Ian Martin / Yacht Broker
Ian Martin’s sailing and racing adventures are well known from South Africa to the Caribbean and beyond and has set transatlantic and round the world records. He currently lives in Sint Maarten in the Caribbean where he owns and operates two charter catamarans. Ian is also a certified surveyor. He has a broad knowledge of sailing boats, which can be used to your advantage when looking for a boat whether it is as a buyers or sellers agent.
Email: ian@catamaranguru.com | PH: 1-721-556-4128
Ian Martin is a South African native and is well known for his sailing and racing adventures from Cape Town to the Caribbean and beyond. He competed in the Whitbread around the World Race (now known as the Ocean Race) on a monohull and has competed in Foxy’s Cat Fight in the BVI. Ian and his brother, John, raced in a double-handed transatlantic race and set a new record for the elapsed time to cross the Atlantic which was registered in the Guinness Book of Records.
He cruised extensively with his wife and son and delivered countless vessels before finally settling on the island of Sint Maarten in the Caribbean. He currently owns and operates two Leopard 45 Catamarans for day charter and racing charters in the BVI.
Ian has been a yacht surveyor for 25 years and built and restored monohulls and multihulls.
Ian has a very deep and broad knowledge of sailing boats, both cruising and racing, which can be used to your advantage when you enlist his help as a buyer’s when looking for a boat that is right for you or get his expert help to sell your yacht.
His Client Testimonials are Amazing
...Ptaks' cross-International registration...
My husband and I were interested in buying a catamaran but didn’t really have an idea about how to approach the task. He found Cat Guru and passed the info on to me. I sent an email requesting info and was soon contacted by Dave King.
We had found a catamaran that we felt suited our needs but it was in St. Maarten. After Dave King talked to us about how Cat Guru worked, he said they had a guy in St. Maarten that he could put us in touch with. That guy was Ian Martin. Dave handed us off to Ian when we decided to look at the cat in St. Maarten.
Our trip to St. Maarten to test sail and survey the boat that we ended up purchasing was nothing short of AMAZING from start to finish. Ian met up with us the day we arrived and took us for a preliminary tour of the boat. Then he was there with us for the test sail and survey. He walked us through the whole process and provided outstanding counsel!
We would not have bought the boat without all the advice and help that Ian obviously enjoyed giving us. He was on our side through the entire process guiding us and making suggestions that were always in our best interest. We don’t know how we would have managed without his expertise. That man KNOWS boats, especially catamarans!
He was in touch back and forth with Dave King, as we had to register the French boat in the US. But Ian’s help didn’t stop with the sale of the catamaran. He was an integral part of helping us get our boat from St. Maarten back to Delaware. Ian helped us find 2 experienced young men that were available to help us sail our new boat home. We could not have been happier with the experience that we had with Catamaran Guru and we would use them again in a heartbeat, but that won’t be for a while because we could not be happier with our new catamaran!
Sharon Ptak
...this from a client, Jack...
Ian is more than a broker, he’s a friend.
When I was first interested in buying a boat, Ian consulted with me extensively, took me sailing and really showed me the ropes. He gave me his honest and experienced opinion about the various catamarans on the market, and I always felt like he was keeping my goals in mind when bringing a boat to my attention.
I would never consider any other broker!
