You can only rely on yourself at sea, and as I understand it, this applies to work in this area as well. I wasn't upset that Jim refused to cooperate; on the contrary, I was happy because I understood from the very beginning that real freedom and happiness come when you work for yourself and by your own rules. It is better to leave an employer and compete with them in the market right away than after decades of service. It's less painful for him and it's more beneficial for you. Moreover, note that I'm not the one who suggested this. In my opinion, good competition improves the overall quality of the service and develops the direction. I took it as an opportunity to use my imagination and do it all by myself.

I had an amazing assistant, Anya, who quit her job, home, friends and family to help her loved one. We lived on the Marmaris in the forward cabin and took guests to the remaining aft cabins. Every day, we texted friends, former colleagues, parents' friends, and anyone else we could write to talk about what we do now. I knew all the local ways of working and immediately agreed with one of the IYT (International Yacht Training) schools that I would teach people and issue their certificates, provided that the school principal would take the exam himself. At the same time, I started writing to IYT about my desire to open my own school. To which they immediately told me that they had to refuse because of my age. But I managed to convince them that it was their business to teach a course for instructors and that I wanted to pay them money for it, so they always have the right to tell me that I don't deserve my school and send me home before the wrinkles that suit them appear. As it turned out, I met the company's principles and people loved me even before I arrived at the course.

The first idea was to name the school Sailing Craft — I really liked the word “craft”. But Anya insisted that she should hit the masses and use only words that are accessible and understandable to everyone in the title. That's what she suggested Sailing Time, and after registering the domain, we went to France hoping to be able to issue licenses.

The main European office of IYT was located on Cap d'Antibes, where the fate of Old World schools was then decided. Of the three students, I was the only one who saw this as training and saw my school as a training center, rather than a charter with the subsequent issuance of certificates. After a week-long training session, which was aimed only at understanding the candidate's psychotype and testing his minimal yacht management skills, Anya and I were invited for a separate conversation. Roger asked us to stay with them and work with them. He said we would both be able to hire big boats for a lot of money. I immediately imagined carrying trash and my deck for a big salary, in the hope that one day I would become captain and start deciding all the owner's wishes. And Anya will be on a different boat, and every day I will think about how the higher world will care for her to the best of their imagination. And, of course, he politely refused, saying that if I didn't manage to become the master of my life, I would definitely call him. Roger admitted that no one usually refused, but he respects our choice and sent us with the opportunity to train and issue IYT licenses.

I would like to end by saying that this is how it appeared Sailing Time, but I think it appeared on June 11, 2009, when I first came to Turkey, and everything that was happening to me was slowly and surely leading me to this point.

📸 2012, Anya is 22 and 27, our first and last office at Pineapple 🍍

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