Ahoy,

2025 was a special year for me, potentially a pivotal one. Sailing the Atlantic ocean at the Clipper Race was a lifetime adventure, full of challenges, learnings and stories. Yet, it was not the only thing that made this year so remarkable.

I’m not sure whether to call it a sabbatical, a gap year, or a career break—none of those labels feel like a perfect fit for the mix of things I did. Regardless of what it's called, it was an incredibly rewarding experience that taught me more than I expected.

During the last 12 months I have trained for, prepared and then sailed 7.000 nautical miles between England and Uruguay as part of the Clipper Race. As part of a 20 person crew at a 70-foot racing yacht, we lived 5 weeks at sea, faced diverse weather conditions from storms and waves at the Bay of Biscay to complete calm windless Doldruns. Teamwork, exhaustion, fun, sleep deprivation, winning a race, losing a podium a few hours before the finish line at another race, learning to live at sea, missing loved ones, etc. It was a high intensity splash of experiences, it was what I wanted to do for a long time, and I feel grateful and privileged to have done it. 

But there was more.

After the risky (some would say crazy) decision to leave a big role at Heineken leading the European IT function, I embraced a portfolio career for the first time, as it gave me the time flexibility I needed. I worked as an advisor and consultant in IT, Data and AI, mentored a start-up and took a Non-Executive Director certification. Leaving the privileges, glamour and status of the corporate life at big global companies was a humbling experience, sometimes scary, but it was extremely rejuvenating. It was like exercising those ‘beginner’ muscles that we have when we leave University.

I also tried a different spin in 2025.

I drove the world’s best tennis players as part of the official Wimbledon Tournament car fleet. I live in Wimbledon, play tennis and attend the tournament almost every year, but this time I was part of it. I have seen from inside how the world’s most traditional tennis tournament is organised and delivered to perfection for an unforgettable experience for guests and players.

Personally, 2025 also had special things. It was A-Levels and Uni year for my older son, and I could help him visit and choose his prefered Uni, then live the roller coaster emotions of results, which ended up being what he wanted. My younger son, at age 16 also brought a twist and asked to come back to Brazil, to experience what it is to live in his home country and finish school there. As parents, we decided to allow him this opportunity, and helped organise his move to live with grandparents and all necessary school transitions.

As I thought the year had nothing else reserved for me, a few days ago, I still found the time to take my younger son to watch our Brazilian football team win the Copa Libertadores at Lima in Peru. Another unforgettable moment.

The Takeaways

I’m sharing my stories from this year to help inspire, and also to offer some takeaways. It’s up to you to use, adapt, share, take in whatever way it might help you. Here they go. 

• Resilience: As I lived the exhausting routine of an ocean sailing race, I understood that resilience and mental toughness is more about starting than finishing. It’s about showing up when you’re exhausted and no one is watching, waking up on time to a night sailing shift, doing a job no one asked you to do, doing a little bit every day, despite all difficulties. 

• Failures: As I screwed up one big kite sail due to a bad helm movement, which led us to lose precious time at the race, I saw how critical is the ability to quickly bounce back from failures. Your response to failure determines your capacity for success.

• Challenges: Achievements feel best, both in experience and satisfaction, when they are challenging, when you break a sweat to make it happen. 

• Authenticity: When I left behind a big role and the famous global company I worked for, I could clearly perceive the colleagues who wanted to be or work with me for who I really am.

• Distance: Sometimes the distance brings us closer to those we love. Six weeks away from my sons, 19 and 16 years old, made us closer. It felt like the bonds we already had became stronger and new ones started to grow.

Wrapping up

As I reach the end of this year having done so much, I realise that you can achieve a longer life not just by biologically extending your timeline, but by fitting more lives into the time we are given. 

BTW, I could not have done all this without the support of my amazing wife!