POLONEZ

Biography

S/Y POLONEZ is one of the most famous Polish sailing yachts. It was built in 1971 for Kpt. Krzysztof Baranowski who entered the boat into the OSTAR ’72 regatta, from Plymouth in Great Britain to Newport, USA. Three weeks after finishing the race Kpt. Baranowski on board the Polonez began one of the most spectacular achievements in Polish sailing history. He single-handedly sailed around the world passing all five continents. He was the second Pole to do so, and the first one who travelled the harder route through southern storms and high seas in the sub-Antarctic region. On February 23rd 1973 he passed the famous Cape Horn as the first Polish sailor to go around it single-handedly. He finished the trip in seven months and returned to Poland in June of 1973. Later he turned the boat over to young Polish sailors to serve as a training vessel.

The boat was used by students of The Maritime Collage in Szczecin (Wyzsza Szkola Morska w Szczecinie, 1973-87) before it was sold to a Polish businessman Lech Grobelny.Unfortunately the new owner had to serve a long prison sentence for his financial frauds so the boat was detained and forgotten for a long time.

Thanks to a noted Szczecinian sailor – Mr. Bruno Salcewicz and a Polish developer company – Włodarzewska S.A. the boat was repaired and refitted in 2005-2008. Later it briefly sailed with student crews from the Pomeranian Maritime Education Programme but was never again used by college students for whom the boat was donated by its first captain – Krzysztof Baranowski.

In 2014, after over a quarter of a century, Polonez again welcomed on board student crews who participated in training cruises in the Baltic and the North Sea. In July and August Polonez took part in The Tall Ships Races 2014 and later headed to Świnoujście for Baltic Single & Double Handed POLONEZ CUP Race – regatta named in 1973 in honour of Kpt. Baranowski’s and Polonez’s round the world trip.