SOLEMAR

Nick Doyle / Captain

Nick (Skip) was born & raised in the famous Victorian town of Scarborough located in the North East of England. His love of the sea has seen me revolve around a multitude of water sports which eventually progressed into sailing at the local yacht club. He then moved to a training establishment in Cowes called the United Kingdom Sailing Academy where he completed a course in professional crew training in 1995. This enabled me to start my career in Yachting full time. His career has lead me to work & gain experience on some of the most prestigious large motor yachts in the industry, including 4 years on Lady Marina (64m Feadship), firstly as bosun, then up to 2nd officer & finally Chief Officer, 3 years on Octopus (124m Lurssen) as a bridge Officer, Helicopter landing officer and also certificated in Dynamic position & HiPap hydro-acoustics. My next venture found me joining Solemar (62m Amels) as First Officer in Nov 2006 to become Captain at the start of the 2008 Mediterranean season. My career has taken me across the Indian ocean & associated islands, Coral sea & Western Australia, the Mediterranean, the eastern seaboard of the USA, the Caribbean chain, Baja California including the Sea of Cortez, Gulf of Mexico, South Africa, Madagascar, Rio de Janerio, numerous Atlantic crossings.

Interesting Fact: Nick has a dream to build and fly a World War II Spitfire.

James ?Sebastian? Cooke/ 1^st Officer

James ?Seb? is our most recent Solemar recruit and is joining us from another Amels yacht Bel Abri. Seb has several years of experience running the decks and likes nothing more than to teach the guests the art of windsurfing, wakeboarding and fishing.

His hobbies include Jogging, surfing, swimming and even likes to try his hand out at a spot of cooking as he is half French ? we don?t let him anywhere near the galley though!!

Alastair Harris / Purser

Alastair (Ali) hails from York in the North of England and he began his career in the hospitality industry working in top hotels and restaurants around the country. His foray in to the yachting world began in 1992 when he joined MY Il Vagabondo as a Steward. He then went on to work on high profile charter yachts such as MY Leander, Reverie & Aviva.

His hobbies include skiing & snowboarding, tennis, football and on his travels particularly likes to pursue his love of playing really bad golf in really good locations.

Alastair joins Solemar bringing with him his continued passion to provide only the finest service for all guests whilst onboard the yacht.

Genevieve McGrath / Lead Service

Genevieve (Gen) hails from Sydney, Australia where she studied for her Bachelor of Arts in Communications. She then went on to work as a Foreign News Editor, before setting her sights on yachting. Various members of the McGrath family have been working on Superyachts for the last ten years, so it was a natural choice for Genevieve.

Travelling, Music and Dogs are some of Genevieve?s passions. She has joined us just after some exciting adventures whilst touring through South America.

Kristian Glavan / Chief Engineer

Kristian (George Clooney) was born and raised in Zadar-Croatia, he studied in Rijeka- and first going to sea back in 1995 as an engine cadet for six months in Brazil on a merchant ship.

After couple of years he moved to the cruise ships and worked for Disney cruises being part of construction/commissioning site team in Venice-Italy for both Disney Magic and Disney Wonder. He then changed to Royal Caribbean Cruise line where he spent six years including commissioning and construction of another two new 300 m cruise liners in Papenburg Germany.

Whenever possible he can be found enjoying his 44 foot sailing boat in Croatia, scuba diving, and lately he has learned to ski.

Mario Kramaric / Rotating Chief Engineer

Mario (Super Mario) comes from the city of Split in Croatia, he started his sea career in 1995 as an apprentice engineer on chemical tanker ships. He then joined the cruise ship industry working for Premier and then Disney Cruise Lines. While at home he enjoys soccer, wrestling, playing Picigin (a local Croatian Game), sailing and ?Kid?s watch keeping?. He runs a small sail boat charter business in Croatia and is an active member of ISKCON ? His greatest achievement: ?My wife and two kids.?

Dario Tomic / 2nd Engineer 1

Dario (Curly) was born and raised on the island of Korcula, Croatia. He studied marine engineering in Sibenik and went to sea, as it is tradition in the South of Croatia. After many years serving on Commercial Vessels, Dario joined the Cruise Ship Industry in 2000.

On his vacation, Dario enjoys fishing, scuba diving and working on his family?s century?s old vineyards and olive groves.

Ivan Skracic / 2nd Engineer 2

Ivan (Ivanhoe) was born in Sibenik, small but famous town on the coast of Croatia. He studied in Split and started his maritime career on oil tankers in 2004. Ivan joined the yachting industry in 2007.

During his spare time, Ivan practise various sports (water sport, Croatian local games). He plays the guitar and the piano and he is fond of the Dalmatian culture that he enjoys with his friends.

Todd Herman / 2nd Officer

Todd (T Bag) comes to us from the east coast of Canada. He was born and raised in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It was there where his passion for the sea began. He successfully completed a university degree in Business Management. His career at sea began in 2003. He worked for Celebrity Cruise Lines for 3 years and served on some of the biggest cruise ships in the world. In 2006 he made the transition to yachting and has worked on some high profile yachts such as M/Y Apogee, M/Y Huntress and M/Y Pegasus II. Todd is a certified Jet Ski instructor, advanced diver and is currently working towards completing his Chief Mate 3000 ton license.

Ben Proctor / Deckhand

Ben (Benji) is a born and raised gent from the Cornwall, in the Southwest of England. Being brought up on the coast helped to develop Ben?s passion for the sea. He has spent a significant amount of time on the water throughout his life. The past three summers have seen Ben in charge of a Harbour Master patrol launch and even one season as a ferryman in a local village. Ben did attempt the city life whilst completing his science degree and again whilst working in London, but hard as he tried, in the end he felt the urge to give in and return to a life on the Sea.

Being a fully qualified Physiotherapist, Ben appreciates and enjoys an active lifestyle and enjoys being outside. He has a great number of hobbies which include wakeboarding, water and mono skiing, squash, running, tennis and rowing as well as skiing in the Alps.

Paul Verry / Deckhand

Paul (Cougar) has been involved in competitive yachting since he was 7 years old, competing at a national and international level before becoming a full time yachting coach at the age of 19. After setting up and running a sailing academy in Wellington, New Zealand, Paul moved to Boston, USA, as their head racing coach for the 420 yacht class.

After returning to New Zealand, Paul decided to make use of his business degree and entered the corporate world. But the lure of fresh air and yachting become too strong and so he returned to his passion. Prior to Solemar, Paul was the watersports instructor onboard 85m MY Sunrays. Other hobbies include snowboarding, wakeboarding, kite surfing and tennis.

Interesting Fact: Paul is a self confessed Techie and likes nothing better than to fiddle with his gadgets!!

Stephen Baillie / Deckhand

Stephen (Stevie) was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. He originally studied business and marketing and worked in advertising for 7 years before getting into the world of super yachts. Growing up in the city of sails Stephen, has always had a passion for the ocean and spent summers on the water diving, fishing and wakeboarding. In the last few years Stephen decided to take his passion for the ocean and make it a profession. After working on several boats in New Zealand, Stephen joined MY Solemar in 2010.  He was a rescue crew member for the New Zealand Coastguard and is a qualified open water diver. Stephen enjoys the outdoors, sports, and travelling.

Sarah Clearwater / Lead Housekeeping

Sarah (Charlotte) was born and raised in New Zealand. She studied Communications and Event Management, followed by a two year stint working in a promotions department, before entering the world of yachting.

Having now worked on boats both in New Zealand and the South of France, Sarah is very excited to be venturing across to the Caribbean on Solemar for new experiences and challenges. She enjoys the outdoors, reading, travelling, meeting new people and has recently developed a dream of being able to chat away in French whilst relaxing in the Riviera. A little known fact about Sarah is that she is at her happiest when she is dancing.

Jessica Bedford / Stewardess

Jessica (Blondie) was born and raised in New Zealand. Growing up, she enjoyed the outdoors and playing team sports, particularly hockey.

After finishing a business degree, she moved to the UK and lived in Edinburgh where she worked as a nanny and in the hospitality industry.

Jessica loves to travel and enjoy meeting new people. She is looking forward to the up-coming season on board Solemar.

Tasha McCarthy / Stewardess

Tasha (Roseanne) grew up in New Zealand where she worked as a Food Technologist for 2 years before entering the yachting industry for a dramatic change of pace. Previous to this she completed a Bachelor of Science (Honours) majoring in Food Science at Otago University. With her love of water sports (including rowing, surfing, wake boarding, kayaking) and her food background it was only natural for her to enter the yachting industry as a stewardess and cook.

Tasha joins us on Solemar as a natural progression onto the bigger boats and is excited to travel and meet new people along the way. Tasha continues her love of sports and fitness, discovering new places and enjoying a vino or two with friends along the way.

Val Villamayor / Laundryman

Val hails from The Philippines is a man of many talents and has a background in Marine Engineering having studied and worked in the field until he found his love for laundry some years ago. He has some great yachting experience having worked on 45m Deep Blue for a few years most recently. He is dedicated to his family including his 2 beautiful children, one of each flavor. In his spare time Val likes nothing better than to play a video game or chill to a bit of R&B.

Antony Park/ Head Chef

Anton (Champers) joins Solemar after extensive charter experience on yachts such as S/Y Parsifal and Anemos and M/Y Lady M. Anton can turn his hand to a wide range of cuisines including French styles, Mediterranean, Italian, Indian and Asian fusion. He is also a trained Pastry Chef.

Hailing from ?Geordieland? a.k.a, Newcastle England. Anton has also worked in some fine establishments across the UK and France.

In his spare time he likes reading and generally having a good time.

Roland Hector / Second Chef

From a young age, Roland (Rolls) has shown a healthy interest in cooking as his family came from a long line of bakers. At the age of 17, he became a student at Westminster Catering College, and over the next three years he was placed in various fine eateries as part of his training. They included working in France and working under Phillip Howard at The Square.

Soon after College, Roland joined the brigade at Coast restaurant under Stephen Terry and Jason Atherton. Working under these two great Chefs opened doors for him and gave him the confidence to move and work to New York and Sydney.

Back in London, Roland became a freelance chef and started, working in the private sector, mainly providing meals for clients in their homes or at their businesses. The transition to yachts was an easy one as he started sailing three years ago as a hobby. He soon found himself in the South of France and on to Solemar.

Interesting Fact: if you need to know any Cockney rhyming slang and their definitions then Roland is your man!