Michael Domican

Born in the UK, Michael first learned how to sail as a boy Sea Scout on the south coast of England. Growing-up, he crewed for his father aboard their 1930’s vintage cruiser and then worked his way up through the ranks of weekend race crew at his local yacht club.

After graduating from the University of London, Michael crewed on successively larger vessels in British and Caribbean waters—including a stint on a oil rig supply vessel off the Scottish coast. He then gained a crew place in the British ‘Victory’ team competing for the 1983 America’s Cup, then held in Newport, R.I.

The British team effectively came third in an event where, historically nobody cares who came second. But during the regatta, Michael noticed the mutually beneficial effects of corporate sponsorship on the event and, after the Cup was decided, he joined the New York office of an event marketing agency to ‘learn the ropes’ of commercially integrating sponsors with the live events that attracted their customers.

While his career now involved arranging sponsorships for events ranging from 1985’s Live Aid concert to soccer’s World Cup ’94 he hadn’t lost his taste for the sea and found time to get on the water at weekends: sailing and windsurfing in New York harbour and, during vacations, racing in Antigua Sailing Week and elsewhere.

After almost 20 years in New York, in 2002, Michael decided to return to his first love: sailing. But this time, to share his passion and nautical know-how with others.

He first joined Offshore Sailing School at their Manhattan location and six months later, relocated to their British Virgin Islands branch as branch director and chief instructor. After nine years full-time with Offshore he left and started out on his own as ‘Caribbean Sailing Coach’, offering individual sailors and families bespoke learning and charter experiences.  

He is a certified instructor with the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), US Sailing, the American Sailing Association (ASA) and NauticEd and lives in the ‘charter boat capital of the world’ — the British Virgin Islands.