Polish yacht - North West Passage and Cape Horn in a single journey
by Nancy Knudsen on 5 Apr 2011
Solanus achievement - Polish sailors celebrate their rounding of the Horn SW
Last year the steel expedition yacht Ocean Watch completed a circumnavigation of the Americas, clockwise, and at the time it was thought they were the first yacht to achieve such a challenge. Now a Polish yacht is on its way to achieving the same challenge, anti-clockwise, and has just rounded Cape Horn.
The yacht Solanus has three permanent members of crew, the skipper Bronislaw Radlinski, along with two crew, Nowak and Kantak. Other crew have joined them from time to time. Leaving Dkansk in Poland in May 2010 from their yacht club, the Polish Sports Club Bydgostia, they headed across the Atlantic to tackle the North West Passage from east to west in the summer of 2010, completing it successfully on 20th September.
From there they sailed south, visiting ports in Canada, the USA, Mexico and Chile. Last week, very late in the season, they successfully rounded Cape Horn, and are now berthed in the most southerly city in the world, the remote Ushuaia.
In spite of their yacht being excellently prepared, they have now found problems with some of their shrouds, and must wait in Ushuaia until a repair can be effected. They anticipate making full repairs in Buenos Aires where there are yacht facilities.
Congratulations to both the crew of Solanus, to their sponsoring organisation the Sports Club Bydgostia, and to Poland, for achieving such a challenging voyage so far.
To follow their journey, go to www.solanus.pl
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/82057
