The Crew
The people behind Pacific Wave
Lynn and Mark met on a Sunday while steel pan drums played reggae under a starlit Caribbean sky. From Shirley Heights historic monument they could gaze at the yachts in Nelsons Dockyard and at each other. That was fifteen years ago, and life has been a fun-filled adventure onboard Pacific Wave since that fateful evening in Antigua.
How did they end up crossing paths on a tropical island, and their eyes meeting across a tray of rum punch? Charter the beautiful Pacific Wave for your next holiday and you can find out!
Lynn Griffiths
Lynn was born in Cheshire in West Central England but spent her school holidays by the sea in a small coastal town in North Wales.
From as early as she can remember, she was on the water in one type of boat or another. At the age of 14 she acquired her first 16ft speedboat which was sorely in need of some TLC. Lynn removed the existing flaking yellow paint, taking the hull back to bare aluminium and restored it in beautiful flag blue. Her father owned a successful construction company and as a schoolgirl Lynn kept the books for the family business. This led to a degree in accountancy, following which she started a professional career as a chartered accountant. Lynn has worked in senior finance positions for some of the world’s biggest insurers, such as Euler International, Endurance Worldwide, & Groupama. Based in the City of London she travelled all over Europe and specialised in setting up insurance companies from scratch.
Out of work hours, Lynn’s preferred pastimes were her TVR sports car and golf. She was also a qualified aerobics instructor and in the evenings after work she taught aerobics for 12 years. For her vacations Lynn loved to travel – to the Far East, Middle East, and to golf courses all over Florida; always taking to the water wherever possible.
Her busy career, however, took her away from her first love of sailing, but since 2001 Lynn has been back on the water, qualifying with an “MCA Master 200 Tons” licence and an “RYA commercially Endorsed Yacht Master” ticket for sailing vessels in 2006. She has been sailing full time for many years most of the time as Skipper on medium to large yachts. She owned her own yacht in the UK for four years (a lightweight Scandinavian built racer called Temptress) and cruised and raced her extensively up and down the south coast of the UK. Lynn’s raced seriously at regatta’s such as Cowes Week, Cork Week, Antigua Race Week, & St Maarten Heineken Regatta. She’s sailed on a 100ft Wally up and down the Caribbean and a large oyster from Ireland across the Mediterranean to Croatia. Lynn was a Rear Commodore of The Little Ship Club, the oldest sailing club in the City of London. Along with social activities and club cruises she also organised popular weekend racing. She started a winter racing series called ‘Fast Cruises’, that encouraged members back onto the water and re-vitalised the club.
Lynn has an intimate knowledge gained from years of experience of both Caribbean and Mediterranean sailing which includes both island cruising and full on racing. Lynn and Mark met at Antigua Race Week in 2004 and have been sailing together ever since. Since purchasing Pacific Wave in June 2008 she has sailed with Mark full time, travelling up and down the Caribbean every year from Puerto Rico to Trinidad.
Lynn is a keen diver and underwater photographer and is a qualified PADI Divemaster.
When not sailing or diving Lynn continues to enjoy golf and is an accomplished horsewoman. She has an uncanny ability to find the best anchorage’s close to the best golf courses and the best stable yards!
Together, Lynn & Mark work as a team to make guests onboard Pacific Wave feel totally relaxed and at ease during their luxury sailing holiday.
Mark Miles
Mark’s home county of Dorset in rural South West England was a great place to grow up and become involved with both the sea and farming, and after meeting his partner Lynn, it’s not surprising that his two main passions are now sailing and food.
Mark’s maritime adventures started early. Aged 18 he did his first big sailing trip – 1,300 miles in an old C&N sloop from Lymington on the south coast UK to La Coruna in Northern Spain and back. He was hooked. Also aged 18, and travelling alone, he walked 5,000 miles from Cape Town South Africa to Cairo Egypt. It took seven months, cost only $300, and included being arrested for spying in Uganda.
After these adventures and some time spent running around in the British Army, it was a welcome rest for Mark to go to college aged 24 and study agriculture. While there, he found enough spare time to become elected President of the Students Union – campaigning tirelessly for cheaper beer. After college he was a shepherd tending to large flocks of sheep in Southern England and he went onto farm in South West Portugal, growing vegetables and raising sheep. He was a Royal Bath & West of England scholar, travelling to Australia and New Zealand to study problems with drug resistance in sheep flocks.
After 6 years in Portugal he returned first to the Isle of Wight and then Cambridge UK, but travelled all over the world to buy produce and sell it onto UK supermarkets. He managed a global supply base and sold $10 million of produce a year to the very popular UK food stores M&S and Sainsbury’s.
Mark spent his free time dinghy sailing and racing at Grafham Water and on the Suffolk coast and flying. Mark has been an aeroplane pilot for over 20 years and he likes to bring the discipline of flying to his everyday job as a professional sailor. He’s flown vintage aircraft, seaplanes on (and off!) Scottish lochs, and high performance aircraft across Europe.
In 2003 Mark returned to the Isle of Wight to sail full time but kept his toe in the agricultural water with sweet corn in Hereford and Christmas turkeys in Marlow. He now holds an “MCA Master 200 tons Unlimited Area” licence and “RYA commercially endorsed Ocean Master” tickets, both for sailing and power vessels. He has sailed power boats in Croatia, delivered new sailing yachts across the Irish Sea, taught British Army soldier’s to sail in Kiel Germany, and since meeting Lynn in 2004 in Antigua, he has helmed in race regattas from Cowes to Antigua, and from 2008 to the present date, sails full time on Pacific Wave with Lynn.
Mark learned to dive age 13 in Malta and then with the British Sub Aqua Club. He dived wherever in the world his work happened to take him and he is a PADI Divemaster.
Mark’s previous career in agriculture brought him close to food preparation as well as food production and he has worked on road shows with some of the most renowned celebrity chefs of today. His cooking style is tinged with global influences but mixes southern Mediterranean light cooking with classic cuisine and a professional knowledge of quality fresh local ingredients. Although self-taught, Mark’s cuisine has won awards at yacht shows in St Thomas, the BVI and Antigua.
Mark speaks Portuguese and gets along well in Spanish and French.
Mark’s new novel, a spy thriller set in Africa in the 1980’s, is to be published on 28 February 2019 by Troubador. SHELTER ROCK by MP Miles is a fast-paced espionage thriller based on true events featuring an African spy and a pulse-pounding pursuit from Cape to Cairo.