This is your youngest Pole sailing the world around. Due to this running around on Vanuatu my left knee started to remind me about itself. Here it’s squishing, there it’s squishing.
I ought to put on the stabilizer for a little while, especially when tomorrow I am climbing up the mast. Right knee has a big scar after cruciate ligament reconstruction. I was once flying on a paraglider on the tops of trees instead of above them and afterwards I completed its art of destruction on the snowboard. However, the left knee it’s a totally new story that I will share with you as a little time has passed and I can approch this subject from some distance already. And surely from the distance of 3400 nautical miles.
It happened in Honolulu, at nearly the very beginning of my preparations for the expedition.
This is how the story begins: My last yacht delivery led from San Diego to Hawaii. On the way we lost a rudder blade and one member of the crew had a stroke, an unfavorable trip. After reaching the destination I saw “Tanasza”, which wasn’t “Tanasza” yet. “Tanasza” stood on the island Oahu since I sailed her from Australia 6 years ago. After returning to Poland I found her owner and persuaded him to let me start preparing the yacht before I would be able to pay for it. Not bad, huh? And why? Because I was promised money for the yacht and the expedition! The money was about to arrive any moment. I took not a little risk agreeing that if I don’t pay for it by the certain day of starting the voyage, I will loose everything that I would have done on it by then. But I accepted the risk believing hard it must work out. And faith can cause a miracle to happen, especially when one has people around who help and support he or she. I borrowed from my sister and Sergiusz money for the plane ticket. My mother with aunt Ela have sewed flags of the countries which I am going to visit and the ports of during my cruise, and I have already been on board the plane.
I can assure you that in my life I have already had many intense periods but this one, after landing on paradise islands was the most intensive one. I don’t even mention the fact that I appeared in a place where people drive automatic transmission cars and I totally had no idea where everything is and where to look for things. First I sought to transport the yacht from marina to the dockyard, where it could be taken out of the water. I was very much in stress as I was responsible for all that might happen to this buoyant unit, as it still wasn’t even mine!
We have been out of the water for 5 days. The old paint had to be torn off, the bottom needed new paint, I had to change the zinc, clean the screw, check all the openings, paint the water line, polish the sides of the ship to make them look nice, etc.
In the meantime since I met Terry in the supermarket he became my faithful and priceless helper. I planned to sail out a month after my arrival and only people who are used to preparing the yacht for a big expedition know that it is: a) practically impossible, b) practically impossible. But I was doing my best getting up at 5 to go asleep shortly before 5 and it worked more less this way. I have been learning a lot. I met a few people who gave me a piece of advice, and the guys from the dockyard didn’t save their effort to make the renovation easier for me. Because the boat was built in Australia and in the United States a different unit system is used so it happened that finding adequate tools took us more time then work itself.
My old friend Jacek used his connections taking over to “Tanasza” probably all his friends ☺. I met several people who left Poland living in Oahu. Mieciu and Niko have rolled their sleeves up. We have gone through many difficult tasks, but obviously we had some funny situations coming from mistakes we’ve made (e.g. when I tried to bore a hole with a screw driver, burning it in half instead of using a drill ☺). Well, this whole “making” process was learning process for me. I had to become handy with the tools, learn new names, and decide what will be more useful on the open sea. Yet, many of these things I have never done before. When it came to installing completely new electrical systems and installing and setting up electronic devices that were partly sponsored by the sailing shop West Marine (www.westmarine.com), Janek came up with his help.
Without him I couldn’t manage. (I have no idea what I was doing on physics classes, really). Janek was with me every day. Once I wanted to be like him. There wasn’t a thing on the yacht that he couldn’t have done, although only few years ago he bought a yacht having not the faintest idea about sailing. Now he is sailing on the boat with his wife Kasia on the Pacific. I am so glad I met them and thanks to them I met Andrzej with his wife Krysia (when you see the pic taken in their house you will understand then what kind of ‘originals’ they are.:)
Ok, but coming back to work. The time was ticking fast and I was in hurry to sail out in the most appropriate weather time. I have never thought that it is possible to do 10 things at the same time, with the terrifying consciousness that missing one detail can cost me my life.
Mike, the owner of the yacht, during the time of preparations was extremely patient postponing my date of payment and supporting me every time I needed it. But the money was running out and the supposed major sponsor still hadn’t supported my project, and anyway short after that it turned out that he had just withdrawn from the project.
In this dramatic moment when they already wanted to put the chains on the yacht and evict me from it, Krzysztof Kamiński called me. Krzysiek is the owner of the Inter-PRO company (www.inter-proauto.com) that specializes in repair of luxury cars in Chicago. For some time he has been involved in the project. He bought and delivered to me a life raft, gave his satellite phone to me, bought a very expensive waterproof computer that has wide shock tolerance so I could use it for navigation. Krzysiek also presented my project to his friends. You have no idea how I am grateful him for what he has done for me. Andrzej Plociennik, the owner of the WDT Company (www.mywdt.com), specializing in telephone communication and submitting the services of cheap international phone calls, responded immediately (the day when I even didn’t have money to buy food and moreover to make a new rigging). But coming back to the person of Krzysztof. We have known each other for a few years, once we did some regattas together and now thanks to Malgorzata Krautschneider our contact has been renewed.
And on this doomsday when it turned out that I am going to loose everything, I received this ‘historical’ phone call from Krzysztof. The most normal voice in world I heard again in the headphone “Natasza, what else do you need, tell me”. I didn’t want to worry him. He was my sponsor and it somehow couldn’t go through my throat that the voyage may not happen at all. But he knew somehow, I don’t know how, it will remain my puzzle. He has bought this yacht! Can you imagine that? How lucky I am!!!
We have christened “Tanasza”. Malgosia K. couldn’t come so personally I fulfilled the honors of the Godmother.
On the point of this occasion my ‘knee’ misfortune happened. One of the guests of my little party fell into the water between the quayside and the yacht. I was the closest to him and the tide was low I couldn’t grab his hand. So I wanted to pull him up a little by means of my leg, in order to catch his wrist, but he, probably in shock instead of cooperating he twisted my knee by the way pulling me into the water. True, Mieciu jumped into the water to help us, seemingly he thought the party is moved to the water ☺ , but the destruction had been made.
My back ligament that supports the knee in the proper place has been overstrained. And this way my luck is changeable. ”God, not now” - I thought. Yet, I don’t have time for such accidents. Unfortunately, in the newest planned schedule for the things that must be done (urgently!) was the hospital, stabilizer and crutches. I was threatened with an operation. I just couldn’t believe it.
The worst however was not the pain accompanying me but the feeling of wasting time and enormity of work that has to be done. Since I was climbing on the mast, I was breaking knee stabilizers one after another, in the hospital they knew me by name, and in the sport store they just couldn’t believe how I am managing it all. Believe me, I really had no other way out, I couldn’t give up. And do you know what happened? On the First of June, I was climbing the mast to take off the main shroud from the top and after 40 minutes of the fight with the retaining pin, I fell down of the mast. I guess it was my dad who protected me from heaven who made that stubborn shroud roll around my leg keeping me close to the mast. I landed on the sails and although I shouldn’t write it to you, falling down the mast I even didn’t drop the tool. Due to the fall itself another stabilizer broke but with a kind of odd miracle and not understanding why, my knee recovered. It hurts sometimes a little from time to time even now, but you have to admit I am really lucky, right? Every time I think of this situation I feel like laughing as I remember the face of my friend who was helping me climb the mast. He claims that if it happened to him, he would ask for de-li-cate care taking him down to the ground and he would sell the yacht to the first met person on the way ashore for one dollar. I only ask for another halyard (the line) needed for another climb, I set my teeth...I remember that since I climbed back again on the mast I excused myself to my friend that I am taking a little bit more time...
Since that moment I was called a falling angel – don’t mistake with the fallen angel, please ☺
I ought to put on the stabilizer for a little while, especially when tomorrow I am climbing up the mast. Right knee has a big scar after cruciate ligament reconstruction. I was once flying on a paraglider on the tops of trees instead of above them and afterwards I completed its art of destruction on the snowboard. However, the left knee it’s a totally new story that I will share with you as a little time has passed and I can approch this subject from some distance already. And surely from the distance of 3400 nautical miles.
It happened in Honolulu, at nearly the very beginning of my preparations for the expedition.
This is how the story begins: My last yacht delivery led from San Diego to Hawaii. On the way we lost a rudder blade and one member of the crew had a stroke, an unfavorable trip. After reaching the destination I saw “Tanasza”, which wasn’t “Tanasza” yet. “Tanasza” stood on the island Oahu since I sailed her from Australia 6 years ago. After returning to Poland I found her owner and persuaded him to let me start preparing the yacht before I would be able to pay for it. Not bad, huh? And why? Because I was promised money for the yacht and the expedition! The money was about to arrive any moment. I took not a little risk agreeing that if I don’t pay for it by the certain day of starting the voyage, I will loose everything that I would have done on it by then. But I accepted the risk believing hard it must work out. And faith can cause a miracle to happen, especially when one has people around who help and support he or she. I borrowed from my sister and Sergiusz money for the plane ticket. My mother with aunt Ela have sewed flags of the countries which I am going to visit and the ports of during my cruise, and I have already been on board the plane.
I can assure you that in my life I have already had many intense periods but this one, after landing on paradise islands was the most intensive one. I don’t even mention the fact that I appeared in a place where people drive automatic transmission cars and I totally had no idea where everything is and where to look for things. First I sought to transport the yacht from marina to the dockyard, where it could be taken out of the water. I was very much in stress as I was responsible for all that might happen to this buoyant unit, as it still wasn’t even mine!
We have been out of the water for 5 days. The old paint had to be torn off, the bottom needed new paint, I had to change the zinc, clean the screw, check all the openings, paint the water line, polish the sides of the ship to make them look nice, etc.
In the meantime since I met Terry in the supermarket he became my faithful and priceless helper. I planned to sail out a month after my arrival and only people who are used to preparing the yacht for a big expedition know that it is: a) practically impossible, b) practically impossible. But I was doing my best getting up at 5 to go asleep shortly before 5 and it worked more less this way. I have been learning a lot. I met a few people who gave me a piece of advice, and the guys from the dockyard didn’t save their effort to make the renovation easier for me. Because the boat was built in Australia and in the United States a different unit system is used so it happened that finding adequate tools took us more time then work itself.
My old friend Jacek used his connections taking over to “Tanasza” probably all his friends ☺. I met several people who left Poland living in Oahu. Mieciu and Niko have rolled their sleeves up. We have gone through many difficult tasks, but obviously we had some funny situations coming from mistakes we’ve made (e.g. when I tried to bore a hole with a screw driver, burning it in half instead of using a drill ☺). Well, this whole “making” process was learning process for me. I had to become handy with the tools, learn new names, and decide what will be more useful on the open sea. Yet, many of these things I have never done before. When it came to installing completely new electrical systems and installing and setting up electronic devices that were partly sponsored by the sailing shop West Marine (www.westmarine.com), Janek came up with his help.
Without him I couldn’t manage. (I have no idea what I was doing on physics classes, really). Janek was with me every day. Once I wanted to be like him. There wasn’t a thing on the yacht that he couldn’t have done, although only few years ago he bought a yacht having not the faintest idea about sailing. Now he is sailing on the boat with his wife Kasia on the Pacific. I am so glad I met them and thanks to them I met Andrzej with his wife Krysia (when you see the pic taken in their house you will understand then what kind of ‘originals’ they are.:)
Ok, but coming back to work. The time was ticking fast and I was in hurry to sail out in the most appropriate weather time. I have never thought that it is possible to do 10 things at the same time, with the terrifying consciousness that missing one detail can cost me my life.
Mike, the owner of the yacht, during the time of preparations was extremely patient postponing my date of payment and supporting me every time I needed it. But the money was running out and the supposed major sponsor still hadn’t supported my project, and anyway short after that it turned out that he had just withdrawn from the project.
In this dramatic moment when they already wanted to put the chains on the yacht and evict me from it, Krzysztof Kamiński called me. Krzysiek is the owner of the Inter-PRO company (www.inter-proauto.com) that specializes in repair of luxury cars in Chicago. For some time he has been involved in the project. He bought and delivered to me a life raft, gave his satellite phone to me, bought a very expensive waterproof computer that has wide shock tolerance so I could use it for navigation. Krzysiek also presented my project to his friends. You have no idea how I am grateful him for what he has done for me. Andrzej Plociennik, the owner of the WDT Company (www.mywdt.com), specializing in telephone communication and submitting the services of cheap international phone calls, responded immediately (the day when I even didn’t have money to buy food and moreover to make a new rigging). But coming back to the person of Krzysztof. We have known each other for a few years, once we did some regattas together and now thanks to Malgorzata Krautschneider our contact has been renewed.
And on this doomsday when it turned out that I am going to loose everything, I received this ‘historical’ phone call from Krzysztof. The most normal voice in world I heard again in the headphone “Natasza, what else do you need, tell me”. I didn’t want to worry him. He was my sponsor and it somehow couldn’t go through my throat that the voyage may not happen at all. But he knew somehow, I don’t know how, it will remain my puzzle. He has bought this yacht! Can you imagine that? How lucky I am!!!
We have christened “Tanasza”. Malgosia K. couldn’t come so personally I fulfilled the honors of the Godmother.
On the point of this occasion my ‘knee’ misfortune happened. One of the guests of my little party fell into the water between the quayside and the yacht. I was the closest to him and the tide was low I couldn’t grab his hand. So I wanted to pull him up a little by means of my leg, in order to catch his wrist, but he, probably in shock instead of cooperating he twisted my knee by the way pulling me into the water. True, Mieciu jumped into the water to help us, seemingly he thought the party is moved to the water ☺ , but the destruction had been made.
My back ligament that supports the knee in the proper place has been overstrained. And this way my luck is changeable. ”God, not now” - I thought. Yet, I don’t have time for such accidents. Unfortunately, in the newest planned schedule for the things that must be done (urgently!) was the hospital, stabilizer and crutches. I was threatened with an operation. I just couldn’t believe it.
The worst however was not the pain accompanying me but the feeling of wasting time and enormity of work that has to be done. Since I was climbing on the mast, I was breaking knee stabilizers one after another, in the hospital they knew me by name, and in the sport store they just couldn’t believe how I am managing it all. Believe me, I really had no other way out, I couldn’t give up. And do you know what happened? On the First of June, I was climbing the mast to take off the main shroud from the top and after 40 minutes of the fight with the retaining pin, I fell down of the mast. I guess it was my dad who protected me from heaven who made that stubborn shroud roll around my leg keeping me close to the mast. I landed on the sails and although I shouldn’t write it to you, falling down the mast I even didn’t drop the tool. Due to the fall itself another stabilizer broke but with a kind of odd miracle and not understanding why, my knee recovered. It hurts sometimes a little from time to time even now, but you have to admit I am really lucky, right? Every time I think of this situation I feel like laughing as I remember the face of my friend who was helping me climb the mast. He claims that if it happened to him, he would ask for de-li-cate care taking him down to the ground and he would sell the yacht to the first met person on the way ashore for one dollar. I only ask for another halyard (the line) needed for another climb, I set my teeth...I remember that since I climbed back again on the mast I excused myself to my friend that I am taking a little bit more time...
Since that moment I was called a falling angel – don’t mistake with the fallen angel, please ☺