Hannah realised her love of sailing and the sea from a young age. As a young teen, she heard that tall ships were still operating and she sighed inwardly, as she knew her life would never be the same.

At 19 she set sail on topsail schooner Oosterschelde from Mauritius to Australia on a 38 day voyage. She then worked on brigantine Eye of the Wind during the summer breaks from Uni and kept sailing her great-uncle’s yacht where possible. In 2018 she joined National Historic Ships’ SHTP2 traineeship which saw her visit operational vessels and work in various maritime museums around the country including the National Museum of the Royal Navy. It was during this year she also met Jess.

More recently Hannah was introduced to the world of sail cargo (which she will keep bringing up) having worked with EcoClipper. Hannah is currently a Trustee for the Maritime Heritage Trust and a Director for Lynher Barge CIC.

Jess was a little late to the sailing party, taking her first step aboard a Tall Ship (or any ship/boat for that matter) when she was 30. Which is not all that surprising having been born and raised in land-locked Birmingham. She soon caught up however, after a life changing trip on Dutch Brig, Morgenster and volunteering all of her spare time on the heritage sailing trawler, Pilgrim of Brixham, she eventually left her career in the education sector to take on National Historic Ships UK's SHTP2 traineeship, meeting co-host Hannah Hurford in the process.

Jess's SHTP2 placement was less straight forward than Hannah's the previous year, with the collapse of her placement host just weeks before starting and later the global Covid 19 pandemic. Jess took matters into her own hands and subsequently spent the latter part of the traineeship as a roaming sailor, travelling the country and sailing every different rig she could find.