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Martini Gotjé (1949) is a sailor through and through. Famous for keeping his cool during gale force 10 and his skills for navigating by the stars. He grew up in Rotterdam in a working class family. As a boy he does not like rules or school and decides early on in life to sail and travel the world. In the early seventies he emigrated to New Zealand where he signs on with the sailing boat ‘Fri’, a peace ship that protests against nuclear testing in the Pacific. During shore leave in Nelson, New Zealand, he meets Rien and they become friends for life. On board of the Fri he also meets Bunny and Henk. In 1980 Martini signs on with Greenpeace and becomes navigator on the Rainbow Warrior. There he meets Susi and they have a daughter, named Brenna, a year later. He is in Florida in 1984 to convert the Rainbow Warrior into a sailing ship. When finished they sail to the Pacific for the Nuclear Free Pacific tour. They are joined by the Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira. After the evacuation of the people of Rongelap, the Rainbow Warrior sails to Auckland for a pit stop. When the bombs explode Martini goes below deck to save what can be saved. His friend Fernando dies in the attack. This marks Martini for the rest of his life. “I’ve since become an angry man.” After the bombing he remains in New Zealand to work for Greenpeace on shore. He is responsible for the organisation concerning the dismantling and sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. In 1992 he temporarily turns away from Greenpeace to work on freighters. During one of these voyages he meets a woman on the Cook Islands and they have three children. From 1997 to 2001 he works in Amsterdam as head of the ‘Marine Division’ of Greenpeace International. When his marriage falls apart he and his children move to Waiheke and he stops sailing. He still works for Greenpeace by ‘keeping watch’ from behind his computer. He tracks illegal fishing boats, nuclear transports and whalers via satellite and internet. Busy as a single father, he still finds the time to set up an action committee together with Rien, to stand up for the people of the island Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, who were once forcibly relocated by the UK Government in order for the American army to build a military basis. |
‘The navigator’