upon their return Bob took up delivery work on both power and sail boats. He also volunteers with Belfast Lough Sailability, a sailing group based in Carrickfergus Marina for people with disabilities, offering an on the water experience for people with disability who would not normally have the opportunity to go sailing. Bob is also the Regional Officer (Northern Ireland) for RYA Sailability.
Christine Harper - Part-Time Admin Assistant.
Christine has also been sailing since the 1970s and started working in sail training organisations in 1979. Christine was Area Manager of Ocean Youth Club Northern Ireland from1982 until 1996. During that period Christine was also Hon Sec. for Visually Impaired Sailors (VISNI) until she left NI shores to head off on a 5 year circumnavigation with husband Bob in ‘Breakaway’, a 33’ Tradewind. Upon her return in 2001 Christine became involved with the RNLI as Hon Sec, and then as a member of the fundraising committee for the Lifeboats up to the present. As well as admin work for Sail NI, Christine is Hon Sec. of Belfast Lough Sailability, helping people with disability get afloat.
Both Bob and Christine have a vast experience of varieties of cruising boats and Bob has delivery experience for sail and power boats, large and small. During the circumnavigation in ‘Breakaway’, around 300 articles were written for the Belfast Newsletter by Bob with a few anecdotes thrown in by Christine about the voyage culminating in the book 'Letters to the Boatyard'.
Kirstie Harper - Lead Broker
Russell Murphy - Broker
Jo Mason – Part-Time Admin Assistant and Online Marketing
