In today’s sports milliseconds and millimeters decide about winning. In the meantime Roman Paszke’s Team broke their own record on route Świnoujście – Gdynia by over 4 hours. They needed only 8 hours 55 minutes and 50 seconds to sail over the distance of 200 miles. Few people expected such good result. The previous record also belongs to skipper Roman Paszke and catamaran Gemini 3 team (former Bioton). It was at the end of August , and the record was improved only by 25 minutes then. Is there any other Polish yacht that could challenge such tight record. Unfortunately it seems that there is no competition.
Krzysztof Olejnik: What one needs to do to challenge the record on route Gdynia-Świnoujście?
Roman Paszke: One needs to have a fast yacht.
- Let’s say we call Francis Joyon to borrow from him trimaran IDEC. The one that he has broken around the world record with. So we already have a fast yacht.
- The rest is even more simple. You need to gather the team and follow weather forecasts. You need to start at the right moment where wind blows with optimal strength and from optimal direction. The best wind in this particular case would be South-West or North-West. North-West gives you bigger waves but then you get advantage of the wind on route section Hel-Gdynia when you head South with the wind behind you so don’t tack then. The best wind speed would be 30 knots (7 in Beaufort scale).
- When this day comes we let moorings, go start the stopwatch and race…
- True, but few days before planning the start one needs to contact the Record Guard that is Marian Kula the member of Round The World Regatta Association and Navy Yacht Club “Kotwica”. Marian is also the Director of the Sailing Committee for Gdynia-Świnoujście Record. You need to inform him about your plans regarding breaking the record so he can arrange responsible people to measure the time properly.
- Where is the start and finish line?
- The start is between East head of the Port Świnoujście entrance and the fairway buoy no. 8. Finish is the line that goes south from the South head of Gdynia Commercial Port.
- During your previous approach in August the wind was not on your side. What conditions did you have this time?
- Almost perfect. The wind blew from the shore side, so the Baltic Sea along Polish beaches was not wavy. The wind strength was around 27 knots. We sailed with average speed of 21 knots, and the maximum instantaneous speed reached 33,7 knots (almost 63 km/h). Unfortunately we ran into squall winds from Rozewie. We had to reef the sails. Visibility went down to 200 meters.
- After Hel was passed you needed to tack. How did the catamaran handle such conditions?
She was great. We sailed with average speed close to 20 knots.
- Roman, what do you think will happen next regarding the competition on Gdynia-Świnoujście route? Which Polish yacht could try to challenge your record?
- Unfortunately none. Somebody would have to build a new, bigger machine or charter the yacht from Francis Joyon indeed. But this also would not guarantee the success.
MARIAN KULA, the Director of the Sailing Committee for Gdynia-Świnoujście Record.
- I have been waiting many years for somebody to break 10 hours barrier. Although I knew Roman Paszke’s catamaran has huge potential, I did not believe that the record may have been improved so significantly. I was following Roman Paszke’s race calling e.g. SAR units. They met fantastic conditions. And I am sure it was not the last word of this team. Gemini 3 can sail on the route Gdynia-Świnoujście in 5 hours. Next year we are planning to submit our Polish route and the record of skipper Roman Paszke to World Sailing Speed Record Council. Maybe some famous French multihull will make an attempt to break Gemini 3 record.
Gemini 3 team:
Skipper- Roman Paszke, navigator – Robert Janecki, Mariusz Siedlecki, Igor Szrubkowski, Mariusz Klupiński, Andrzej Bownik, Chairman Renault Polska - Grzegorz Zalewski, Jacek Zalewski, broadcaster of Trójka radio – Kuba Strzyczkowski.
Krzysztof Olejnik, WIATR magazine.
www.magazynwiatr.pl