Waiting on the wind

Waiting on the wind

Waiting on the Wind

We all have dreams, but few of us have the time and energy to turn them into reality. Piotr Laskowski,Director of Sales, GE Interlogix EEU, had long dreamed of sailing a challenging route, although he realised that the ultimate challenge of a round-the-world voyage would take him away from his family and his job for too long. He settled for a trip across the North Atlantic, which is a round trip of 8,900 nautical miles (16,500 kms to us nonsailors), divided into seven stages. Having chosen his route, Piotr then spent two years preparing for the trip. He had to choose the right type of boat, plan the logistics of the voyage, arrange the appropriate licences and insurance, and work on his skills and fitness.

"My boat is a swift and beautiful boat called 'Where Next'. She's a 41 foot X-412 model from the Danish X-yachts yard and carries 100m2 of sails. Over the last two years, I've made a number of trips to improve my skills, every time testing my ability to carry out each task alone. I even got training from professional climbers on how to climb the 17 metre mast," smiles Piotr. "As far as fitness is concerned, I drew up a plan for 180 days of preparation."

When Piotr set sail for Las Palmas from Cascais near Lisbon in Portugal on March 22nd, he was looking forward to a straightforward Atlantic crossing with the ultimate destination of the famous Antigua sailing week. But, as the saying goes, it was anything but plain sailing. Instead of being wafted along on a helpful wind, he found himself battling head on into Force 7 winds, which blow at around 60 km/h and pile the sea up into 4 to 6 metre high waves. "Despite the conditions, I was making reasonable progress and wasn't too uncomfortable until my autopilot broke, 24 hours out of Las Palmas," said Piotr. "This meant that I had to man the helm without a break until I docked in Las Palmas. It was exhausting but fun, a taste of sailing in the old days."

"I had to wait a week in Las Palmas for spare parts to arrive, which was rather frustrating. Doubly frustrating when it turned out that I needn't have waited, as the problem was in fact in the wiring inside the mast! I set off again in a southwesterly direction with a good wind and made decent progress. During this time, I realised that the boat's propeller had lost a blade, which effectively left me without motor power, but with a good wind this wasn't a serious problem. Until the wind dropped 500 kilometres out of Antigua," Piotr laughs. "Without a motor I was becalmed for several days until the wind got up again, so the crossing to St Lucia which should have taken 17 days, took 20."

In St Lucia, I was meeting up with a business colleague to sail on to Antigua for the regatta. Once the new propeller was fitted, we set off again on the final leg of the outward part of the voyage. Unfortunately, the combination of no wind, no autopilot and no propeller meant that we were running seriously behind schedule. We arrived in Antigua just in time to see the last day's racing and attend the Gala Dinner afterwards," grins Piotr.

When we last heard from Piotr, he was planning to sail back to Europe single-handed on May 6th, as Jason had to return to the UK urgently on family business and Piotr hadn't yet managed to find anyone else to crew for him on the return journey. "If I don't set out on May 6th, I won't get back to Europe on schedule" said Piotr. "Despite the problems, this trip has been the best experience of my life, the boat is beautiful and I've enjoyed rising to some very different challenges. There are times when I'm out there on a beautiful night with a full moon, moderate waves and steady wind. Just the boat, the ocean and me. Those are the moments when you have the time to reflect about the important things in life, humanity, eternity."