Sidar Duman started fishing in his 9 feet rowing boat when he was 6, while living in his parent’s beach house on the Aegean. He says his favorite childhood game was pretending being a sailor! When he was 9, his uncle bought a small 4-horse power outboard motor that he traveled miles from the shores of Aegean, feeling like a discoverer.
When he was 15, he started sailing in the 60 feet gulet his uncle owned. He discovered every corner of the Aegean. He made his first solo sailing adventure when he was 16, in a 20 feet sail boat, with only fresh water as a supply. Aegean fed him well enough.
He started sailing with a racer as crew back his teen years and he still keeps doing it in intervals. He says he has chosen tour guiding as a career as it doesn't require full time commitments and allows him to sail in summers.
In 2003, Sidar and a group of friends came up with the crazy idea of re-building the oldest shipwreck of the world, Uluburun. He worked in the research for preparing the blue prints, and worked physically to build the ship. Then, he had his best times of sailing in re-animation of Uluburun with a square sail, without a keel, without an engine on a 55 feet boat.
Uluburun project was honored and supported by National Geographic Turkey and Institute of Nautical Archaeology.
For the past six years, Sidar has been the skipper of a race boat for the longest race of Turkey that lasts about a week. The route of the race is almost the same as the route of "Seafarers of the Aegean" adventure. Two years in a row, his team won the second prize in their rank.
Sidar Duman has been part of SRM Travel for the past four years, as a lead guide, travel planner and consultant.