NESTLED in the beautiful sheltered harbour lies Porto Cervo Marina, considered to be one of Italy’s best equipped and welcoming ports. The marina boasts a total of 700 berths for craft of between one and six metres.
If you search among the boats, you would surely find Glenashley resident and nautical queen Andi Van Zyl presenting one of her TV shows. In many ways Andi has a dream job, travelling the world, meeting intriguing people, seeing amazing places and getting paid for it.
The 24-year-old beauty currently works for Nautical Channel as a presenter and producer. The channel is the only 24/7 nautical sports and lifestyle channel in the world and covers everything from boating sports (power and sailing) to board sports (surfing, kiteboarding, etc) to news, commentary, travel, adventure, athlete interviews, equipment, and a lot more.
While most would find themselves out of their depths with the topics, Andi feels right at home. Growing up around a surf crazy family (her brother Davey is currently one of South Africa’s brightest stars on the ASP tour), Andi has quickly adjusted to the demands of international television presenting by immersing herself in the sport she’s covering.
“In the beginning, I’ll admit I was a little intimidated but I love to perform and tell stories. Being able to try out surfing, or sailing has certainly helped me in my aquatic safari. I surf as much as I can but I think my brother would be embarrassed if he saw me,” she joked.
But how did this dream job come to fruition? “I studied film and media and production at UCT. I started making documentaries as an amateur in Kenya, while I lived with the Samburu tribe and documented how poaching was affecting the wildlife in the country. I took this to Marché International des Programmes (MIP), a television and media market in Cannes. This is where I met the programming director at Nautical Channel who really liked the show, and gave me an opportunity and the rest is history,” she said.
Andi added the best part of her job was being inspired by other people’s stories. “Nautical Channel have been awesome throughout this journey and I’m just so blessed to constantly meet people who inspire me,” she said.
Andi will soon be travelling to the Big Wave circuit where local surfer, Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker will be competing.
