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Moscow, age seven, and a little “bathtub”

I was born in Moscow, a mischievous child with decidedly average school marks. To put my energy to good use, my parents took me sailing. They put me in a little Optimist — a boat everyone rather unkindly called a bathtub.

Capsized? You’d stand knee-deep in cold water, bailing it out. At first, you lost more often than you won. But you quickly learnt to accept setbacks and take responsibility for your decisions: in that boat, only you could choose the course and get from A to B.

That’s why I love teaching children. I think every child should try sailing at least once. Adults too, for that matter.

The engineer who chose the sea

There was a specialist maths school, piano and skiing. At 18, I entered Bauman Moscow State Technical University and graduated in hydraulics. In other words, I’m an engineer who can design pumps for transporting oil. I’m always happy to talk engineering, too. Hello to my fellow Bauman graduates!

In the summer of 2018, I was invited to help teach sailing. I worked at Sila Vetra until 2022 and started my own project in 2021. It went through different names, including Team Sail, and gradually grew into Sailing Man: bringing people together through the sea, travel and music.

My family

My parents windsurf. My dad, Igor, professionally installs Mercury engines on all kinds of boats. My mum, Nastya, is a programmer specialising in ERP systems and project management. My brother, Misha, studies at Moscow State University and gets out to sea less often than the rest of us for now. I love them all very much.

Seven carpenters and plenty of planks

Once in the Canaries, we were moved to another berth because of a problem at the marina entrance. Next to us was a wooden schooner, straight out of a Jack Sparrow story. Except the hole in her side was real.

A perfectly calm captain appeared. “We’re traders from the Netherlands. We’re taking medicine to Cuba and bringing rum back.” He had no phone, no WhatsApp, no Instagram. I pointed at the damaged hull: “And what will you do about that?” “We have seven carpenters and plenty of planks,” he said. “We’ll fix it overnight.”

That was when I realised you can meet a character from a book in real life. The sea keeps introducing you to people like that. And you never know who the person beside you might become: a friend, a future skipper or the love of your life.

Above all, it’s the people I love about sailing. Thank you to everyone I’ve met along the way. If we find ourselves at the same regatta or on an expedition, come and say hello. Sending you a hug.