The People Behind KOSMOS
A professional skipper and a shared passion for the sea
Manuel — Captain
RYA Yachtmaster (Motor & Sail) · 15 years sailing & coaching · Mediterranean & Atlantic
Trained as an economist, with an MBA and years of experience as a CFO, I spent a long time building a solid career in the corporate world. My life was full of goals met, strategic decisions, and high-level responsibilities. From the outside, everything looked like it fit together perfectly.
But at 36, I went through a real professional and personal blackout that forced me to stop completely. It wasn't a brave choice or some romanticized search for change — it was a deep, almost urgent need to question who I was and where I actually wanted to go.
In that uncomfortable silence, something became clear — something that had always been there: the sea. Not as an escape, but as a truth. I decided to start from scratch, to learn with humility and consistency, and to turn a quiet passion into a new way of living. That path led me to become a professional captain, and later a certified instructor with the Royal Yachting Association (RYA)... and yes, there was one particular moment during those years that changed everything — a SW wind that didn't just make me a captain, but made it undeniably clear that I simply belonged to the sea. It's not the absence of difficulty. It's the presence of meaning.
Today, every voyage I share is also part of my own story — the story of someone who changed course in order to live with integrity. On board, I take care of every detail with the same sense of responsibility I once brought to business decisions, but with a different lens: more human, more aware, more connected to what's actually happening right now. Sailing isn't just moving across water. It's creating a space where time slows down, where the wind leads, and where people can reconnect with themselves.
This project was born from that real transformation. From the belief that the sea isn't just something you sail — it's something you feel. And that sometimes, losing the path you knew is exactly what lets you find your own.
“I used to think I was happy. Now I know what happiness actually means.”
Alex — Owner
RYA Day Skipper · Founder of Grandioso Yachting S.L. · Owner of KOSMOS
Before I ever set foot on a sailing boat, I had already lived several lives. A management degree in the early 2000s led me into television and advertising, then editorial work, then — at 35 — a full career pivot into software engineering, driven by where the world kept heading. Five years of corporate development later, I moved to Spain and began, once again, from scratch.
Sailing had been living in my head for years before that — an unrealised passion fed by a handful of YouTube personalities and the quiet but persistent idea of casting off and going somewhere alone. I had no experience, no plan. Just the feeling.
Shortly after arriving in Spain I signed up for an RYA Day Skipper course in Estepona. My instructor was Manu. We became friends almost immediately — I had found someone who talked about the sea using the same words I had been hearing inside my own head for years. That was the point of no return.
Two years of research and deliberation later, the decision was made: a catamaran, moored in one of the finest marinas in Spain, at the gateway to the Strait of Gibraltar — with the Eastern Atlantic to the west, the Mediterranean ahead, and the African coast fourteen miles to the south.
Manu handles the boat and our guests with the seamless skill of a professional captain. I run the business — and whenever possible I am onboard as a working deckhand, steadily building towards my own Yachtmaster certification.
“KOSMOS is in part a quiet homage to Carl Sagan. I can think of no better answer to the state of the world than the perspective he spent his life trying to give us.”
Our Philosophy
We believe the sea demands respect, preparation, and presence. KOSMOS exists to provide experiences that are as safe as they are extraordinary — whether you come to learn, to sail, to relax, or simply to be somewhere beautiful.