David Slee Captain

David was born in Sydney, Australia where he was educated at William Clarke College.  Following school he spent four years working as a plumber, drainer, roofer and gas fitter. 

Immediately following the successful completion of his plumbing apprenticeship he moved to the New South Wales snowfields where he worked as a “liftie” in Thredbo ski resort.  Soon after the snow had melted, David was on a plane to Europe heading for the French Alpine town of Praz sur Arly, where he worked as barman and waited tables in a small hotel on the piste.

In early April 1999 David left the mountains for the sea where, in Antibes, he day-worked on various yachts until securing a permanent position as sole deckhand on the 26 metre motor yacht Perihan.  After a year he moved to join the crew, initially as deckhand and latterly as bosun, on the first Amnesia motor yacht (52 metres) where he remained until her sale three years later.  David then enjoyed four months travelling around western Canada in a campervan sampling as many ski resorts as time allowed.  At the end of his skiing diversion he studied for three months for his officer’s qualifications after which he moved onto the second Amnesia (55 metres) where he worked for eighteen months as second officer.

David then spent three months as second officer onboard Dilbar (67 metres) during the final stages of her build, after which he accepted the position of first officer onboard the motor yacht Mary-Jean (49 metres) where he worked for twenty months.  After Mary-Jean, David returned to college for two months and obtained his master’s certification in April 2007.  He then joined Midlandia (52 metres) as first officer for the Mediterranean summer season between May and November of 2007.  In December 2007 David gained his first command, becoming captain and first crew member on Salu during the latter stages of her construction, which he supervised, in Fano, Italy.