Firstly, I had to cover Chanel du Four - a narrow, several-mile-long passage, surrounded by underwater rocks, where tidal currents are up to 5 kn. I had to be there between 1 p.m and 8 p.m in order not to sail upwind. At the channel gateway the wind force rose to 20 kn, so, just in case, I set the reef on the mainsail. I had to tack upwind. Moreover, I had some problems with the equipment. Thanks to strong current I did 7-8 kn upwind towards the destination point.

There is OFF QUESSANT TSS in front of me, sometimes called a highway, which is usually taken by the ships sailing to and from the ports of Western Europe . To make things worse the fog appeared, so I devoted all my attention to looking out for ships, which could ran into me. My MERVILLE, radar detector, was hooting like a freak. There were ships around me but I couldn't see them. Nasty feeling. One of the ships hit rocks and started to take water in. After two hours she sent an sos signal but because of the fog the Cross Corsen rescue team couldn't find her. They asked all of the ships for any information concerning the ship's position. As the drama was taking place approximately 20 miles west of me, I couldn't help with my small yacht without a motor. I could only listen how the salvaging went. I concentrated on my own security and looking out for the ships.

I was lucky. After midnight I passed the highway. As I was sailing fast, I decided to have some sleep on the deck. Unfortunately, I was woken up every 15-20 minutes by either MERVILLE or UKF. In the morning, however, I felt fresh. The fog had dispersed, the weather forecast was good and I hoped that on the next day I will approach Ireland. Not very far from my stern I saw two Mini yachts. I was glad to race, but decided to stick to my priorities and check charging. I set the engine and noticed that the generator wasn't working properly. I had power for two, or three days. Without charging the batteries it was rather impossible to complete the qualification. I got under the deck to check the elements which joined the loader with batteries and fuses. It should have been working.

Meantime the boats behind me set the spinnaker and had overtaken me so I decided not to bother about the power too much, set the spinnaker and start to race the other two. Till the evening in flagging wind we raced with changing luck along the west coast of Great Britain, but before dark we lost speed and common sense told us to quit racing and install the solar panel, which I had taken with me just in case at the last minute. After two hours already after midnight I finished joining and sealing cables. My competitors had sailed towards the west and disappeared behind the horizon, and I decided to stick to the line joining Wolf Rock and Coninbeg.

The map said I wasn't on any ship lane. During the day I didn't see many fishing boats. That is why I decided to sleep under the deck. I was so tired that I woke up after four hours just before the dawn. The autohelm had stopped working while I was asleep. The wind had carried me away a few miles south-west, so I was further from my destination point but I had a good sleep. The wind still wasn't very strong. I had to tack. During the whole day and night I moved about 30 miles towards Coninbeg lightship. Most of the time I steered manually in order to save power. Next day in the morning I did 5-6 kn.

To my delight at about 3 p.m. I circled the lightship and I sailed fast towards the south. Next day in the early afternoon I passed the Bishop Rock - west end of Scilly. The wind rose to 25 kn, in gusts up to 30. At night in the rain and fog I had to do the slalom once again on the highway near Quesnant. In the morning I was almost at the half-way point on the route near Chausse de Sien. Next day I was near the Re island, not very far from La Rochelle . I did more than half of the route in less than 84 hours. Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky as regards the wind, because till the end of the route I had to sail with a flattering wind. Last night was the worst. I had a chance to be in time for the Demi Cle regatta.

At 1 p.m. after 216 hours at sail I did 1000 miles . During the race I came to terms with the autohelm.

On waters full of fishing boats and ships, between Ireland and La Rochelle , the biggest problem was lack of sleep - because of traffic. One of the mornings was a real nightmare. Merville hooted for a long period of time, but I was so sleepy that I thought it was just a dream. When I realized it could be dangerous I jumped on the deck and saw 30 lights in front of me and behind me. I was in the middle of a huge group of fishing boats, which I should give way to. I didn't have any special labeling that I'm single-handed sailor. The pulse rose so high that could forget about sleeping.

In order to sleep well on the crowded waters one has to strongly believe in his lucky star.

Capt. Jarosław "Jaro" Kaczorowski

In the end, Capt. Kaczorowski reached Douarnenez safe and sound on Friday 23, 2006 at 14:44, which meant completing 1000 NM single-handed regatta - another important qualification to the Mini Transat race 2007.

He was late for the Open Demi Cle regatta but it wasn't a big loss. Only some small changes ought to be introduced in this year's schedule and there shouldn't be any problems. What is more, completing the 1000 NM single-handed race entitles you to take part in another important regatta "Les Sables-Acores-Les Sables" held in 30/27 August.

Capt. Jarosław Kaczorowski will spend the preparation period for the next regatta getting the the boat ready in his family town Gdynia, together with his crew Marek Gałkiewicz.

Translated by Anna Greczuk