02 May 2013

Letter of Recommendation S/V "Galetae" - JAN CLUISTRA

DAVA J. NEWMAN. PH.D.
PROFESSOR OF AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS
& ENGINEERING SYSTEMS DIRECTOR, TECHNOLOGY & POLICY PROGRAM HARVARD-MIT HEALTH, SCIENCES, & TECHNOLOGY MAC VICAR FACULTY FELLOW
ELECTRONIC MAIL: dcnewman@mit.edu

ROOM 33-307
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
77 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE
CAMBRIDGE, MA 02139
(617)258-8799
(617)253-4196 (FAX)

Boston, February 27, 2004
To whom it may concern:
It is with great pleasure that we write this letter of recommendation for Mr. John Cluistra. We first met John almost three years ago in the island of Ua Pu in the Marquesas archipelago (French Polynesia) during our circumnavigation. John was skippering a catamaran that he was sailing from South Africa towards Australia. We traveled parallel courses throughout the South Pacific. Later on we met in Tahiti where we had long discussions on navigation, heavy weather tactics, and many technology issues regarding on board systems and boat construction. We found John's knowledge on these subjects to be of great depth not only for having studied the literature but it was obvious that his knowledge came from first hand experience and having spent endless hours on the ocean.
We met John again in South Africa at the False Bay Yacht Club (FBYC) where he was formerly the commodore. After sailing the coast of South Africa for more than three months we found that John's legacy to the FBYC and his reputation, both as a racing and cruising skipper is monumental throughout the dangerous coast of that great country. He is regarded by his peers as one of the most able captains in all of South Africa.
We would also like to highlight John's commitment to education and outreach to youth. He spearheaded a program to teach disadvantaged South African youth to learn to sail, and more importantly, to empower them with confidence and opportunities for life. We are both educators and John introduced us to children and teachers in the Western Cape where we were able to give seminars and arrange a video conference between South African students and an astronaut in the US to discuss exploration via space and sea. John's tireless work to support children, education, and sailing in South Africa are truly admirable.
While at the FBYC we had to perform major structural repairs to the chain plates of Galatea, our 47' cutter rigged sailboat. John came up with the best structural and economic solution to the problem, found the right people to perform the work and supervised the implementation, all of which was finished on time and well within budget.
The most significant asset of John is not his nautical and technical knowledge, but his positive personality and integrity as a human being. John possesses a wonderful sense of humor and is one of the most polite people we have ever met.



We have decades of sailing experience, have sailed all over the world and have met many captains in our lives. We can say with utmost certainty that John Cluistra is one of the finest skippers that we have ever met and we would entrust him to deliver Galatea as well as any sailing vessel to any waters on this planet.
Please feel free to contact us at any time if you need additional information. Sincerely,

Cap. Guillermo L. Trotti Prof. Dava J. Newman
trottig@aol.com dnewman@mit.edu
781-631-7750 (USA) 617-258-8799
Scanned from signed original, Cape Town November 2008

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