A ROUND-THE-WORLD lone sailor from Szczecin, Poland pulled into Port Geographe Marina last week after parts of his yacht were damaged in a week long storm with 10 metre swells.
Sixty-four years old Grigor Wegrzyn is halfway through circumnavigating the world starting his journey in June 2015, he plans to sail to Melbourne, Auckland and around Cape Horn before he returns home.
Mr Wegrzyn said it would take him around four weeks to sail to Melbourne and then another four weeks to reach Auckland on his yacht.
“I plan to stop in Auckland for two weeks and prepare to sail back to Poland around Cape Horn,” he said.
After he returns to Poland, Mr Wegrzyn has already planned to sail around-the-wold again, next time he will go North to South sailing around the polar circles.
“I am into sailing big time I have been sailing for 40 years,” he said.
Port Geographe Marina manager Craig Godridge said Mr Wegrzyn sailed into Port Geographe because he had some rigging difficulties which he needed to fix.
“I have made my yacht all good,” Mr Wegrzyn said.
Before he began the next phase of his voyage Mr Godridge took Mr Wegrzyn shopping to buy a frozen chicken which he could enjoy over the next few days after it thawed out along with some tomatoes and potatoes.
“Today he gets special food,” Mr Godridge said.
“It will be his one good meal between now and when he arrives in Melbourne.”
After that, Mr Wegrzyn would eat military style food which was prepackaged, easy to prepare and consume while he sailed the high seas alone.
The military bread which comes in small packages rises into a loaf when heated, he also has full provisions on board which included 300 kilograms of food and one tonne of water.
“There is no drinking alcohol, absolutely not, I am a young man I drink milk, juice and coffee” he said.
Mr Wegrzyn’s yacht is named Regina after his grandmother who was very dear to him and said he had no trouble sleeping on his old yacht.
“It is the love boat,” he said.
The experienced sailor said he was not deterred by the challenges at sea and that it would be no problem to face the number of whales migrating South on the next leg of his trip.
He has a life raft on board in case he gets into trouble, beacons which can be set off and a GPS navigation system to help him circumnavigate his way around-the-world.
“For me sailing solo is very organic and very good,” Mr Wergzyn said.
Follow Mr Wegrzyn on his sailing adventure around the world at his Facebook page G. Węgrzyn Samotny Rejs Dookoła Ziemi 2015 2016.