"I didn’t start sailing as a kid, so I know what’s like to be learning as an adult. I grew up in a small town in the North Island of New Zealand, and got to the sea once a year if I was lucky. I always had a yearning for adventure, a desire to try new things and willingness to pursue challenging opportunities. Whilst travelling in Europe in my early twenties (after another season shearing in Italy!) I decided to try working on super yachts in the Med. In doing so I found a profession that I fell in love with, and called my kiwi shearing contractor mid Atlantic to let him know I wouldn’t be making it back to the shearing sheds that season.

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After stints in the Med and the Caribbean, I worked my way down to small cruising and racing yachts, securing a more fundamental understanding of sailing, seamanship, boat handling and all the other aspects that make up a sailor’s toolbox of skills and experience. After becoming an AYF Yachtmaster Offshore Instructor and Master V SSV in 1995 (re-qualified under RYA) I’ve tutored hundreds of adults inshore and offshore, skippered and delivered a variety of boats in various locations around the world, including perhaps a penultimate trip from Sydney to Antarctica, and coordinated the commissioning, handover and warranty servicing of new luxury yachts (power and sail) in Australia and overseas. I’ve also worked as a yacht rigger for a number of years based in Sydney, Australia, and have a strong network of trusted marine contacts in Australia and in some ports around the world."

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John Gamlin is currently based on the Central Coast of New South Wales (NSW) Australia, and is a skipper, sailor, lover of adventure and travel, and one time farm worker, shearer, baker, construction and hospitality worker, bartender, delivery driver, professional sailor, yacht rigger, service coordinator, accountant (CPA), Justice of the Peace (NSW), delivery skipper and father of Ben and Tim.