He has kayaked solo across the Atlantic 3 times, most recently in 2017 at the age of 70. . Every time he closed his eyes, Doba told me, I dreamed I was paddling in the winter in Poland. He lost 45 pounds. His kayak,I rowed varsity crew in highschool and got into kayaking and poling in college. The day I arrived in Warsaw, a very chic woman named Martyna Wojciechowska, the host of a Polish documentary TV show called Woman at the End of the World, showed up at my hotel to explain Doba to me. He didnt particularly want to be rescued, anyway. He ate freeze-dried chicken tikka masala and the occasional raw tiny flying fish that landed on his deck. Then I asked the local guides with him, Do you know who this man is? And they said: Yes. He passed out. Aleksander Doba, honorary citizen of the city, is dead", "Why He Kayaked Across the Atlantic at 70 (for the Third Time)", "Aleksander Doba tym razem wituje z rodzin", "Aleksander Doba, Adventurers of the Year 2014/2015 - National Geographic", "Arsoba Travel:: sztuka podrowania - Kajakiem DOOKOA BAJKAU w pojedynk:: lato 2009", "Aleksander Doba - Samotnie Kajakiem Przez Atlantyk", "Wspomnienie Aleksandra Doby. At the time of this writing, real-time tracking indicates that Aleksander Doba is on or near the small French Island of Ushant on the south-western end of the English Channel. When he encountered Mr. Doba at 18,700 feet, he was excited to encounter one of his homelands heroes, and he took a selfie with him on the mountain. Daily News. Before the Iron Curtain fell, the Communist Party declared it illegal to kayak on the Baltic Sea, lest anyone defect. Aleksander Doba died at Kilimanjaro | by Polish Herald in the UK - Medium These skeletons may have the answer, Scientists are making advancements in birth controlfor men, Blood cleaning? He is a family man, whose positive attitude to life is contagious. Aleksander Doba - Wikipedia For 110 days, Mr. Doba paddled eastward on his specially designed fiberglass kayak, Olo. Every three weeks there is a storm with waves that can capsize the kayak. The ships captain didnt think it was a great idea to set this rash-covered, sleep-deprived 70-year-old man back in the ocean alone. To go into the sea and die that would be a problem for my family and a problem for Andrzej Arminski, too, Doba acknowledged. He was known for his long voyages crossing oceans. Near his house, he said, there was a pond, behind the pond was a forest, in the forest there were mushrooms and behind all that was a small airport with gliders and storks, which migrated there for the summer. He texted Arminski and Piotr Chmielinski, a Polish kayaker who in the mid-1980s, shortly after hed defected to the United States, was part of the first team to paddle the length of the Amazon. His body appears to be assembled from parts belonging to people of vastly different ages. With this design the paddler sits up off the water as well. His desire to conquer the sea grew from an innocent idea that gradually consumed him: He had kayaked everything else, so why not the Atlantic Ocean? (He ate all the meat options first.) He texted via satellite phone with his family and Arminski, the boat builder, who once again served as trip navigator, sending wind and weather reports. In photos from the ends of his trips, he looks ecstatic and feral, in the best possible sense, intrinsically wild and free. But she was charmed by his impish streak his stories of smuggling ski boots back from East Germany by walking across the border in them; the beard he grew over a summer holiday, so he could return to university and his mandatory military training as the only soldier in Poland with facial hair. After his salt-water-drenched clothes became too irritating, he navigated the rest of his trip buck naked. Their three sons, Dobas uncles, disappeared. While the distance does not compare with the record for the longest ocean-crossing by kayak, held by Poland's Aleksander Doba for a 6558-kilometre journey from Portugal to Florida via Bermuda, the Tasman Sea is notorious for its unpredictable, difficult weather conditions. A Record-Breaking Atlantic Crossing by Kayak. He woke up on shore to the sound of screaming his own. Gabriela joined us to talk at the dining table, where she had set bowls of peanuts, raisins, chocolates, cookies and cake and French presses of coffee and tea. The whale swam here, and there, all around my kayak. I was in a pickle! To avoid the nightmare of quiet conformity, Doba told me he said to his mother-in-law, This is a good soup! Doba accepted his suggestion that he paddle to Bermuda for a repair. During his voyages he admired the majesty of the sea and relished wonders that he alone was privy to. Dec 20, 2019 - Polish adventurer and kayaker Aleksander Doba crossed the Atlantic by kayak a few days before turning 71 years old. No one had ever kayaked across open water for this many miles before his journey. Aleksander Doba (9 September 1946 - 22 February 2021) was a Polish kayaker and mountain climber. Someone had forgotten to fund the prepaid credit card that covered the bill. Doba in Lisbon in October 2013, demonstrating how he would live aboard his kayak. Better than sushi.). For 110 days, Mr. Doba paddled eastward on his specially designed fiberglass kayak, Olo. Then there is [the] satisfaction of great achievements.. He was famous for his long voyages crossing oceans and seas. After he graduated from Poznan University of Technology, where he studied mechanical engineering, Doba met Gabriela Stucka, his future wife, on a backpacking trip. 64-Year-Old Kayaker Completes Trans-Atlantic Voyage | WIRED After taking in the view, he sat on a rock to rest. He arrived in Tanzania last month. Phone, bad. He gave the thumbs down. Trans Atlantic kayak completed by Aleksander Doba. [11] Navigating OLO was much more difficult than a usual kayak. Finally, the kayaks rudder snapped in the storm, and, unable to battle against the trade winds with a broken rudder, Doba was forced to retreat to Bermuda to have his boat repaired. Aleksander Doba, a 64-year-old native of Poland, took off from Dakar, capital of the west African nation of Senegal, back on Oct. 26. Interview #8 Aleksander Doba - LYOFOOD He said many times that he didnt want to die in his bed, his son said. Polish sea kayaker Aleksander Doba - known for making the transatlantic journey from Europe to North America aboard a kayak - passed away this week. Doba returned to Police to a heros welcome and 14 months later flew to Washington to receive an award from the National Geographic Society as the 2015 Peoples Choice Adventurer of the Year. Unloading OLO from the sloop that returned Doba back to the exact spot where he had been forced off course, the kayak's so-called wings, designed to act as roll bars to keep the vessel upright, broke. Aleksander Doba. He has kayaked solo across the Atlantic 3 - reddit These involved such things as catamarans sailing in from the Bahamas and helicopters dropping rudder-repair gift packages out of the sky. Still, Gabriela did not want to be Penelope to Dobas Odysseus. Then, on Dec. 19, Dobas phone stopped working. Meet the man who solo kayaked the Atlantic Ocean - three times. Doba flew back to Poland; returned to his hometown, Police, in the countrys northwest, where he had been managing maintenance and repairs at an enormous chemical factory; and swore off kayaking with a partner ever again. Sometimes he took his young sons, Bartek and Czesiek, born in 1979 and 1982. Shoot, the devil says. In addition to Czeslaw, Mr. Doba is survived by his wife; another son, Bartek; a sister, Wanda Kedzia; and three grandchildren. He had slept only three hours the night before and had not even had time to double-check all his gear. But after she got the bill for $500, she says, the desire to talk decreased. Aleksander Doba: On both routes, I saw floating garbage close to the coasts of Africa and Europe. Aleksander Doba crossed the Atlantic by kayak - YouTube The 70-year-old who kayaked the Atlantic - The Knowledge Aleksander Doba on February 16, 2015 at the Belvedere Palace in Warsaw, Poland. If you have a crisis in the middle of the Atlantic and the closest land is the bottom, she asked, what will you do then? Doba said, There will be no such crisis. She knew she couldnt stop him. I was infected with a virus. In 2003, when he was already the most seasoned kayaker in Poland, a Polish professor approached him to get advice on his quest to kayak across the Baltic Sea. And yet Doba describes his youth as magical, almost fantastical. When does spring start? Along the way, he was thrown from his kayak in a storm. A breaking wave can do whatever it wants to a kayak. There was no engineering Olo for this. Polish Kayaker Is Paddling Across the Atlantic for the Third Time 69-year-old Aleksander Doba left New York on Sunday in a kayak bound for Portugal. I paddle when I would like. His skin broke out in salt-induced rashes, including blisters in his armpits and groin. Today. "Video: People's Choice Adventurer of the Year Aleksander Doba", "Aleksander Doba Completes His Third Atlantic Crossing in a Kayak", "Police. He later spent 100 days paddling the circumference of the Baltic Sea. Her department grew to 100 people from five. He was named 2014 Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic. According to multiple Polish media reports . Aleksander Doba. He was happy to see his friends, team and the warm Welcome of the Bretons. Directories Newly added. . When he was too far from shore to see any birds, Doba was surrounded instead by marine wildlife, from fish and dolphins to turtles, whales, and sharks. 70-year old Polish long-distance kayaker Aleksander Doba has embarked on a third attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a kayak, departing New York City for Portugal, on a three-month long, 3000 . Aleksander Doba (9 September 1946 - 22 February 2021) was a Polish kayaker known primarily for his long voyages crossing oceans.In 2010 and again in 2013 he kayaked across the Atlantic Ocean westward under his own power. After I downed it, she laughed. At 15, Doba rode around Poland by himself. He is currently working on two books, Home Works and Cuba. He last shot a smoke sauna in Estonia for the magazine.Correction: March 23, 2018 An earlier version of this article misstated the timing of Piotr Chmielinskis navigation of the Amazon. Physically, Doba did not seem to experience any difficulty beyond some uncomfortable and persistent skin rashes caused by prolonged exposure to saltwater. It was in 2010 that he started seriously planning to cross the Atlantic. I read a post on Men's Journal from 2014 that recounts Doba's paddle across the Atlantic from Portugal to Florida. Doba responded, In that case, Ill be on my way.. Heres the technology that helped scientists find itand what it may have been used for. Water trapped in Olos storage lockers short-circuited the electric desalinator. At the age of 70, Aleksander Doba became a legend with the kayak. Adventure paddler Aleksander Doba willed his 71-year-old body and 1,600-pound kayak through a 4,000-mile trans-Atlantic journey What is wind chill, and how does it affect your body? The triumph of Aleksander Doba. The next day, hearing aids restored, Doba drove us to Police, and a few days later, he addressed a question that had been nagging at me: Why did he go on that third trip? He waited three days and still had no signal, so in hopes of getting Gabriela or Arminski to look into his phone problems, he pressed the help button on his SPOT device, a piece of gear that has become de rigueur among adventurers, as it can send emergency messages and GPS coordinates when a person is far off the grid. It looks good, it smells good, probably everybody likes it. Dobas response to Gabrielas concern about what hed do in a crisis, if the closest land was the bottom, was to say there will be no crisis. Me, fine, he shouted in English, pointing to himself and giving the thumbs up. An expedition, he told me. "Na szczycie Olek poprosi o 2 minuty przerwy, usiad na kamieniu i po prostu zasn", "Kayaker, 64, completes marathon paddle across Atlantic", "Landfall: Aleksander Doba reaches South America", "Kajakarstwo - Aleksander Doba przepyn Atlantyk", Unofficial blog for Aleksander Doba Transatlantic Kayak Crossing, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aleksander_Doba&oldid=1104141716, Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 13 August 2022, at 00:00. Raspberry vodka! The two voyages were the longest open-water kayak voyages ever made. Alexander Doba back in the Atlantic Explorersweb The two voyages were the longest open-water kayak voyages ever made. His mother, Eugenia (Ilijna) Doba, was a homemaker. Anyone can read what you share. Aleksander Doba kayaked the Atlantic | Louis-Philippe Loncke MARCH 22, 2018. He died while climbing Kilimanjaro after reaching the mountain summit. He kept chasing adventure. The Old Man and the Sea, and the Sea, and the Sea - Outside Online The combination of a stable kayak and a higher sitting position make the sit-on-top or SOT kayaks a better design for fishing. The Daily. Without the SPOT, nobody would be able to find the kayak if they needed to rescue him. He does love Gabriela, however, and he does not want to cause her more pain. He arrived at New Smyrna Beach, Florida on April 19, 2014. The next time I visited, my mother-in-law did not prepare that soup. Please be respectful of copyright. Chmielinski interpreted this communication blackout as a sign that Doba was deeply despairing, perhaps because he was alone again after being with the crew on Baltic Light, perhaps because, now that he had accepted help, he worried that he would not earn a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for kayaking solo from continent to continent unsupported. The tool he used to accomplish this was a sea anchor, basically a parachute, secured to the stern of the kayak with a rope, that he set underwater to increase drag. After another storm, Olos rudder was seriously damaged, so he reluctantly contacted his team via satellite phone seeking help. Doba drifted around for days eating freeze-dried goulash and chocolate bars. Dobas electric desalinator broke, as it did before, and he had to spend several hours a day manually pumping seawater through an extremely fine filter to produce the five to nine liters of fresh water he needed to stay hydrated and prepare his freeze-dried food. But this trip felt different. When he gave me a last hug, maybe he didnt cry, but I saw his eyes, Bartek said. Polish adventurer and kayaker Aleksander Doba crossed the Atlantic by kayak a few days before turning 71 years old. When he saw shooting stars at night, he made wishes that, he said, later came true. He was greeted by one journalist and the Polish ambassador. I did not see oil slicks and there were not large amounts of trash, just single pieces of rubbish. During a storm, the water below the oceans surface stays relatively still; what moves radically are the waves. After clearing Barnegat Bay and heading for the horizon, he was soon a floating blip in the ocean. Imagine a plane the size of a kayak hitting turbulence, but in water rather than air; at sea level, water is hundreds of times denser. It should be noted that he accomplished it using only weekends and normal, 26-day leave. Dobas sleeping cabin, which he reaches by sliding himself through a portal the size of a laptop, affords him, when hes lying down, 15 inches of headroom. His father built him a bicycle from scrap parts, and when he was 15 he rode it across the country. The ships captain was hesitant to let the disheveled man back into the ocean alone. Log In Once logged in, you can add biography in the database. This story is one of four extraordinary journeys published in the magazine's Voyages issue.Read the rest here: