Captain: Willem Strauss

VETERAN TEAM OF WILLEM AND YVONNE ARE JOINED BY 4 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

Marthinus grew up in a small farming town in the Eastern Freestate of South Africa. Growing up, the closest beach was about 300 miles away, so it was always a treat to go to the beach. His family usually went to the local dam to go swimming and fishing.

Marthinus was very active in sports in Primary and High school. He played golf, cricket, squash, rugby, tennis and did gymnastics and track and field. He played for provincial teams in squash and rugby and made it to national championships in gymnastics. Marthinus obtained his bachelor’s degree at North West University South Africa in Sports and Recreation Management.

After completing his university degree in SA, he went to Dallas to be an AuPair. I looked after two kids, Jack and Rachel. When he returned to SA, a friend asked if he wanted to join her in Korea, so he went and taught English for three years in South Korea and Vietnam. He pursued yachting when he realized that teaching is not something I want to do as a career. A friend from his hometown that joined yachting and became a captain told him to try it and see if I liked it. Now he is very he did.

Marthinus favorite activity on board is taking the guests on tender rides. Whether it be a sunset booze cruise, taking them to an island to explore, going fishing or taking them snorkeling somewhere. Tender rides are always fun!

Marthinus favorite destinations, including The Bahamas as he thinks it is the most beautiful, but also enjoyed Savanna as it was a lot of fun!

Marthinus hobbies include hunting and fishing. He also dabbled in skateboarding and BMX biking. He like taking pictures and videos using my camera, action camera and drone. He like playing sports much more than watching them and some of my favorites are golf, rugby, and squash.

Engineer JUAN JOSE DI MATTEO FIORANI

Juan Jose grew up Mexico City with his parents and older sister. When he was 15 years old, he left Mexico for Virginia to attend high school at a Military Academy. After graduating high school, he continued his education and obtained a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

Approximately 22 years ago is when Juan Jose started his career at sea. He first became a scuba instructor and started working on liveaboards with Aggressor Adventures. Since he had a mechanical background, he started working as a dive instructor/engineer on the liveaboards. As he continues to progress with scuba diving, he received his Technical Dive Instructor certificates with both PADI, SSI & TDI and he is also an EFR Instructor. He has completed over 800 scuba diving certifications and has performed over 18,000 dives.

Juan Jose currently holds his 500-ton Captain´s license. He is well trained to the highest level and is proficient at providing 5-star service. He is very hard working induvial that can’t wait to show you are your guests an amazing time!
Juan Jose hobbies include soccer, playing the guitar, singing, skydiving, riding dirt bikes, hiking, CrossFit, skating, bicycle, scuba diving and of course traveling!

His favorite destination is the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, “you see everything in there, most beautiful place on earth.”

+ 2 more crew, details coming soon!