Maurizio Pazzelli is the skipper of the Boreas. He is the only skipper authorised to sail in Yemen’s waters. An Italian, born in Asmara, Eritrea, he started his sailing career young aboard his father’s boat on the Red Sea. At 18 he got his CMAS grade 2 diving license and worked as an instructor in various diving centres, but sailing was his real passion, and he received his sail- and motorboat license at the age of 22. After two years he got his Ocean Yacht Master qualifications, followed by his Charter Captain’s license.
Once he had finished studying, he started work as a skipper for the Greek Private Sailing Club in Athens, then with the CCYD Shipyard in Venice testing their boats at sea and skippering them during transfers.
In 1987 he bought his first boat, an Orca 43, and began a daily charter between Sardinia and Corsica. After 5 years he took command of the CCYD 85 Giana G, sailing 240 days a year around the Mediterranean during the summer months and the Red Sea in winter. in 1995 he moved back to his birthplace, Eritrea, taking a 29 metre schooner on the familiar waters as a charter to the Dhalak islands. When the political situation between Eritrea and Ethiopia forced him to leave, the “Altro Mar Rosso” (which can be translated as “A Different Red Sea”) project was born with the aim of opening up the largely undiscovered and uncontaminated seas off the Southern coast of Yemen and around the Kamaran and Zubayr islands, cruising between the volcanos, the beaches of white sand and those of black lava over waters full of brightly-coloured fish and a sea floor so beautiful as to be a gem even to the most experienced of divers. And that is how Maurizio came to be Captain of the Boreas of Katharina.
Egyptian Tareg Ali Mohammed, assisted by Fadel, is the extraordinary chef who ably prepares all meals on board the Boreas. When not in the scully, Tareg can usually be seen on the dinghy, off to meet the local fishermen and choose the best of the day’s catch of prawns, tuna, sea urchins, sea bream (and more besides) which are served, like all the meals on board, around the 4 metre Iroko wood table on deck. With a contagious smile, Tareg serves up his best recipes to the Boreas’ guests. It’s impossible to describe a typical menu, but who could fail to fall for such delicacies as raw prawns in oil and lime juice, tuna tartare, large baked fish, rice and pasta with squid ink or any number of other fish and vegetable sauces worthy of the kitchens of Italy’s best restaurants, vellutés of seafood, aubergines and courgettes, roast potatoes, desserts and creams and of course proper Italian coffee!
Ahmed is the boat’s mechanic, looking after the engines in his usual calm and careful yet decisive manner. Ahmed is a native Yemeni who has been working with Maurizio for years.
Second in Command is Abdu, assisted by Mohammed. Their task is to help the skipper with manouvres and to assist Ahmed in the engine room.
Noman and Fathi, both Yemeni, take care of the cabins.