THE CREW
Matthew Peak: Founder / Yachtsman
Brought up by parents with a highly-unusual and adventurous take on the world. As a little tot lived in Germany with the British military, then Oxfordshire where his mother opened a children's bookshop. At age 10 his parents decided they'd had quite enough of solid ground and moved the whole family on to a 45ft sailing boat, aboard which, in between sailing the boat to dangerous and exotic locations, they home-schooled Matthew and his sister Emily.
Matthew first had his taste of larger, community-run boats when he decided
to jump ship in Belize, age 16, to live aboard the Coral Research Vessel
"Hericlitus", an 83ft Chinese Junk (replica). Aboard the “Hericlitus”
he participated with rest of the crew in the practice and subsequent performances
of contemporary plays, for local audiences. In 1993, aged 18, he returned
to England to complete an art foundation at a Tech College in Oxford,
then went on to study Illustration and Graphic Design in Bath. Since leaving
college, he spent 3 years assisting the fledgling web- development company
‘Open World’, originally in Bath, but subsequently helped
setup operations for Open World in both Chicago & Colombo, Sri Lanka.
He has now returned to yachting, sat a few exams, and divides his time
between sailing professionally, travelling and drawing. With this broad
background Matthew is founding Painted Ocean based on ideals he has had
since childhood.
