NEWS :: Capt. Jarosław Kaczorowski

...and try to enjoy
With these words the Mini Class sailors said goodbye to one another before the second leg of the Les Sables-Les Acores-Les Sables race. The Ocean, sleepless nights and salt under their eyelids awaits them once again.

The Azores regatta from Marek Gakiewicz's point of view

After a one-day delay caused by stormy conditions over sixty boats finally set off on their way back to Les Sables this Wednesday, August 16th. Jaro Kaczorowski was aboard one of them.

Not many people are familiar with everyday life on a Mini Class boat. If you are able to imagine a piece of carbon 6,5 meter long, rolling, bouncing and falling off from every single wave, quite often standing on one end, pulled by sails far too big for such a small yacht and aboard it a lonely, hungry and drenched to the skin person - falling asleep behind the rudder because of tiredness - then you will understand why '.and try to enjoy' is a sort of black humour farewell.

And when luckily you are finally approaching the finishing line, you can always collide with a whale as Andy Wood did (it cost him a few positions and a few days of work on a damaged keel) or fall asleep 3 miles before the end and crash into rocks as Andy aboard 632 (gallery).


Horta - a famous marina on the Faial island, halfway point of the Azores race. In the background the Pico volcano.		Marek 'Goły' Gałkiewicz's account - less about sailing, but still absorbing 20 sierpnia 2006 A few days ago you had a chance to read Jarek's account of the first leg. About the second one you will probably read after it ends, thus, in this episode I'm going to show you the Azores from my perspective. There will be less about sailing but I hope you won't be bored. Marek "Goły" Gałkiewicz On land also hard After 1700 km long ride (only 18 hours) from Les Sables to Lisbon I parked the car and went to the airport with all the stuff I had been able to put into my huge bag. Tools, putty, coal and a few more things were so heavy that when I finally went through the check-in , got rid of the luggage and took a seat in a restaurant at the airport asking for a big black coffee, I breathed a sigh of relief. An unexpected text message My blissful state didn't last long. I hadn't even finished my coffee, when I got the following text message: Jarek competed the leg, the centerboard broken, spinnakers ragged, batteries broken. That was a blow to the head. It ought to have been so good. My blood pressure rose to 240, I was bathed in cold sweat quickly analyzing all existing options. I neither had a spare centerboard with me (I left it in Les Sables because it didn't go in my bag) nor batteries, not mentioning a spare spinnaker. Will I manage? A ragged spinnaker and a salutary courier I had to do something almost impossible. Unfortunately, when I arrived in Horta my fears were confirmed. The centerboard was in tatters, the heavy spinnaker ragged, the light one which used to be composed of three parts lost one part on the bottom of the Atlantic . Moreover, I discovered that the hook of the spinnaker boom was broken. I will not comment on the less serious damage. Disaster. This is the state Jarek and the Atlantic had put the boat in. I had to get down to work fast in order to be able to take advantage of all the attractions prepared by the organizers and the Mini Class. Fortunately, we received a spare centerboard thanks to UPS the day before the start (a bit damaged in transport - a few hours of work to be fixed), we got a repairman to weld the spinnaker boom's fittings, a local handyman from the Mid Atlantic Yacht Services repaired the batteries and generator and a local sailmaker worked miracles fixing our spinnakers. I 'only' had to take care of the rest. Excursion to Pico volcano Meanwhile, we went to see a local volcano - Pico. It erupted about 50 years ago covering the island with sand and ashes, thus extending it a bit and reducing the lighthouse to dust. We also had a nice dinner organized for a group of a few dozen sailors by the Mayor of Horta. Transat - compilation On Sunday a Prologue was held. Sailors traditionally hate it as there's always a chance that the boat may get damaged before the proper race. Fortunately, our boat stayed in port. Instead we took an invitation from Kristian (Adria 509) and despite the fact that we hadn't finished work on Allianz.pl we decided to take part in the race with Kristian. He and Jaro took turns behind the rudder and I concentrated on centerboards and recording the race. It lasted only two hours but during it we experienced silence and wind of 20 kn, burning sun and downpour. Incredible! Mobiles in the Ocean At the end of our stay we went to a beach party (which ended in dropping one another into the water) organized by the winners of the first leg and Armando Castro, the director of Marina Horta, organizer, a wonderful man and the Mini Class fan. The outcome of the party: several mobile phones lost under water (unfortunately, mine too), lost shoes, socks, wallets and bruises after a fight. They say that I was the strongest of all. A total chillout ! Getting ready for the start The next day we had to put the jokes apart. The feeling of excitement was prevailing in the marina. And again one could see silhouettes hanging down from the masts, water bubbling from the tubes of those who were checking the underwater hulk. The regatta office was full of people totally engaged in analyzing weather scenarios and chatting with routers. The usual stuff. Next morning greeted us with a fresh breeze, which tore off all the flags from the masts. Water in the port had its usual colour but on waters among the islands only foam could be seen. Fortunately, the Commission took the only just decision then, postponing the start till the next day. In such weather conditions, damaging the equipment during the start was more than probable. Thus, the last day became the last but one that gave some sailors time to relax (guess whom) and others time for repairs. The next day wind eased up a bit and we had only a one hour delay to start. Allianz.pl ready for the second leg Uff. We managed to fix everything on Allianz.pl and even install new devices, such as the FuelCell borrowed from Clay Burkhaltera. This poor guy lost his mast on the way to Azory and couldn't find a new one. Here Jaro displayed his reflex: - Clay? You aren't going, are you? Could you please lend us your FuellCell? Taking into consideration the fact that only two boats in the fleet had this extremely expensive and all the range device, Jarek's reflex was enviable. It seems that along with a new loader (borrowed from Peter Layresanss) our constant problems with power were finally over. The way back to Les Sables I had to get back to Les Sables so I packed my hand-luggage and went to the airport. I gave my bag to a nice lady in check-in and with pleasure I sat in a comfortable armchair in a restaurant for a traditional big black coffee. After a while I heard an announcement: - Mr Galkiewski, please report to check-in . I couldn't believe that! I went there immediately as it left only 20 minutes before closing the gates. When I got there, a very nice gentleman introduced himself as Security Officer and said they had problems with my luggage and kindly asked me to open the bag. It came to my mind that they had found putties. But I was wrong. After x-raying my bag they found the loader! They didn't like this pretty big, almost empty plastic box with a lot of cables inside winded around a solid coil. Because of this minor event the flight was delayed only 45 minutes and after two hours I got to Lisbon . Then I had to cover 'only' 1700 km by car and now I am writing to you from Les Sables d'Olonne. Greetings from Les Sables, Marek "Goły" Gałkiewicz Translated by Anna Greczuk