Polish sailor completes circumnavigation in a 22ft sailboat

[Browning]

A news from the old country reached me just now: Szymon Kuczynski completed his 1,5 years long solo circumnavigation. On March 2016, he arrived safely at Las Palmas where he left in November 2014.

His yacht is a Polish-built Maxus 22, which a very small boat for Mazurian Lakes and such. It was modified by strengthening the mast and the standing rigging and by putting two rudders rather than one. Also, the interior was heavily simplified.

The report (in Polish) can be found on the page of the manufacturer:
Okołoziemski rejs na jachcie Maxus 22 zakończony - Northman

[Lizzy Belle]

Great news, thx for posting! Read about him some time ago, happy to hear he made it all the way around

Article translated by Google:

Maxus Solo Around - an amazing world-class event.

The great success ended just lonely voyage around the world Szymon Kuczynski. The sailor set sail in November 2014 years from the Canary Islands on a tiny boat Maxus 22 "Atlantic Puffin" (built in the shipyard Northman) and after almost 16 months of the oceans, March 4, 2016 circumterrestrial closed loop affecting the port of Las Palmas. At less than 6.5 meter boat without an engine he covered more than 27 000 nautical miles (more than 50 thousand km).

Simon sailed so. trade winds route. Defeated the Atlantic Ocean, after crossing the Panama Canal with just one stop he sailed across the Pacific, from the departure of Australia to the failure of the satellite phone sailed without contact with the mainland. Circumnavigate Africa from the south, around the Cape of Good Hope called the sailors 'Cape of Storms'. Then headed north to the second time on their route cut the equator and reach the start of the expedition - the Canary Islands.

During the cruise he encountered extreme weather conditions - from multi-day periods without wind storms strength to 12B. In one of them in the western Pacific interior of the yacht it has been flooded by a wave which fell to the deck and got into the cab. Simon then lost the pontoon and power. Suffered electronics, among others, major accident has autopilot and navigator was forced to manual control. The equipment which was on the board (including bicycle parts) built an autopilot wind. As expected the most difficult conditions met at the Cape of Good Hope which passed on Christmas Eve 2015.

" The waves have 7-9m. In the sky, the sun, and all around green fought with white. When I came to breaking the Crested simply I lain down flat and held me by not washed away overboard. It was blowing 45-50 knots basis. Under rain clouds squalls reached to 55-60 knots and they lasted several tens of minutes. In fact, on board the wind speed was felt even more because I was sailing into the wind at a speed 4-6Kt. I really feel sorry for the boat. I had no choice I had to go against the wind. Any other course came down to me more and more shortness of which also heaps wave, and right next to an extremely strong and opposite to the wind Agulhas Current. For the last 3 days I slept a total of 5 hours. I had a big problem to get to sleep and general sleep ... "/ logbook 25.12.2015 /

Simon have their years shows that sailing is a sport safe and can be available to all. During Maxus Solo Around we failed to realize all assumptions cruise. In cooperation with the Polish shipyard Northman and yacht designer Jack Dashkevich adjusted serial small yacht for ocean shipping. Although the boat Maxus 22 is only 6.36 meters long the entire route defeated in a fast-paced, and the route was doing very well. Apart from minor breakdowns were no major technical problems.

YACHT: Maxus 22 "Atlantic Puffin"
length 6.36 m, width 2.48 m, pow basic sails, 23 km2,

These modifications:

weight of the boat 1350 kg (500 kg ballast)
reinforced mast, rigging bold
tight buoyancy chambers
the ability to seal the yacht
Two rudder
aft emergency exit
interior: Lightweight, plywood buildings, angled berths onboard, jednopalnikowa cooker do, no water system (only bottled water) and toilets.

STATISTICS CRUISE:

defeated route 28 597 miles
the average speed of 4.26 knots
average daily mileage: 101.8 nm
hour cruise: 6713 h
Visited places: the Canary Islands Martinique, Panama, awnings, Australia, Christmas Island, Reunion
the amount of waste water: 700 l
read the books: 225

Sections of the cruise:
24/11/2014 - 20/12/2014 - Las Palmas - Martynique
07/03/2015 - 03/17/2015 Martynique - Panama
12.052015 - 2.072015 Panama - Marquesas Islands
08/07/2015 - 31.082015 Marquesas Islands - Australia
28/09/2015 - 10/12/2015 - Australia - Christmas Island
10/20/2015 - 17/11/2015 - Christmas Island - Reunion
11/27/2015 - 09/02/2016 - Reunion - Cape Verde
11.02.2016 - 03.04.2016 - Cape Verde - Las Palmas

And some background info in English.

Cute little boat too:


I like it when little boats proof once again you don't need a 45'+ boat to set sail

[markpl]

Viva Polonia!!

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by Lizzy Belle

...
I like it when little boats proof once again you don't need a 45'+ boat to set sail

+1 good on him, and all the others out there on simple little boats having fun.

[robert sailor]

Good on him

[SaltyMonkey]

Stunning 1.5 years

[Celestialsailor]

Pretty quick really, considering the size and stops.

[sailorcherry]

Right on Mon!

[captlloyd]

Someone save this for the next guy who asks how big a boat do you need to go blue-water sailing.

[DDabs]

Awesome. His boat looks super fun to sail too

[Island Time O25]

Sure throws a monkey wrench into the "what's a bluewater boat?" debate.

Goes to show that it's not the size of the boat but the size of one's cojones and having the will and perseverance to succeed. And great competence does not hurt either.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

+1 good on him, and all the others out there on simple little boats having fun.

Yes it is a little boat and a modern one but before someone buy an inexpensive Maxus 22 and head offshore let me tell you all this is not a standard boat. It has a fixed keel with more draft, a bulbed one with a lot more ballast than on the standard keel. The boat was reinforced (mainly the boat structure) to be able to take the increased efforts from the keel.

The standard Maxus 22 does not pass the stability requirements for Class A and it is not an offshore boat. The ones that are interested in small modern offshore sailboats better have a look at the Django series:
http://www.mareehaute.fr/
There is a Standard 7.70 (25.2ft) circumnavigating and on high latitudes too (Patagonia):
http://www.intothewind.fr/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlCYggbAGvk

[alansmith]

The incredible nature of people. It just blows me away. When he was rounding Cape Hope... That was , um, beyond my ability as an old guy to survive. Well done... Also he created a new wind vane out of bicycle parts. Wow.... Smart and capable man.

[rognvald]

This cannot be true since an offshore boat must be at least 40 feet and have the following equipment:
1.) refrigeration
2.) watermaker
3.) radar
4.) wind generator/extensive solar panels
5.) SSB
6.) Manson or Rocna anchor with all chain rode
7.) all deck parts bedded in butyl tape
8.) double lifelines
9.) reliable diesel engine with spare parts
10.) water tanks
11.) head
12.) microwave/blender/inverter
13.) stove
14.) solid fiberglass hull
15.) and, of course, a big screen tv
Did I miss anything? This must surely be a fictitious story since a serious circumnavigation could only be successful in a well-found condo-palace of serious offshore design. Perhaps the OP would like to retract this post for something more truthful. We anxiously await your response. In disbelief, Rognvald

[SaltyMonkey]

I'm just baffled on how he could carry all the food he might need. Water maker or not, he still needs to hold the water and power the maker.