Former Crew
The history of our crews
We apologise in advance, it is certainly not possible to name everyone, and so we concentrate mainly on the most important members of our crew! But if you would like to be named here, please remind us....
Martin Štikar
Yachtmaster Ocean - A qualification. The first captain to cross the Atlantic Ocean with La Grace by the northern route. An excellent yachtsman and an easy-going soul. A specialist in the waters of the Caribbean Sea. He was born in Prague but lives on the island of Dominica. After the revolution in the Czech Republic (1998) he employed Pepa Dvorský as captain on his ships Domino and Missipian.
Wojtek Zientara
A Polish captain with several voyages aboard La Grace behind him, in the Mediterranean as well as in the Portuguese part of the Atlantic. His voyage in a heavy storm from Mallorca to Spain became memorable: the foremast was very seriously damaged, yet he brought the ship safely into port.
Josef "Bobeš" Hajzler
He sailed aboard La Grace in 2011 from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. He left to live a quiet family life, but fate stepped into his life with a nasty car accident.
Jirka Pacák
He sailed aboard La Grace for barely 2 weeks, from France to Spain, and during that time he famously wrecked this ship on 26.10.2012 near the town of Marbella. He never returned to La Grace as captain again.
Bosuns
Robin Franc
Robin was a skilled joiner and carpenter, and thanks to him many wooden things came into being aboard La Grace. Probably his greatest work is the frigate-style stern gallery from 2017. Robin handled both the ship and the climbing superbly, but he left, because his work was above all work with people, and that was not always easy for him or for those around him.
Jan Tůma (1969)
He sailed aboard La Grace from 2013 to 2018 as both Engineer and Bosun. He climbs the mast like a monkey and does not mind oily hands either. He won the hearts of all the children while organising children's pirate camps. And the hearts of all the women on the other legs! :-D The crews call him the taskmaster, because his favourite working tool is the "cat o' nine tails". He has left, but he still devotes himself to sea voyages on another ship.
Viktor Neuman
A yachtsman and sailor (7 years) with a great deal of experience in work at height. He grew up with the ship from the moment she was born, and it is partly thanks to him that La Grace exists at all. He was the first bosun on La Grace. He sailed aboard the ship until 2012. He too left, because he fell in love, but he also longed for a rest from crowds of people.
Engineers
Alexander Gál
"Sašo"
He came to La Grace in 2019 with ambitions of becoming a captain, and so he started nicely from the bottom. As an engineer he had a skilled hand at welding, and thanks to him we have a few nice stainless-steel things aboard. La Grace did not become his home, though. The nomadic life did not last him long, and so that same year he returned to Bratislava, to his son and to the new love he had met on La Grace.
Jan Lippert "Sharki"
He worked on La Grace only briefly, in the autumn of 2018 and over the winter of 2019. A capable chap and a shame to lose. He suited the ship, but he left for better money, evidently before he had fallen fully in love with La Grace.
Josef Storzer
Pepa became an engineer right on his first big voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in the spring of 2012. After that voyage he sailed with us only as a cadet.
Jan Prokop
Yachtsman, sailor, trained carpenter, with qualifications and experience in work at height (3 years), employed as a property manager including technical equipment and maintenance (10 years). Experience at sea (6 years). He has his own boat. His hobbies are engines and motorbikes. Special ability - he can fix anything, and very few people can beat him at improvising. He worked on the ship in the years 2010-16 and this ship is his work too.
Luděk Kocourek
"Kocúr"
Yachtsman, sailor, diver and pilot of an aircraft that fits into a backpack. A trained car mechanic with many years of experience in the field of large engines. He also has qualifications and experience in work at height (20 years). He has been sailing at sea for 20 years with his own Miton-type boat. He sailed aboard La Grace until 2011. After that he fell silent for a few years for health reasons, and today he comes to us purely for the joy of it. For volunteer work and for voyages as an assistant engineer.
Petr "Fidži" Fikar
(1969)
He came to us in 2021 from the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and from horseback, thanks to Láďa Drin, with whom he makes an inseparable pair. In the photo he may look like a little saint, but he found himself a girl here fairly quickly. :-D With Láďa's departure in 2020 he left too, so we shall see whether he comes back....... :-(
Petr Souček "Souča"
(1976)
He came to La Grace because in the spring of 2020 he brought water taps out to the ship in Tunisia. Right afterwards the worldwide crisis called Covid-19 broke out, and so he stayed here with us for a whole 2 months :-) In that time we found out that he is good with his hands, and so we kept him. He did not last long here with dirty hands, though. Already in 2022 he ran off to the galley :-(
Alexander "Lexa" Potsch
(19XX)
Lexa signed on for his first voyage as an engineer in 2023 and he is the first handyman-for-hire on La Grace. He did not last long with us, though :-(
Cooks
There has already been quite a string of cooks who have tried cooking for us in the past, and so I will concentrate only on those who lasted here a while, or who were interesting in some way. :-)
Monika Dvorská (19xx)
Yachtswoman (13 years), cook and ship's stewardess on private yachts (6 years). She was good at working with people and had excellent organisational skills. She helped with building the ship and worked aboard from 2008 to 2014. She left in order to fulfil her dream and become a primary school teacher.
Pavel Žilík (1966)
After a career as a field-kitchen cook with adventure travel agencies he widened his field of activity to cooking aboard a ship. He gained his first experience on the stormy waters of the Atlantic Ocean, but he loves the calm waters around Elba. The crew chose him for his services not only to their bodies but also to their souls. He is a calm, easy-going man, but above all an excellent cook. He sailed with us for more than 2 years and finished in 2017.
Teo Sambeke "Teo"
(1993)
It hasn't been true for a long time that the darkest hands on La Grace belong to our engineer. :-) Since 2020 Teo has added a little exotic flavour to our team. This blond guy, a native of Kyjov, has part of his family in Tanzania, and so he has enriched our galley with many interesting exotic dishes. We have to rein him in a bit with the spices, but don't worry, he cooks brilliantly!
In 2021 Theo borrowed money from a client and disappeared. Then he twice failed to turn up for a planned voyage as cook, so that was the end of him here. :-( It's a shame, but it was his choice...
Antonín Korb
(1964)
I don't even remember any more when he first started sailing with us. The good thing is that he kept doing it right up to 2021. He spent a smaller part of the year aboard La Grace than Ivoš, but he cooked here for several months. He is a strange bird and it takes a while to get used to him (a professional musician who doesn't play on deck, doesn't like crowds and yet squeezes in with us on LG, serves the salad before the meal and can smuggle bacon into your vegetables so cleverly that you'll fall in love with them even when they're green). As a cook he is simply superb! He left for health reasons and we remember him fondly...
Ivo Pokluda (1958)
He spent four years cooking on the sea-going ships of Czechoslovak ocean shipping. He can play any musical instrument at all, and he doesn't just play at the pirate life, he lives it. The people he has cooked for aboard rightly call him the "Gastro killer"! :-D He has been sailing with us since 2011 and unless the RUM kills him (or I do :-D), he'll probably be with us forever. He is the longest-serving member of our crew, and so he has become something of a living icon of this ship! He cooks excellently, even though what he cares about most are the garnishes on the dishes he prepares. So take your photos quickly before it goes cold! :-) In 2022 he went into a well-earned retirement.
Alena Janšová
(1981)
After a long time in which our galley was ruled by nothing but men, a woman's hand finally showed up here again in 2020. The result is less improvisation and fewer beard hairs in the food. :-D Her meals can still be a hair better than everyone else's, though, and that is because an inseparable part of her is her dog "Fin" (Husky/Malamute). I'm only joking, of course. :-D She left the ship together with Romana Bezděková in 2025.
Quartermaster
Romana Bezděková
(1995)
She sailed on the ship from 2014. After the very first voyage, which she signed up for as a cadet, her interest in La Grace grew into a way of life lasting many years with captain Pepa Dvorský – 11 years travelling through life together. She left both the sea and her relationship with him in 2025.
She fitted right into the pirate crew, even though (often as the only woman in the permanent crew) she makes the cooks tidy up and the men change their clothes and sleep in clean bedding! :-D She loves horses and all other animals, pirate ships and chocolate.
She speaks English and German and aboard the ship she manages to do everything the others can't do or don't have time for.
Hawkeye (2019)
Full name: Hawkeye Hanach from Moravia (the name is inspired by Captain Hawkeye Pierce from the series M.A.S.H.) is a dog of the Biewer Yorkshire Terrier breed. He has been sailing on La Grace since he was tiny. He is a good-natured and clean animal with a coat that doesn't even bother people with allergies. He loves being scratched in any quantity at all, and being spoiled with treats. He left the ship with Romana in 2025, and his absence on deck will be missed not only by the captain's heart, but also by many children from the summer voyages :-(
