10Around the world solo in a
21-footer for a new record
‘UNASSUMING’ SKIPPER CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE GLOBE SOLO AND UNASSISTED IN A SMALL YACHT
‘his modified maxus 22 is a polish-
built trailer-sailer designed for
cruising on poland’s lakes’
37-year-old Polish sailor has
set a new record for a non-stop
single-handed circumnavigation
in the smallest yacht, one without
an engine – a voyage very few knew
anything about.
Szymon Kuczynski completed his solo
circumnavigation when he sailed back
into Plymouth on 17 May, after 270 days,
10 hours and 29 minutes at sea in his
6.36m (20ft 10in) yacht Atlantic Puffin.
He completed the classic round the
world route, setting off from Plymouth,
to round all three of the Great Capes.
Kuczynski set off under sail from
Mayflower Marina in Plymouth last
August at drifting speed with just two
people waving him off. Charles Bush,
managing director of Mayflower Marina,
observed that Atlantic Puffin was “the
most unassuming yacht in the marina”.
Kuczynski’s back-to-basics set-
up relied heavily on solar power for
instruments, and he used relatively
simple navigation equipment.
His modified Maxus 22 is a Polish-built
trailer-sailer designed for cruising on
Poland’s lakes, although Atlantic Puffin
has a reinforced hull and structures,deeper draught bulb keel and beefed-
up rig. At 6.36m it is shorter than the
6.50m Mini Transat in which Alessandro
Di Benedetto set the previous solo round
the world non-stop record in 2010.
Kuczynski experienced the most
severe weather at Cape Horn, with gale
force winds and 6-7m seas for days
on end, plus snow sending the cabin
temperature to between 2-5°C.
Atlantic Puffin was knocked down
and the mast was sent beyond 90°,
plunging the AIS antenna and wind gauge
underwater, and damaging his rig section
some 2m above deck on the starboard
side. Kuczynski repaired the rig by
laminating a glassfibre and Kevlar
section and riveting it to the mast,
then removing the boom from the
gooseneck and re-fitting it at deck
level, with a pulley system to support
the compression loads.The repair held and Kuczynski was able
to complete his voyage.
His reported top speed over the
29,000 mile journey was 12 knots under
four reefs, but his average speed was just
4.5 knots. Unsurprisingly, he got through
143 books on the voyage including –
fittingly – One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
With no engine or generator, and
therefore no watermaker on board,
Kuczynski set off with 580 water bottles
crammed into his tiny yacht. His main
sustenance came from stores of dried
food, 60 eggs, and a large stash of
chocolate, a diet he supplemented with
fresh fish. Disaster struck in the tropics
when Kuczynski, a self-confessed
chocoholic, had to ditch his chocolate
stores in the heat.
On arrival in Plymouth he looked like
a man who had earned a square meal
or three, having lost 10.7kg, although
he said a shower and strong drink were
equal top priorities. His friends had
brought Masurian dried meat, a Polish
delicacy, and local beer to welcome him
ashore after his marathon voyage.
Kuczynski, who is a sailing instructorSzymon Kuczynski
and Atlantic Puffin
set a new world
record for the
smallest yacht to
circumnavigate
the globe single-
handedON THE WIND
ADVENTURE
A