Captain Mark

The captain of the catamaran that took us sailing in the Bahamas was quite a character! Captain Mark Pomerenke reminded me of some mountain guides I have met by the quiet, methodical, and non-sensical way he handled things and people. A former USAF jet engineer, he was shot down by a missile during the Vietnam war and survived both the crash and the military hospitals he went thru (although he had to escape one under threat of amputation!). He took advantage of his years of physiotherapy to earn an MBA degree in hospital management he put to profit once he had retired from the USAF. After he quitted his medical practice management consulting firm, instead of settling down in Phoenix, he started taking chartered guests on his catamarans, mostly in the Caribbean. In addition, he loves telling stories about his time in the USAF and of his adventures at sea. Once started on the issue of being boarded by various law enforcement authorities, over and over, he is unstoppable! His story of facing Katrina because of an unlikely weather prediction is also amazing… As are, at another level, those stories about the whims and follies of some of his wealthy clients! The most incredible of his many stories is nonetheless the one about being caught by the high tide amplitude (5.5 meters today) in Folkerstone, England, and finding his boat hanging by the mooring at low tide!