ACU-150 & ACU-400 product recall
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Regional Sales Manager in central Canada
These formative experiences meant he learned how to handle and maintain a vessel from an early age and gave him fond memories of time spent with his father.
Mark went to a sailing school and joined their racing team, later developing an interest in racing on larger keelboats and being part of a crew. The social aspect of sailing has continued to be important to Mark, having met most of his closest friends through the sport.
Since beginning sailing, Mark has had extensive experience on a range of boats including: the Laser, J24, J70, J35, Melges 20, Melges 32, Corsair F27 trimaran and now his own Offshore 38 Catamaran.
Important aspects of sailing for Mark are the competition, constant learning and the personal challenge. A vast amount of knowledge is needed to be competitive on the water and so the learning and re-learning never stops. This is especially true at the competitive level that Mark has reached, having competed and won at international competitions including winning the 2017 J24 worlds after narrowly avoiding sinking in a nasty storm, making the achievement even more commendable.
His team’s bronze medal at the Pan American Games in Brazil in 2007 was also hard-won after they had to wait the whole day for the wind to come in during the final medal race and then with minutes to spare, they won the race, and the bronze medal overall. Mark often describes sailing as a three dimensional chess match where the biggest variable is mother nature and being able to predict and adapt to what it sends your way. There is no money to win, just bragging rights!
More recently, Mark enjoys sailing with his wife Brandie and their family. Their current boat is an Offshore 38 Catamaran. It’s an older boat, as Mark enjoys fixing and improvement projects. Though the boat is uniquely fast, able to reach speeds of 19kts, Mark’s favourite pastime is ‘champagne sailing days’ spent on the water, sailing to nowhere, anchoring off a beach, swimming and just enjoying time together as a family. He enjoys how sailing shuts off the noise of the outside world and encourages relaxing and fulfilling quality family time.
As well as working to connect clients with market-leading boating electronics, Mark is a user of the same Raymarine technology himself. His favourite feature is the “Sail to Wind” mode. "As soon as we leave the harbour and put the sails up, my boat is sailing to wind angle. Easy one press button, easy to see the angles. With a racing background, the sails have to be properly trimmed. I also find it very useful when putting up the sail so the battens do not get stuck in the lazy jacks!"
