KNOW YOUR SKIPPER

Martin comes from the landlocked country of Czech Republic, well known for top tennis and ice hockey players. He participated in both sports with vigor and represented his state successfully in many competitions. Unfortunately he didn’t partake of beer, not even the wonderful Czech variety, so he escaped from persecution by seeking asylum in Australia.

Martin continued tennis but suffered many injuries and sought a new sport. One sunny but windy day in 1997 he had an idea. He would represent Czech Republic during 2000 Sydney Olympics in one sport that they did not excel in ….. sailing. Subsequently a Soling was purchased with the intent of qualifying for those Olympics.

After a rather eventful few years with some successes and many failures it became apparent to Martin that there would not be an Olympic glory in sailing. The Soling was sold and new hobby taken up. Tarmac car rallying. His wife has always been very supportive and became his navigator. Martin had to listen to his wife (!) for pace-notes to keep them both alive. If it got heated in the car Sharon would just switch the intercom off until Martin calmed down. They were a very successful rallying couple, winning trophies in many state and interstate rallies. Once children came along his parents were worried about being stuck with orphaned children and refused to babysit during rallying. A safer family sport was needed so Martin returned to sailing.

Solitaire, a rather lovely pocket cruiser was purchased from Ocean Reef. Martin and Sharon joined NYC “the best yacht club on a river”. They enrolled their kids Monika and Sophie in Tackers so they could be better crew. That backfired rather badly as Monika and Sophie decided they preferred performance dinghies. It was left up to Martin and Sharon to race Solitaire by themselves. They had considerable success, winning two NYC Club Championships and many river regattas. Martin regularly flys his Hussite battle flag and his clan is known as the Pirates at NYC, since when it comes to wining regattas where money is involved, Martin always takes the bounty.

Two years ago NYC organized a club sail to HYC. After sleeping overnight, Martin was getting ready for the long sail back in his 22 footer when Sharon observed HYC yachts departing easily from pens for their Sunday race. At that moment Martin was ‘ordered’ to get a big, fast yacht with plenty of head room.

He set his spy network in motion and just over a year ago acquired the perfect candidate for this adventurous couple – the gorgeous Circa. They comfortably cruise Circa doublehanded so Martin originally planned to race double handed like they do on Solitaire. It quickly became apparent that more crew would make life easier for racing. It has taken Martin a year to develop great consistent crew and now with his wife by his side he plans to pick up some more silverware with Circa while having fun doing it. Watch out for his battle flag, once that is flying you better hand over the loot.