Series 2 - Ep16 - Skip Novak Part 2

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The worlds of offshore sailing and unbridled adventure meet head to head in this month's edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast, as the two time Olympic gold medallist talks face to face with legendary American Whitbread skipper and off the grid sailing expedition pioneer Skip Novak.

Today, Novak is known throughout the sailing world as the go to man for sailing led polar exploration.  For over three decades he has been running his famous "Pelagic' exploration yachts and is a man with much to say about his career exploring at high latitude, a passion that first came to him while racing around the planet in his first of four Whitbread Round the World Yacht Races.

Part Two of this podcast sees the pair pick up with more Whitbread revelations, including Novak's telling of the tragedy surrounding his 1989 Whitbread campaign as skipper of 'Fazisi', the first ever Soviet team entry into the iconic round the world race, that happened to see the crew racing around the planet while at home, the collapse of the Iron Curtain was bringing in wide sweeping changes to Gorbachev's Soviet Union.  

Throughout this edition of the podcast, Novak's accounts of his time spent racing around the planet make for compulsive listening, he's a man that's written many a book about his ocean adventures, and his impressive story telling is on show for all to see here, as he dips into a vast memory bank of over four decades of ocean adventure.

The final segment in this edition sees the pair turn to Novak's love of exploration, as he reveals his love of the polar regions, the growth of his expedition operation 'Pelagic' and how he has turned the endeavour into a successful global business.  He discusses what makes the perfect exploration vessel, and reveals how his love of climbing and life in the mountains has dove tailed perfectly with his thirst for polar adventure.

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