Neerav and Zhenya met through their shared passion — sailing.

At the time, Neerav was serving as Membership Secretary of the Naivasha Yacht Club, and Zhenya had applied to join as a new member.

What began with shared races and the occasional capsize quickly turned into friendship, laughter, and adventures both on and off the water.

One night, camping on the Yacht Club island, Zhenya called Neerav because there was a hippo right outside her tent — and she really needed to step out. Neerav, ever the optimist, thought it might be a flirtatious invitation. That illusion vanished quickly when he saw the hippo himself — and gallantly kept it away.

Since then, they have lived through adventures big and small: stepping on a sea urchin while kitesurfing, dancing at Beyoncé’s concert in London, climbing the dunes of Namibia, surviving a windstorm in Cape Town, semi-legally travelling to Belarus to meet Zhenya’s parents (and drink vodka for three days!), wandering through the endless galleries of Saint Petersburg, joyfully dancing to 80s hits on a beach in Diani at night with Neerav’s closest family (20 people!), driving with a trailer full of boats to Kilifi (twice!), starting a home together — and countless escapades in between that they have been navigating side by side.

Now, they’re ready to set sail on their greatest journey yet — a lifetime together. And they couldn’t be happier to have their wonderful family and friends by their side, celebrating this next chapter with them.