After 12 years merchant navy I made a career change to deep sea towage and salvage. Being master mariner and having been captain on the category
of large ocean-going tugs I became a salvage master and as a salvage master and consultant with SMIT Salvage I retired in November 2003, whereafter having done all the jobs I promised my wife to do at home the telephone started to ring, which made me decide
to continue working as I had done before as a salvage master/consultant. I advise international law firms, PandI clubs, underwriters etc. Late December 2014 I requested the SCR Committee of Lloyds in London to have my name removed from the SCR panel. The former decision will not effect any of my other activities. They still remain as they are. I still go out and execute salvage operations for salvage companies
worldwide, this allows me to maintain the practical experience.
In 2016 after 12 years of having been a visiting teacher on the STC -
Shipping and Transport College in Rotterdam my position was handed over to the younger generation and a permanent member of the teaching staff. I am the author of the book "Towing Manual - Offshore and Ocean Towage with
related shipping matters and opinions" ISBN/EAN 978-90-810900-2-5, which I wrote on behalf of the aforementioned STC Group for the target group students in the Higher Professional Education Level.
In March 2017 my second book has been published. The title is "The money is good and the marriage is bad", it is a quote I learned from a Norwegian captain during one of my activities in
the beginning of the tanker war Iraq - Iran and when I learned it, I decided if I ever write a book about my sea going experiences, this will be the title. And so I did. The book however is, except from the title, written in the Dutch language. The book can
be purchased in all book shops locally and via their websites. The book is also available via the internet site of www.bol.com. The purchase price is € 27,95. It is registered as ISBN: 978-90-8616-265-9. In order
to trigger you appetite I will add some example pages to this presentation.
The E-book version of the book "The money is good
and the marriage is bad" is:ISBN: 978-90-8616-327-4
I made an English version of the aforementioned book. The concept of the
English version is presented this February 2020 to the publisher for review. This will take some months and hopefully publication will be end of this year 2020.
In my private life I was an active playing senior basketball player until the season 2015/2016 when I decided to shift my sports activity to swimming since my home town opened the nicest all year round open racing swimming
pool in the area but most of all I started to dislike the introduction of soccer field language on the basketball court. Together with mrs. Ter Haar I conduct long distance cycling trips on a first class 27 gears Santos tandem bike. These trips include
distances from our home town in the Southern part of The Netherlands to Spain, Prague and Strasbourg vice versa, from home to Hamburg vice versa and a round trip of Denmark, Regensburg (Germany) to Budapest (Hungary) and back. East Coast of England round trip
Harwich-New Castle from home and back. On a regular weekly basis, weather depending, I ride my racing bike. I also am the secretary of the local branch of the Dutch
Cyclists' Union in my home town.