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“I sailed a quarter of a million miles on luxury yachts
around the world from 1984 to 2004. Most of this time
was spent in remote and undeveloped areas of Mexico,
Central America, South America and Southeast Asia,” he
said. “One of the common themes during those years at
sea was that the local people always provided help to
the best of their ability no matter what their economic
situation. It didn’t matter if I was looking for provisions
ashore in Roti, Indonesia, seeking medical aid in Cabo,
trying to locate a ride to the airport in the Anambas or
looking for fishing information in Niue, in the South Pacific.
The local people were always there to help.”
In 2003, Mark moved ashore to the west coast of America
and set up a port agency business in San Diego called
C2C. It was here that he had his epiphany. “I had a great
desire to stay connected with communities that I had visited
during the years at sea,” he said. “One morning in May
of 2006, I woke up with a solution to what I was seeking
and the perfect name. YachtAid Global was born. Our tag
line is ‘Changing the world without changing course.’
“The original idea and the current key concept work:
Move school and medical supplies around the world uti-
YachtAid Global delivers provisions to impoverished countries (opposite and above).
lizing luxury yachts. This simple concept satisfied the two
key missing elements: my need for corporate responsibility
and to help out the communities that I know.”
Over the last five years, YAG has organized deliveries
of supplies to countless countries, including Costa
Rica, Nicaragua and Bali. YAG sources and purchases
the goods for donation from their headquarters in San
Diego and uses a growing fleet of willing yachts to distribute
the supplies.
“I now realize that the greater power in all of this is for
YAG to be a catalyst to get people thinking and to take
action,” said Mark. “You don’t have to be part of a formal
process and structured environment, although we
are here to help out to whatever level that needs to be
done to. If you put your mind to it, there’s really no limit
to what you can achieve.”
As Yacht Essentials reported last issue, the owners and
crew of Slojo recently put Mark’s comments to the test
and completed an onboard triathlon. They raised a staggering
$53,100 by biking, running and rowing on deck
for 24 hours a day over 12 days.
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