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26th April 2020

Skip Novak Whitbread Racer & Antarctic Explorer Interview

Born in Chicago in 1952, round the world sailor Skip Novak is best known for his participation in four Whitbread Round the World Yacht Races, including three as skipper with Alaska Eagle, Drum and Fazisi. Louay Habib interviews Novak in this latest RORC video series.

Popstar Simon Le Bon's 'Drum' famously capsized in the 1985 Fastnet Race but went on to compete in the Whitbread Round the World Race, finishing third.

In 1989 Skip Novak project-managed the build of the first Soviet entry in the Whitbread Race - as the Iron Curtain was coming down, Novak skippered Fazisi in the round the world race.

Wishing to combine his mountaineering skills with sailing, Novak built his first expedition yacht Pelagic in 1987 and has since spent every season in Antarctic waters.

Published in RORC

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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago