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Andrzej Kaminski – “For me, sailing means discovering the world”
The basis of a corporation’s success is the commitment of its people. This applies to micro-enterprises as well as large-scale corporations such as NOVOMATIC.
In addition to expert qualifications, consistent training and education, as well as networked knowledge and experience, essential personal characteristics such as social skills and fundamental enthusiasm are of primary importance. Strong character traits have not only fostered the success of the NOVOMATIC Group and its partners, but they are also cultivated in the employees’ private lives and their personal dedications. This is something that NOVOMATIC is very proud of and we are therefore introducing some of our colleagues with their own personal interests. In this section, you will get to know the people inside the Group – their passions, personal achievements and charitable activities, distinct from their professional lives.
In addition to expert qualifications, consistent training and education, as well as networked knowledge and experience, essential personal characteristics such as social skills and fundamental enthusiasm are of primary importance. Strong character traits have not only fostered the success of the NOVOMATIC Group and its partners, but they are also cultivated in the employees’ private lives and their personal dedications. This is something that NOVOMATIC is very proud of and we are therefore introducing some of our colleagues with their own personal interests. In this section, you will get to know the people inside the Group – their passions, personal achievements and charitable activities, distinct from their professional lives.
For me, sailing means discovering the world, getting to know new places, but also constantly rediscovering and developing myself.
Andrzej Kaminski
Name: Andrzej Kaminski
Age: 60
Lives in: Wien
Company: NOVOMATIC AG
Position: Operations Technical Support
With NOVOMATIC since: 1990
Andrzej Kaminski started working for the NOVOMATIC Group in 1990 as a technician at the Casino ADMIRAL Prater in Vienna. Today, as Operations Technical Support / NOVOMATIC AG, he is responsible for the technical support of the foreign business. In his private life, too, he is drawn to foreign countries.
Even at a young age, sailing and the freedom to travel that came with it held a great fascination for Andrzej, and at the age of 18, he obtained his Coastal Licence. He soon realised that he wanted to go beyond pleasure sailing, and explore the world at sea as a sports captain. In 1983, starting from Gdansk in Poland, he sailed south around Europe to Corsica in four months.
Together with some long-time friends, they founded 'Concept Sailing', a private non-profit organisation that organises sailing trips around the world with the expedition yacht S/Y 'Nashachata'. In 2007, the S/Y 'Nashachata' set sail on her first circumnavigation of the globe which lasted a total of two years, with a team of around 20 captains and their respective crews completing each leg in turn. It was on this voyage that Andrzej met the experienced captain Joanna, his soulmate, soon to be wife and eventually mother of their daughter. Since then, the S/Y 'Nashachata II' has continued almost continuously on voyages and expeditions on the seven seas.
Today, Andrzej looks back on 42 years of sailing and around 40,000 nautical miles of experience: he has sailed around the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia, been to New Zealand, Australia, Tahiti and the Bora Bora Islands, and made expeditions to Spitsbergen, Greenland, Patagonia and Antarctica. "I have seen and experienced so many incredibly beautiful things for which I am forever grateful," he says.
‘For me, sailing means discovering the world, getting to know new places, but also constantly rediscovering and developing myself,’ Andrzej explains. ‘Navigare necesse est, vivere non necesse est – in English, To sail is necessary; to live is not necessary; this Latin proverb has been with me all my sailing life. It doesn't mean relativizing life, but quite the opposite, facing life’s challenges courageously.’
The risks on the high seas are something he faces with great composure and with the conviction that they can be minimised with experience, conscientious planning and sensible decisions. Andrzej laughs: ‘Among us sailors we say: There are old captains and there are bold captains, but there are no old, bold captains.’ Then he adds seriously: ‘But it's true.’
