David Ogden Also known as Seadogs11 was born on the 11th February 1950 in Bournemouth, UK, the son of Philip Henry Ogden and Kathleen Olga Ogden. He was Christened Philip but adopted his second name to avoid confusion with his father who was a consultant engineer.
David’s early life was spent living on a 55 ft motor yacht Ledora moored in Christchurch Harbour, before his parents moved to a house built on an Island in the middle of the river Avon. Living on and near the water, he became a natural sailor so it was not surprising that later on he became a sailing instructor.
David Ogden – Education
went to a number of private schools, Southborne Preparatory School and Whychwood in Bournemouth. The Rectory near Bredon on another river Avon and Rolvendon Manor near Tenterden in Kent. Later he attended Pangbourne Nautical College on the Thames near Reading. David took up Xcounty running and coxed his college 1st VIII at Henley in Princess Elizabeth cup.
David Ogden – The Sailor
David Served 5 years in the Royal Navy as an Artificer Apprentice at HMS Fishborne, HMS Collingwood and aboard HMS London flagship of the Mediterranean fleet. David made his mark in the Navy where he was twice junior x-country champion and a member of the RN athletics team.
David returned to Bournemouth and taught sailing in Poole and Christchurch harbours and also worked as a boat fitter, before going to teacher training college in Weymouth to study Physical Education. Whilst in Weymouth he won a couple of sailing trophies and helped Dunhill’s support British Olympic sailing as a rescue boat driver and David also competed in the British Olympic trials sailing a Finn. David Ogden assisted with the organization of worlds first sailing speed record event working for John Players as a rescue boat driver.
In 2007 and 2008 David competed in the Borneo Cup yacht race with a 3rd as Skipper and 1st place as crew. 2013/14 saw David competing as skipper of a J80 in local regattas in Cyprus. In 2015 David competed as a sail trimmer aboad a Beneteu 40 representing his old School Pangbourne College in the Arrow Trophy
David Ogden – Work Experience
also spent two years 1971-1973, teaching sailing on an indoor computer controlled sailing simulator which could teach complete beginners how to sail a dinghy, without going neat the water. Success was virtually guaranteed after some 48 hours of Instruction. Later David worked for the YMCA as a senior instructor teaching groups of young people, include French and British how to sail, before suffering from a hernia, which lead to a career rethink.
1975 saw David Ogden Join Southampton based Risdon Beazley marine, Britain’s foremost salvage company as a marine assistant. The company operated a 400 tonnes floating Sheerlegs on the north East coast and it was not long before David was promoted to Office Manager in Middlesbrough. David attended evening classes and qualified to join The Institute of Chartered shipbroker as a member in 1979. During his time in Middlesbrough he made some connections with the North sea Oil Industry where his Sheerlegs were used to load out offshore modules.
David Ogden -The Oil Industry
David Ogden Moved to Aberdeen in 1978 working as a consultant with Skua BV for Occidental Petroleum, responsible for the chartering and operation of a fleet of North sea offshore supply vessels. Two year later he transferred to work directly for the Oil company.
David Ogden remained in Aberdeen for the rest of his working life working for the same company but under many different name names due to many take overs and mergers. He drove past the office on the fateful night of 6th July 1988, when Piper Alpha was destroyed with the loss of 168 persons. A year earlier David had organized a charity windsurf event and led a team of surfers from Peterhead 120 miles offshore to the nearby Claymore Platform raising £10,000 for a local children’s home.
David Ogden – Adventure Racer
Another Life changing event occurred in 1999 when David Ogden was selected to compete in The Elf Authentique Adventure Race in the Philippines. The Race was a grueling 24/7 10 day race through the jungles and caves on Samur and Leyte, by means of trekking, Sea Kayaking, caving, inline skating and sailing. David was the oldest member of two company teams entered and was forced to retire on the penultimate day as he had no team members left to continue the sailing stage. At the end of the race he committed himself to cross the finish line.
David Ogden took up the sport of Adventure racing in 1999 at the age of 49 and set up an organization International Adventurers. He invited novice racers from around the world to join and race with him. He continued to work full time until 2000 until retiring to Cyprus. David Ogden entered races in Scotland, Brazil and South Africa until finally in The Amazon in 2000 He finally crossed the line alongside long time team mate Primus Lambert and Two team members from Guatemala. He was also became a member of of a British Ex pat team who broke the club record in the Annual Inter Services Walk down in Cyprus from mount Olympus to the coast.
Cyprus provided the ideal base for Adventure racing and for the next five years he continued to form teams and race in France and Reunion. He planned a race in Cyprus, but was unable to raise the necessary sponsorship.
2004 saw David Ogden once again in the Far East, this time in Sabah Malaysia, where he worked with Raleigh International a British youth development organization as an Adventure leader, for Jungle trekking and Diving. His first trek across the Crocker range saw him arrive at Inabong Station high above Kota Kinabalu and the vista of the islands, beaches and sea at his front combined with the mountains and jungle at his back marked another change. This was the perfect place to live, as taxes and cost of living had increased in Cyprus due to joining the EU, The Malaysia My Second home scheme with no tax, duty free car and low cost of living was very attractive.
One Month later on coming out of the Jungle he proceeded to Sutera Harbour Marina Club, still covered in mud and negotiated the Purchase of a new property at an adjoining site in Grace Gardens.
Late in The Summer David completed his move from Cyprus and started up a number of online business’s to fill up some of his free time. He competed in a couple of local adventure races and also started work as a reporter working for GFC in Reunion and Oman. David has also spent some time writing an Ebook The A-Z of Adventure Racing
David Ogden Internet Marketing Mentor
David Ogden settled down in Kota Kinabalu Malaysia, under Malaysia My Second Home Scheme and started building a number of online business’s plus he brought The Cottage Kota Kinabalu’s Oldest pub based on a typical British Pub, which closed in 2008
During August 2007 David Ogden set up Yacht Watch Service to cater for sailors at Sutera Harbour Marina, who wished to leave their yachts in the marina for a period of time.
November 2007 saw the launch of his first regional marketing portalHome Based Business Malaysia with the sole aim of helping local Malaysian learn how to build a successful online business
David began to become disenchanted with Malaysia due to overdevelopment around Kota Kinabalu and moved to the Philippines in 2011 the place which some 12 years earlier had changed his outlook on life and it was like stepping back 12 years. He set up an Internet marketing business based on the island of Mindanao.
2013 saw David returning to Cyprus to get married and take on a temporary job as Sailing Master for Sail First Cyprus.
2015 saw David return to the UK with his family to the UK and set up home in Derbyshire.