CALL OF THE OCEAN – sailing to break the record
On March 2016 Szymon Kuczyński successfully ended a voyage around the world. On Maxus 22 he sailed more than 27 000 miles from a Northman Shipyard. After the success of the project „Maxus Solo Around”, the 6,36 m long yacht has become the smallest Polish boat on which a single person sailed around the globe. The project has also become a preface to a larger and more difficult test of the equipment under extreme conditions, and test of boundaries of a man’s power and his character. Trusting in quality of products made in the Northman Shipyard, at the same yacht Szymon Kuczyński on 19th August 2017 started a voyage. Goal of the voyage is a word record in the category of single non-stop sailing around the globe, at the smallest yacht in the history. The voyage started in Plymounth in Great Britain and it was called „Call of the Ocean”. Presently it has lasted for 170 days. As for now, the helmsman Szymon Kuczyński has never landed in a port. Tiny Maxus 22 „Atlantic Puffina” sailed more than 20 300 sea miles.
The main track includes sailing around three famous capes. On 29th October the Atlantic Puffin passed the Cape of Good Hope so unlucky for Poles, located in the South of Africa. After 37 days on water of the Southern Ocean the Australian Leeuwin Cape in the Southern-West Australia was sailed around. At the end of the 24th week of the cruise Szymon Kuczyński circumnavigated Cape Horn. It was the last one of the three Great Capes on the route of his solo cruise around the world without calling at any port “Call of the Ocean.” Cape Horn, which is often called the Mount Everest of sailing, turned out to be a challenging part of the cruise also this time.
While Szymon was sailing into the Drake Passage, he was chased by a large low-pressure system which ultimately he had to face. Just as Szymon passed the cape, he said: “Within the last three days I had two storms. The one at the Horn was 9B with a 6-7 metres high wave. Last weeks were really tough. The winds were strong and of a gale-force nature. It was very cold. The temperature in the cabin was 2-5°C. Snow and rain. One day after passing the next storm on the route the wind at the Cape Horn got weaker. However, the swell made itself felt to Szymon. His yacht heeled again, this time very seriously as the heel was over 90 grades. The AIS antenna and wind gauge situated at the top of the mast found themselves under water. Within a couple of hours it was unable to locate the yacht on the map… After inspection of the rigging Szymon spotted a damage on the mast — a dent in the profile at the height of 2 m above the board that resulted in weakening of the whole structure. To minimise the risk of further deformation Szymon detached the boom and entirely gave up on using the mainsail. As soon as he informed about the mast damage, the shore team together with experts for rigging and the Northman shipyard developed their proposition of emergency safeguard of the mast. To stiffen the mast column Szymon used supplementary guys and at the site of the damage he introduced an element that prevented it against further deformation. A big jib boomkin was also attached to the mast. It was a huge effort for Szymon to safeguard the dent located at 2 metres above the board. Unfavourable weather and high waves (reaching 4 m) made the work even more complicated for the sailor who is 1.74 m tall. For the moment the dent seems not to deepen and Szymon carefully observes the dent site and if the securing measures are effective. As the weather gets better and basing on the materials and tools available on the board of Atlantic Puffin, the securing system will be improved.
To relieve the mast, the helmsman uses only the foresails that are the smallest: the baby jib and storm jib together or separately and has a limited manoeuvrability. So Szymon needs you to keep your fingers crossed even more now. Luckily, Szymon feels good and sends regards to all the observers of his journey. Within 25 weeks of the cruise Szymon Kuczyński sailed 72.3% of the scheduled route, which makes 20,371 miles, on Maxus 22 form the Northman shipyard. He has got yet 7,232 miles to the finish line and 3,417 miles to the equator. Assuming optimistic weather forecasts, the cruise should end in early May this year.
Pictures from the deck are available in the gallery. https://photos.app.goo.gl/iMO5DfXcCkfWzPTt2
Weekly entries by Szymon can be found at the website of the project www.zewoceanu.pl and at the website of the main partner of the project i.e. Northman Shipyard (www.northman.pl).
The voyage can be tracked by means of a mobile application – “Zew Oceanu”.
MORE INFO: Dobrochna Nowak: mobile: +48 733945997, info@zewoceanu.pl
