The Crew
Sergiy and Dina are in the middle of their second circumnavigation, which started in 2013. Living full-time onboard, sailing, and getting to some of the wildest and most remote places on Earth.
They have tons of experience and footage on the way: liveaboard, traveling and circumnavigation, boat maintenance and repairs, offshore and bluewater sailing, rescue operations, and all the fun that you can imagine. Please come, watch and share this journey with Captain German Exploring, and enjoy their way of life, all related to sails, wind, and dreams!
Sergiy German AKA Captain German
Sergiy was born and grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine. All his life he dreamed of the sea and had a childhood dream - he wanted to go around the globe on a yacht. After 10 years of preparation and study - that day came and since 2013 he has been at sea. From 2014 to 2017 he lived aboard 24/7 without leaving and just later went to Kyiv on business.
His journey began in France where he took the boat at the Beneteau factory and unloaded the boat on the water in the Perpignan city marina. In the first year, captain German went around the Mediterranean with his friends, and gained experience in managing a new boat in France, Mainland Spain, and Balearic. During the season he put a couple of thousand miles in his captain log book. After a season, he started the boat preparation for long passages and made a lot of changes. After wintering in the city of Alley (Spain), the sailboat was launched, autonomous and ready for long-distance crossings. And from that moment, he started the circumnavigation part.
Dina
Dina met Sergiy in Thailand, where Dina has lived on the beautiful island of Phuket for the last five years. When Sergiy got to Phuket, instead of a couple of weeks, he stayed for 7 months and, having met Dina, they decided to continue their journey together.
In Phuket, Dina has been an artist, making shell paintings (Seashell art by Dina Toporska) and working as a kite surfing instructor. The control of the kite and the work with the wind fit very easily into the control of the sails of the boat. In a few passages that proved to be difficult for the couple, with breakdowns of the autopilot and manual taxiing 1560 miles, crossing the rough Indian Ocean, crossing Sri Lanka out of season, against the wind and against the current, Dina has already become a very experienced yachtsman, having more than 20 thousand nautical miles in difficult water areas.
Diana
The captain's daughter participates in dad's hobbies, motorcycles, parachutes, cars, and yachting from the birth. While still very young, Diana piloted a quarter-ton spinnaker on the Kyiv Sea, and, accordingly, all charters and studies, all together with her father. After switching to his own boat, every summer on the water, in the fall to school. After graduating from 9 classes, she flew to Palau and we spent the further journey to Kenya together, these are two years for which we decided to take a break from school. That time was just a real study, a study of real life, communication, and understanding of other people. Crossing part of the Pacific Ocean from Micronesia to Asia and completing the Indian ocean in Diana's portfolio.
The Boat
SV MUSHU is a 2013 Beneteau Oceanis 45, long keel, with 3 cabins - 2 heads layout. Captain German is the original owner and ordered this boat brand new from the factory in France to be their home on the water to sail with maximum comfort.
“We wanted to have not boat but house which we can move and change the location around the world. So we have it…”
Sergiy filled out his first boat with the best and most reliable available from the factory options: 3 cabins with two electric heads, teak wood decking, 3 air conditioners, Genset 6.7 kW, hot water, 450 liters water tank, 60 liters per hour 12/220V water maker, 250 liters fuel tank, 4 chart plotters, 2 radio stations (one inside with second handset and one in the cockpit), Beneteau's Dock and Go system to easily dock the boat, LED light, etc...so it's a boat for long trips and their home at the same time.
SV MUSHU is equipped with all sails, in addition to the standard ones it have have code zero, gennaker, and storm sails with all halyards and sheets in sets. All ropes are in the cockpit, so in case of foul weather, the crew will not go to the mast to set the reefs. Sergiy replaced Delta Anchor with big Rocna for safety reasons and has two dinghies. One is Zodiak 3,2 meters with a 10 HP Honda 4 strokes, another one is Typhoon, a small one with the Parsun 3.5 HP as a spare.
The Boat Name
“When my daughter was very young we loved to watch cartoons. Those days we saw the Walt Disney film Mulan is about a Chinese girl who went to war instead of her father. It was a small spirit dragon who had to keep the girl safe, his name is MUSHU. He is quite fast, small and very brave and of course a little bit crazy. These points are best to describe the sailing boat we have. Another meaning we found many years after is in the Ukrainian language it means “have to”… Have to sail, is cool, isn’t it? btw in Fiji, it means to cut, and chop. Cut the oceans! The a great name!”
At the moment, SV MUSHU has more than 70.000 nautical miles behind. Captain Sergiy German is the most popular Russian-speaking YouTuber with 107K subscribers and 360 videos on his second channel - Captain German Sailing. Sergiy also runs a yacht school with multiple online courses like ISSA Inshore Skipper, Celestial navigation, Advanced navigation, Boat Ownership, Meteorology, Tides & Currents.
boat diy boat maintenance boat repair captain german captain german exploring captain german film captain german movie circumnavigation circumnavigation liveaboard round the world sailing sailing boat sailing couple sailing yacht travel yachting
