Luuk Spoelstra

Luuk is the owner and captain of TC Grace. His stewardship of the 1965 vessel is guided by a quiet conviction that some ships deserve to keep going — not as museum pieces, but as working boats crossing real water.

He holds ICC skipper certification together with offshore radio qualifications, and has spent years preparing for the passage home from Croatia to British waters.

Away from the water, Luuk runs a specialist water filtration business based in London. It is a fitting parallel — a life spent thinking carefully about what moves through boats, and what moves through people.

This expedition is the culmination of long preparation. From Zadar down the Adriatic, across to Italy, through the Strait of Gibraltar and up the Atlantic coast to British waters — Luuk is at the helm for every leg.