VETERAN TEAM OF WILLEM AND YVONNE ARE JOINED BY 5 ADDITIONAL CREW TO PROVIDE GREAT SAFETY AND SERVICE ABOARD!

Captain WILLEM STRAUSS grew up in a very small town in the semi-desert of the Western Cape of South Africa. At a young age the family moved to Namibia and at age 7 Willem started diving for lobsters off the Natal Coast every holiday. Thus began his love of the water.
As a young man he participated in rugby, tennis, cricket and the national karate team! In 1996 he bought his first ocean going sailing cata-maran, and for the next 6 years he owned and operated a charter business in Madagascar and Mozambique. To this day Madagascar’s remote and uncommercialized waters are one of his favorite yachting destinations.

With a degree in engineering, it was only a matter of time before Willem combined his technical skills with his water-based skills, becoming doubly qualified as both yacht captain and engineer in 2013. As a true professional, Willem is comfortable with either an interactive or a more discreet silver service style charter. He particularly likes sharing sea skills and stories with his guests. His friends and crew describe him as strict, but also friendly and helpful. A caring person, one of his favorite boating related jobs was, when working as a dive instructor, he would train children that were afraid of the water to scuba dive. He runs an excellent ship, his motto is “Finish what you can today, tomorrow has its own challenges”.
When not aboard Lone Star, Captain Strauss can be found enjoying golf, sailing and even building boats!


Chef YVONNE SWART grew up on the Free State on a South African farm with her 2 brothers and 2 sisters. She played tennis and loved art and poetry. After graduating high school courses, she studied at Kulunya Culinary as well as Somatology Beautiko in her native South Africa. She used her skills well, working on a Game Farm and owning a Day Spa, where she did the personalized catering for guests.

Yvonne has now been working on yachts as a chef for 7 years with her partner Captain Willem. Besides her great cuisine, everyone remarks on her beautiful smile, which she shares often! She is a friendly, giving person who is comfortable to provide the guests with either an interactive charter or a discreet silver service as required. She has a passion for cooking and seeing that her guests enjoy their time aboard.

Guests rave about the food. Some favorites are her Grilled Lobster with Mango Salsa and her Grilled Fish with Leeks and White Wine Sauce. Like dessert? Try her Flourless Chocolate and Pear Cake with a side of Vanilla Ice Cream, or the Homemade Tiramisu. Mediterranean style and seafood are specialties, but a personal favorite that Yvonne loves doing is a lively Beach Barbeque!

Chef Yvonne’s goal is to “Better herself every day”. A fitness buff, she loves the gym and workout time, and is an avid researcher of health and diet.

Mate MAGNUS VAN DER BERG
Engineer WARREN DEYES
+ 2 more crew, details coming soon!