Meet Our 2018 Bravo 1 & Charlie 1 Adventure Leadership Team

Mark Kennedy
Program Director

Mark is a professionally trained instructor and tutor in many adventure activities, achieving a Higher National Diploma in Outdoor Adventure Management during his 3 years in college. This is where he trained as a powerboat, sailing, kayaking, windsurfing, climbing and mountaineering instructor. He has worked in the Desolation Wilderness in Eldorado County, California, where he lived in a tent for three months and delivered leadership programs to students of all ages through the medium of true wilderness. This was a life changing experience for him, where he developed his love for sharing his skills and knowledge with his students and learned how to develop their true potential. After having an amazing experience as a captain at Sail Caribbean in 2016 and fleet captain in 2017, Mark is extremely excited to get back at it this season.  In the times Mark was not out teaching and adventuring over the remainder of the 2017-2018 year, he worked with an Irish based company called Irish commercial charter boats where he crewed and skippered various boats of all shapes and sizes throughout the Irish Sea.

Adam Grant
Fleet Captain

Adam is an outdoor education guide, having worked in the outdoor industry all over the world and for the last 5 years in Australia and Ireland. He has worked for various summer camps and has instructed kayaking, sailing, windsurfing and rock climbing. Adam grew up in Ireland and has a diploma in outdoor education in which he learned various skills required to teach using the medium of the outdoors, with 5 years of yacht sailing with a day skipper license. For the past year Adam has been working in Australia providing outdoor education for schools across the country.

Kyra Benforte
Provisions Manager

Kyra grew up in New York City and currently attends the University of Richmond in Virginia where she is a rising Senior. She joined us as a student on Bravo, Foxtrot, and Delta. For the past two summers, Kyra was a Mate on both Tango and Foxtrot, after completing the Echo college-age program. Kyra is majoring in Leadership and Italian Studies and spent the past fall studying abroad in Perugia, Italy.

Alex Elliott
Captain of Mayotte

Meet Alex soon!

Megan Lundequam
Captain of Zanzibar

Born and raised in Winter Park, Florida, Megan grew up under the sun. Whether it was skurfing, surfing, fishing, scuba diving, sailing, hiking, or camping, Megan took every chance she could to be outside. As a rising senior at the University of Florida, she has taken her learning indoors and is currently pursuing a B.A. in Environmental Science. After joining the Sail Caribbean family as a student while in high school, Megan returned the summer of 2017 to participate in the SC Mate-In-Training program. She now joins us as a mate for the upcoming adventure season!

Riks Kjaergaard
Mate of Mayotte

Growing up in a small country like Denmark has always made Riks curious about what to find outside its borders. She graduated with a BSc in Economics in 2016 and has since hiked volcanos in Guatamala, found herself lost a jungle in Costa Rica, explored the waters around Honduras, Colombia and Thailand, watching countless sunsets at sea, meeting interesting cultures and making friends from all over the world. She finds her passion lies with the ocean and for the last 7 months as a Dive Instructor, she has shared that passion with new and experienced divers on liveaboards in Thailand. She loves outdoor life as much as her coffee in the morning, gadgets, motorbikes and everything that includes the danish word “hygge”, and can’t wait to share tons of “hygge” time in the Caribbean over the summer.

Ryan Tydd
Mate of Zanzibar

Ryan is a fun loving, energetic and highly motivated PADI Dive Instructor from Australia. Ryan began diving 3 years ago and truly loves the opportunity to share his passion with as many people as possible. Surprisingly, Ryan did not grow up anywhere near the ocean but instead grew up on a large farm in outback Australia. From a very young age, he was helping out around the farm doing a variety of jobs including driving tractors, riding horses and looking after livestock. At the age of 12, he left the country and moved to Newcastle Australia, where he studied at Warners Bay High School. In 2010, he joined the Australian Army where continued his studies to become an electronics technician and spent the next 6 years fixing armored vehicles. As a farewell celebration from the military, Ryan conducted his open water course where he discovered his true passion of exploring the underwater world and continued his studies to become a dive instructor. Ryan then worked for 12 months on the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns Australia. When he is not on the water, he loves being out in nature and enjoys activities such as hiking, rock climbing, four-wheeling and camping.

Tim Caruso
Dive Mate In Training

Originally from New York, Tim is currently pursuing a BA in Film and Screen Media in Cork, Ireland. A diver from age 13, Tim has learned to sail and dive with Sail Caribbean, earning his Rescue Diver and Divemaster certifications over three years. Sail Caribbean opened up a world of exploration to Tim, encouraging him to study abroad in Ireland. After graduation from high school in 2016, a new adventure awaited across the ocean with new friends and opportunity to explore. Tim’s first year in Ireland brought him around the country, travelling with friends and working on films along the way. Tim’s first year film was showcased at the Fastnet Film Festival in Schull, Ireland, and after travelling from Maine to Venice and finishing his second year of college, Tim is excited to return to Sail Caribbean for a familiar and adventurous summer.