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Meet the Crew
Dardanella's impressive Captain and crew are a hand selected team of the industries finest. The extensive experience of the crew and their genuine enthusiasm and embodiment of the adventure lifestyle gives an exceptionally welcoming and authentic environment for even the most intrepid of journeys.
PIOT RACHALEWSKI
Captain
Born in Poland and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. Piot grew up around the ocean and started sailing competitively at a young age. He has been committed professionally to yachting for the past 15 years, over this period he has worked on a wide variety of yachts, ranging from small composite race boats to large Super Yachts and wooden classics. Yachting has taken Piot around the world a few times, through the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Pacific, North Sea, Indonesia and SE Asia. Piot's unparalleled character create's an atmosphere rarely found in Super Yachting and will lead you on adventures you couldn't have imagined in your wildest dreams.
GILLES HERANT
Relief Captain
Born in France to Franco-Dutch parents, Gilles was brought up around yachts in Greece
and has spent much of the last 50 years messing around with boats. After studying boat
building in the UK, he started skippering a gaff-rigged schooner in the 1980s before
going shore-based to raise his family. Running a shipyard in the eastern Mediterranean,
he eventually turned his career towards superyachts and has been an engineer for
over 15 years. Gilles is a dedicated world traveller with a passion for the outdoors and
remote destinations; he has been with Dardanella for the past 8 years and is also the
vessel’s relief captain.
Ornella Navari
Chief Stewardess
Ornella grew up with an appreciation for the ocean and travel from a young age. Born and raised for some of her childhood in South Africa, she spent many trips visiting family on the coastal shores there. Via a brief year in the Netherlands, her family settled in the UK, where she completed her BSc Psychology degree at the University of Manchester. After a few years in a corporate office job, she longed for a new adventure with a love of the ocean in mind, which led her into yachting.
She has a great passion for providing a beautiful and curated experience for guests, with many combined years of hospitality and events experience in her back pocket.
She has a great love of the outdoors in many senses, and this year wants to keenly improve her surfing skills and do her diving course.
STEFANO
ROSOLEN
First Mate
Raised a true outdoor loving South African child, Stef's eventual passion for boating was inevitable. After a tenure as a Scuba guide in Cape Town and Thailand, Stef was swayed by the industry after sailing 7000 miles from The Cape of Good Hope all the way to Italy, a passage that would define his future. Since then, Stef has sailed more than 25000 miles and has no plans of stopping soon. Stefano is the Divemaster onboard and holds his Master 200gt ticket.
MARTA KULCZYCKA
Chef/2nd Stew
Marta was born in Poland and raised on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. After spending most of her 20’s in the city life, her adventurous spirit called and she decided to explore the world in search of nature, waves to surf and big mountains to snowboard. Thanks to her curiosity, hard work, open minded friendly personality, she found a way to combine her passion for travel, surfing, culinary and outdoor activities with professional work in the Yachting Industry. She fell in love working at the sea and spent many seasons on Sailing Yachts in the Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea. Now it is time to spread this happiness around the Pacific and Caribbean and as a proud part of the Dardanella crew, Marta will take care of you and make sure your time on board will be unforgettable.
cHRISTOFFER HANSEN
Engineer
Christoffer was born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has lived on the sea since the age of 12, when his parents opted to move the whole family on board a 55 feet sailing yacht. A few years later, Christoffer combined his love of the sea with a passion for engineering, and became an engineer on board support vessels in the North Sea. After seven years in this harsh and unforgiving environment, Chris recently converted to yachting in order to fulfill his interests in world travel under more gentle climates. Naturally, Chris enjoys all sorts of water sports and is a keen fisherman.
CHAD SCHWAB
Deckhand
Chad grew up on the shores of South Africa in the surf city Durban, having the world class waves on his doorstep. He took to surfing at the age of 4. He spent most of his younger days traveling the world surfing competitively and has continued to build his life and career around his passion and love for the ocean. The combination of his great sense of humor, and approachable demeanor creates a great atmosphere onboard.