CHI SAILING :::: ABOUT ELENA

Elena Kriegner was born in Linz on October 19, 1968.

Elena graduated from a college specializing in jewelry design. After mastering in applied metal design, she started her career as a jewelry designer in the Summer of 1989.

During extended stays in foreign countries like South Africa (where she had internship at a gem stone design firm) and Greece (where she taught a summer course for jewelry design) she felt her love for world travel. In 1994 she obtained her master’s degree in jewelry design. Her workload increased, and the vacations became shorter, but her wanderlust didn’t go away.

During a stay in the US she took a trip to the Caribbean with her sister and for the first time sailed. Her 4-day trip around St. Marteen proved to be a great way to fall in love with sailing. In summer of 2000 Eli went on a sailing trip with her cousin in Croatia. On the charter yacht she met Chico and found out, that they both share the same dream: a trip around the world.

In order for Eli to continue her creative work during the trip, a special workshop has been installed in the boat.

Eli holds the sailing certificates for offshore sailing and for radio operation.

CHI SAILING :::: ABOUT HERBERT

Herbert Winkler was born in Bischofshofen (Salzburg) on March 12, 1958.

After graduating from a technical college in Salzburg he worked for many years for a installation and plumbing company, being responsible for planning heating, plumbing and air conditioning systems as well as overseeing logistics, personnel and the progress at the construction sites.

By chance, Herbert (aka “Chico”) ended up on a yacht in 1985 for the first time. It was then that he caught the “sailing bug“ and he’s never been the same since. He soon found the annual 1 or 2 week sailing on charter boats and a weekend at the lake now and then to be too short. After Chico tried out a catamaran in 1993, his mind was set that his own boat would have to be a catamaran. It took until fall 2000 for the dream to own his own boat to come true. Now the time has come for Chico to realize another dream: a sailing trip around the world.

Chico holds all necessary sailing certificates, and even an astronavigation certificate. He has a sailing experience of 5,000 nautical miles in the waters of Italy, Greece, Croatia, Turkey, France and the Caribbean.