Team

About me:

I am 50 years old and I firmly believe: at sea, as in life, there is always time for a new start. I am a physics teacher by first education, but the sea horizon changed my destiny one day. I started my journey in yachting in 2015, having received my first license to drive a small vessel. I completed my IYT training and became a BBS Skipper, and two years later I received my ISSA Offshore Skipper license.

My boat and a new chapter:

In 2023, my dream became a reality - I purchased my sailing yacht, a DUFOUR 410 Grand Large. This yacht is the epitome of freedom and love of the sea, and with it I stepped into a new role. Having completed an instructor course, I enjoy teaching future captains while living and working in Fethiye, Turkey.

My approach:

My main goal is to create an atmosphere of calm and trust on board. I believe that training is not just about imparting knowledge, but also about traveling together. Each class is our outing to sea, where we learn not only navigation, but also confidence. It is important to me that every cadet has the motivation and desire to learn.

Join our Dao Yachting Captain's School - together we will set sail to new horizons and skills as we prepare to conquer the sea!

I came to yachting at a fairly mature age with a dream of a solo transatlantic crossing. I trained as a skipper in Greece and got my first practice (a 500-mile crossing from Rhodes to Corfu). I was very lucky to have a mentor. My teacher Andrei Ukhin gave me a lot of valuable knowledge and skills, the main of which I consider the ability to think ahead about the consequences of my actions.

A year later, I bought my own sailing yacht, on which I continued to study on my own. Then there was a second yacht and a single passage from Sweden to Turkey. These few months have been a period of great discoveries, including night sailings on the high seas, the experience of storms and yacht repairs right at sea. Time to test yourself for strength and emotional stability. I have succeeded in many things: servicing yachts and working as a hired captain, winning sports regattas and sailing yachts.

Now is the time when I am ready to teach yachting and share my experience and knowledge with people who really need it.

See you under sail, friends!

I got into sailing when I was 12 years old. I earned my first gold medals during my school years on a small sports boat "Cadet". In his student years, he already taxied on the "Soling" (then - the largest Olympic class). After graduating from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, I started developing my own business, but dreams of the sea did not let me go. After 10 years of constant racing and training, participation in the World Championship in 2016 and numerous regattas, prizes, cruises as a helmsman, coach, skipper, mentor captain and passing the "life equator" at the age of 50, I decided that I want to connect with the sea your destiny. I qualified as an instructor because yachting and interacting with people is what I really enjoy.

I was lucky with teachers who gave me a solid theoretical base, which I am constantly expanding. I have also worked in shipyards where boats are restored, repaired and serviced. That's why I know boats "from the inside". I teach cadets to love the boat, listen to the wind and respect the sea, then everything will be fine!

Like many others, it was the dream of sails and freedom that brought me to the sea. In 2010, I boarded my first Anouk, trained and became a captain. It was then that I engraved in my heart a respect for the sea and yachts.

Not wanting to return to the old city life, I started trying my hand at racing, charters, and working as a hired captain. The sea gave me sunsets and sunrises, full calm was replaced by fierce storms, and boats helped me to pass through them. The experience was not easy, I burned and drowned, I was rescued and I saved. I had many wonderful teachers, but the sea became my main mentor.

It wasn't until 2014 that I found my dharma by deciding to become a teacher. I got a job as an assistant instructor at a yachting school. I continued my education, completed all levels of training and successfully passed the instructor's exam.

I trained my first hundred captains as part of the GoSailing school, and in 2015 I met my first love - the yacht Felicite - and opened my own school. At DaoYachting, I have implemented my approach to training, which is based on the Tao philosophy of respect for the crew and the boat, safety, confidence and peace of mind. I have graduated over 1000 captains at sea, and in 2021 DaoYachting School was accredited as an instructor training center. My graduates are now teaching themselves and carrying on the tradition of the school I have put my heart and soul into. I firmly believe that experience is not measured in years or nautical miles, but in passion.

And today, when I meet students on board with open minds and burning eyes, as I did many years ago, I gladly take my blackboard and felt-tip pens and begin my story about the sea.