Mentors

A God Mother of Tanasza Polska.  My quardian angel. Mother of Dobrava and Daniela. What a person, you should all get to know her.

Made me fall in love with the ocean, therefore made me who I am. "When I grow up I wanna be like him". Hope to have a chance to sail by his side one day and to be good enough for him so he can teach me what he knows.

Born 19.06.1928, died 2.03.2002, captain, sailing instructor, first Polish woman to cross Atlantic single-handed (S/Y Komodor, OSTER regattas England – USA:1972).

Her achievement was recognized with “Cruise of a Year” reward by PZZ (Polish Sailing Association). She worked in Gdynia Shipyard. She was a journalist and translator; she wrote a book about her ocean crossing memories (“Z goryczy soli moja radosc”). In ’80 she was an active member of NSZZ “Solidarnosc”, imprisoned during a Marshal Law in Poland. She passed her experience and love for the see over her children, grand children and new generation of followers.

I am a lucky man. My dreams have come true in spite of my never expecting  they might;  in this I have found my treasure. When I was twelve I was fascinated by book entitled Around the World with  100 Bucks, a true story written by two university students who studied  agriculture and wood-processing. Before graduating they took a Dean’s leave  and went abroad. They began in Sweden. Having no money they worked as  lumber-jacks, then in paper mills. After earning their passage, the authors  traveled to the rainforests of Brazil, then to Tasmania, Borneo and the Ivory  Coast – almost the whole world. These two returned to their studies having  had a life of adventure out of a live experience. I loved this idea, getting to  know other countries and languages, meeting new people, learning local  skills: seeing the world, but not as a tourist.  At the time, this deram was beyond my reach. It was World War Two and  Poland was one of battlefields. After the war, my country was behind the Iron  curtain and my thougths of free travel were abandoned. Times slowly changed for the better. I worked in different chemical labs and  sailed for my academic yacht club. The great voyages were still before me.  The turning point was my first trans-Atlantic crossing in a small yacht. I was  then 43. It seemed that I was very old, but on this first adventure, I felt like a  teenager. With two friends, I began my first circumnavigation. We sailed  slowly, enjoying peace and working occasionally. It was a great opening to  the great oceans.