Florian Dirkse

About Florian Dirkse

In 2009, Florian set off on a sailing trip around the world with his best friend. The friends visited various ocean projects along their route. After 2 years of sailing around the world, Florian had a mission: to clean up our oceans. After meeting Boyan Slat, the two started in 2012 ‘The largest cleanup in history’, the project The Ocean Cleanup.

Passion

Sailing has been ingrained in him since childhood by his parents. They never forced Florian to like sailing, but in their own way, they managed to make him increasingly enthusiastic during his youth. It started with winning sailing competitions in his own small optimist and sailing on his parents’ boat. He then taught sailing on various ships and was an avid competitive sailor. But when he got the chance to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 2004, he returned as a changed person.

Heart for the Ocean

After saving hard for 5 years, he finally left for a 2-year world trip with good friend Arjen. Florian loves interacting with the audience. They documented the entire journey in a book called ‘The Green Miles’. Arjen and Florian created an 8-part prime time TV series for AVRO about their journey, Sea, Salt, and Sailing. During his sailing trip around the world, he encountered so much plastic in the oceans.

Almost every time the small fishing hook was pulled up, there was some plastic attached. They even found plastic in the stomachs of fish. After his journey, he could not let go of the important role and pollution of our oceans. Therefore, he started the project The Ocean Cleanup together with Boyan Slat as co-captain. Florian is no longer working on the project and has started his own company, Zeildromen.

Captain Iglo

In 2016, a vacancy for the first Captain Iglo of the Netherlands came up. He was tagged from all sides and couldn’t ignore applying. And when Florian does something, he does it well. Dressed in full captain’s attire, he set sail with his application letter in a message in a bottle towards the PR agency of Iglo. The adventure had begun! Of course, he brought a gigantic platter of fish sticks since it was lunchtime. He had never seen such surprised faces. And yes, out of over 300 applicants, he was among the final 30 potential captains. A few days later, he could call himself the one and only Dutch Captain Iglo.

Lectures

As co-founder of The Ocean Cleanup and The Green Miles, he gives inspiring lectures, in Dutch and English, about following your dreams. Many people stick to dreaming; he puts them into action driven by his passion for sailing and his dream of making our oceans free of plastic.

His lectures are accompanied by a lot of visual material and professional videos. Are you looking for an inspiring story about passion, courage, challenges, team spirit, sustainability, taking a different path, and daring to act? Then you have come to the right place with Florian Dirkse. Additionally, Florian is available for moderating, specifically at events focused on sustainability.

Furthermore, he enjoys brainstorming on how organizations and companies can become more sustainable. Florian often speaks on location for companies, business associations, events, educational institutions, etc. Don’t have a location in mind yet? On his current sailing ship, the Zeildroom, he organizes corporate outings and training sessions on personal leadership, which he regularly concludes with his inspiring story. Nowadays, he is also available for webinars!

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