Edo Ankum is initiator of the Long Tall Sally project en founding father of Sally Lightfoot B.V. With his wife and their two very young kids, they lived aboard their 45 ft yacht Sally Lightfoot. They explored the Atlantic Ocean, the Med, the Black and Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the East African coast and Madagascar. Their family voyage ended in Cape Town after five years. See www.sallylightfoot.nl for  detailed info on the family cruise, with many pictures, and on Ankum’s book about the voyage: ‘Around Africa’.

In Cape Town Sally Lightfoot was sold to Dutch owners. During the 9000 mile delivery trip to Amsterdam, to hand over Sally Lightfoot to her new owners, Ankum came up with the idea for a new project, the Long Tall Sally project, for ‘part time’ yachties sharing yacht ownership. In this project Ankum combines his travelling and working experience to form a fresh and new approach to travelling and yacht ownership.  

Before setting sail for his five year cruise, Ankum got educated a professional sailor on oceangoing sailingvessels at the naval college in Enkhuizen. Prior to that he worked for ten years as an attorney at law and later as inhouse legal counsel at two major Dutch banks. There he got involved in project finance, working for instance on large shipping and offshore projects. Simultaneously he converted a 120 ft former cargo barge into a fashionable Amsterdam house boat. With family and friends he spent many weekends and holidays sailing the barge along the inland rivers and lakes of the Netherlands and Belgium. 

While cruising Ankum published a series of articles for a Dutch sailing magazine. The series has been published as a glossy coffeetable book. After having resettled on terra firma Ankum kept writing articles for various magazines and his book ’Around Africa’ was published. He also turned the Long Tall Sally project from a mere idea into a real company. With his family or by himself, Ankum travels to adventurous destinations with the sea always close at hand. He gives lectures on his voyage and on the Long Tall Sally project.