In March 2016, the Pole Szymon Kuczy?ski successfully completed a round-the-world trip WITH stops on a Maxus 22 from Northman Shipyard. He has sailed more than 27,000 miles on this small production sailboat, 6.36 m long, for 2 years.
Thanks to this experience and confident in the quality of the boats, Szymon Kuczy?ski has started, on the same Maxus 22, a non-stop round the world trip through the 3 capes. If it achieves this incredible navigation, it will become the smallest boat to sail around the world alone without stopovers.
It is surprising to note the confidence of the Northman shipyard, which has committed itself to the project by preparing a Maxus 22 for this adventure (the Bisafran keelboat version). From the beginning, the boat was designed for this course with the installation of crash boxes at the front and rear, a mini dog house and a watertight door to protect the descent. In the boat, there is no complete layout as usual on the Maxus, but just 2 benches facing each other. It is rare for a shipyard to validate this type of navigation with a production sailboat even before the start. Usually builders stand back waiting for the happy outcome to praise the merits of their boat. Northman Shipyard has confidence in its products. Congratulations!
Already the 3 capes in the wake
Szymon and his Maxus 22 "Atlantic Puffin" left Plymouth, Great Britain on August 19, 2017. Today, after more than 180 days at sea (more than 6 months at sea), it has passed the 3 capes and is in the South Atlantic climbing up along Brazil at Buenos Aires. He has already covered more than 20,300 miles.
On 29 October 2017, the Maxus 22 passed the Cape of Good Hope and 37 days later, she sailed over Cape Leeuwen in southwest Australia on the Southern Ocean. At the end of the 24th week of sailing, Szymon Kuczy?ski rounded the famous Cape Horn, the last of the three main headlands on its route.
Capsizing at Cape Horn
The passage of Cape Horn, often referred to as the Everest of Sailing, has proved to be true to its reputation. As Szymon rounded Cape Horn, he wrote: "In the last three days, I've had two huge storms with winds over Force 9 and waves over 7 metres high. The last few weeks have been really very difficult. In addition to the wind and waves, it was snowing and raining, it was very cold and the temperature in the cabin did not exceed 2.5°C."
On the second storm, the wind dropped a little, but the swell became crossed and dangerous. The boat was lowered more than 90° for the second time during the trip. The AIS antenna and anemometer at the masthead were underwater and suffered the consequences.
A flamed mast
After inspection of the rigging, Szymon detected a buckling (bending) in the mast profile at a height of 2 m above the deck, seriously weakening the profile.
In order to minimize the risks so as not to dismast, Szymon removed the boom leaving the use of the mainsail. He reinforced the mast with the means at hand by slashing with the pole and boom and reinforcing with a makeshift guy to prevent the profile from continuing to deform. A difficult DIY job given the bad weather and waves of more than 4 meters.
The speed takes a hit
For the moment, everything is holding up well and Szymon is making sure that it continues to the end. When the weather permits, he will try to improve the system. Currently its rigging only supports the smallest jibs (storm and Solent) together or separately. In this configuration, maneuverability and performance are not there... Fortunately, Szymon is obviously a tough guy, feels good and sends reassuring messages.
An arrival before summer
After 25 weeks of navigation, Szymon Kuczy?ski covered 72.3% of the planned route, which is 20,371 miles. There are still 3,417 miles to the equator and another 7,232 miles to the finish line. That is about the equivalent of 3 transatlantic races...
If the weather forecast is optimistic, the trip should end in early May 2018. Let's wish him good luck!
