Hi, my name is Florian Koch. I have completed high-school in Zurich and went on to study physics. After obtaining my diploma, I have started working in the semi-condutor industry. At first, I was working as an application engineer for an equipment provider. After some time I was promoted to process engineer, which allowed me to work on different materials and develop new process solutions.

Sailing Journey

My sailing journey started when I was about seven years old. I first learned to sail on a small dinghy called Optimist. In the following years I would try different dinghies, both single- and double-handed with occassional races. I then stopped sailing when I was 13 as other activities appeared more interesting at that time. Only after I started working again I rediscovered my passion for sailing, moving from fresh water to salt water and dinghy sailing to yachting.

After the first few days on a bigger boat I realised how much I had missed sailing in the meantime. The week at sea fueled my dreams for the weeks to come and I knew that at some point I wanted to take on a bigger sail. At that time I was thinking about a three or four weeks turn or potentially an Atlantic crossing. Little did I know how this would change…

I then started looking into possibilities of realising this dream. First I was looking into gaining some certificates, which would be a good way of learning new things. But soon I realised that I would not gain the required experience to take on a longer passage by myself by just completing some certificates. It was around that time I came across Clipper Race on social media. I looked a few videos, read a few storys and loughed at the people who would do something like that.