Team Manager: Dr. Nadire Berker Yalcin
Wife, Colleague, Friend, Sailor, Nadire has been by Selim’s side for 25 years now. Together they raised their children and grandchildren, worked as physicians, ran marathons, rowed in regattas, swam across continents, did triathlons, lived on a boat and sailed around the World for 13 years. Now she will lead the team that will take HDC on the Everest of the Sea, the Golden Globe Race. She hopes that her Captain will come back home quickly and they can enjoy sailing together again.
Project Manager: Mr. Ali Can Surekli
Can is a dear friend, but more than that, he is a brother for Selim and Nadire. In and around boats ever since he was a little kid, he sailed extensively in the Aegean and the Mediterranean. After the success of his enterprise Yachtworks, he decided to slow work down a little bit and go sailing across the ocean. His boat, a Halberg Rassy 36, Kismet Guzelim, was a tribute to our guru, the Turkish Pioneer of ocean sailing Mr. Sadun Boro, who first circumnavigated from 1965-1968 on the wooden ketch Kismet that he built. After a couple of Atlantic crossings, Can switched to a Garcia 50, Pelican, and sailed around Cape Horn to Patagonia. Now he is back home to lead the refit project of HDC. Selim will benefit a lot from his expertise, knowledge and vast experience on the high seas as well as his incredible capacity for finding solutions to complicated problems, and his benevolent nature. Together, we will make sure that Selim will be at the start line with a very well prepared boat!
Logistics: Ms. Çiğdem Sürekli
Ms. Sürekli is one of the owners and the Office director of Yachtworks Ltd. ‘Şekerrrimm’ means ‘My Candy’ in Turkish, and this is how we call her, even though she is very serious at work. Çiğdem is ready to find answers to all our questions, at any time of day, with a happy, smiling face and a similar voice. She is also a sailor woman, crossed oceans, and lives on her boat, a Bavaria Cruiser 46, İstiridye, in D Marin Didim, and goes to work on her bike. It is always our great pleasure to end a difficult day at the boatyard sipping red wine on the deck of İstiridye, watching the sunset and discussing ‘life in general’.
Legal Issues: Ms. Itır İpekel Tsiropoulou
Ms. Tsiropoulou has been our friend since 2006 when we bought our Elan Impression 434 Ekip. She, with her husband Leo and brother in law Takis, have taken care of all the legal paperwork of our boats since then, and made sure that we had a home in Lavrio, Greece, wheneever we needed. For 20 years, Itır has been the solid base that we depend on while sailing the oceans. What a great feeling to know that she is one phone call away whenever we need her.
Equipment/ Material Supply: Mr. Ersoy Eroğlu
We call Mr. Eroğlu whenever we need equipment for our boats, and he calls us whenever he needs medical advice. Caring for all his family without a thought for himself, Ersoy is a true friend and brother. He was one of the primary supporters of our circumnavigation when we bought Keyif, and was able to deliver everything we needed to Chantier Alubat in France. He will now do his best to find and deliver the highest quality material to HDC. He also always does his best to find the freshest fish and set the most delicious table whenever we are together in Istanbul.
Steelworks: Mr. Murat Aydın
Tuzla in Istanbul Turkey is the heart of Turkish shipping industry, and Murat Usta who has a workshop in the heart of Tuzla can create anything out of steel. This Michelangelo of steel and aluminium has been our patient and our friend since 30 years, and has made countless big and small contributions to our life at sea. We will never forget how he had to build Keyif’s hydraulic piston twice in 13 years! Mr. Aydın, Murat Usta to us, will be making HDC’s steel and aluminium Works.
Sailmaker: Mehmet Ali Yelkenbiçer
Mehmet Ali comes from a family of sailmakers who have been in the business for 3 generations. Always happy to be part of a racing crew, he takes great pride in the sails he makes, and is involved with the mast and rigging design as well. He will be preparing the 9 sails that HDC will carry in its inventory.
Engineering: Mr. Çağlar Emiroğlu
Mr Emiroğlu keeps his boat in Teos Marina in Sigacık where we met in the year of the pandemic when we were stuck in Turkey in the same beautiful marina. Since then, he has designed and did all the 3D drawings of the equipment and innovations Selim had in mind. He is also our social network manager and enjoys sailing with Selim up and down the coast of Turkey, transferring Keyif, whenever Nadire can not join the Captain.
We would like to acknowledge all our dear friends who accompanied Selim on (ex. Caramba) HDC’s voyage from Spain to Turkey. We are sure they will be with us whenever we need them again…
Mr. Erdinç who crewed with Selim transferring Keyif from Portugal to Spain. His kindness, soft and gentle manner and witty jokes were much appreciated.
Mr. Dimitri Stamatis, the great Greek sailor/racer who helped sail HDC from Spain to Sicily, and is always ready for the next adventure. Dimitri never complains, and has a deep understanding of boats and the sea, so we trust him to make any journey bearable, no matter how difficult.
Mr. Gediz Şarlar, rower, sailor, businessman, and Selim’s earlier athletes, came twice to give Selim a hand, once with Keyif and the second time on HDC’s most difficult passage from Sicily to Greece. With his stories, his jokes and his bravery in the face of adversity, it was a joy to have Gediz on board.
Mr. Erkan Nursen, a very old friend, a real sailor, and the owner of the famous little wooden sloop Forsa after Selim, crossed the Aegean on HDC and was the final crew member on its passage home. Selim and Erkan had sailed the Aegean together for the first time 31 years ago, when they broke the mast of Ada, one of Selim’s earlier boats, in the Fourni strait. Together the two friends completed the voyage safely this time, with many memories from all the years they sailed the Aegean together.