Behind Channel Zero Sailing stands Nils-Peter Hey – sailor, entrepreneur and mental coach. I combine the mental methods of elite sport with what makes sailing special: closeness to nature, responsibility, and dealing with forces greater than ourselves.

Nils-Peter Hey in a wool jumper and Norway beanie below deck

Seamanship & qualifications

RYA Cruising Instructor Sail
RYA Navigation Instructor
RYA Yachtmaster Offshore (commercially endorsed)
SHS Sporthochseeschifferschein (broadly equivalent to RYA Yachtmaster Ocean)
Sea Survival (RYA, STCW & World Sailing compliant)
Yacht Management & Yacht Maintenance (Hamble School of Yachting)
LRC Long Range Certificate

Nils-Peter Hey in icy sailing conditions

Professional background

Mentaltrainer C-License (DMA, German Mentaltrainer Academy, September 2026)
25+ years as an entrepreneur: management consultant, trainer and publisher
Publicly appointed and sworn expert for marketing and business communication
Certified Global Negotiator (HSG, University of St Gallen)
As head of studies at the BAW, the Bavarian academy for advertising and marketing, trainer of more than 1,000 people in marketing
Over 1,000 appearances as lecturer, speaker and media expert
Over 500 publications as journalist, columnist, specialist and book author

Why sailing and the head?

Beyond all the seamanship questions, sailing is above all a brutally mental sport. The length of the contests, the mix of weather and fears, and the sheer variety of topics demand more of sailors than of most athletes. In racing, mental training is a largely blank page, and recreational sailing education is full of gaps worldwide. For many pro athletes, nothing runs without a mental coach. Where pilots and professional mariners have structured mentoring, the recreational skipper is pretty much alone – alone between the urge to cast off and the respect for countless things still to be trained.

Skipper after crossing the Atlantic with the ARC

Atlantic crossing crew after arrival in Saint Lucia