Captain Burger van der Walt commands Perseus³, the 60-metre Perini Navi sailing yacht and one of the largest single-masted sailing yachts afloat. South African-born, with nearly three decades of professional sea time behind him, he is widely respected across the global yachting industry for taking a 213-foot sailing superyacht to places vessels of her size rarely go. His career began in 1997, when he left South Africa at eighteen to travel through Europe and secured a berth aboard the historic three-masted schooner Creole, where he spent five formative years. He returned to Cape Town to study, teaching Yachtmaster courses alongside his degree, before moving onto the classic yacht circuit as skipper of the 1896 gaff-rigged cutter Avel, taking first-class honours at several of the world’s leading classic regattas. Burger joined the Perseus³ programme in 2013 during the yacht’s construction and took command in 2016. Since then he has led her on extensive global voyaging, guiding the yacht through Patagonia, around Cape Horn, across the Pacific, and along the coast of Madagascar and the wider Indian Ocean. On the race course, he is known for pushing the yacht to her absolute limits, most notably steering his crew to victory at the 2024 New Zealand Millennium Cup. Day-to-day, he manages a crew of 9, delivering owner and charter operations at the very top of the market. Known for an approachable but exacting leadership style, Burger places absolute priority on safety, disciplined yacht management and a working culture that has kept his crew motivated and long-serving — a rarity in an industry defined by turnover. Off watch, he is a committed surfer and lifelong ocean enthusiast.