Polish kayaker about to finish third solo transatlantic trek

Doba, who set off from Sandy Hook Bay in New York on 7 May, is likely to successfully end his expedition in France, according to a report by Poland’s PAP news agency.

“There is no chance of me landing in Portugal or Spain. The only option left right now is northwestern France,” Doba has written on Facebook, as quoted by PAP.

“I was setting my sights on Le Havre, but now I’m about 2 degrees too far to the south. I don’t know where the storm is going to take me. Will I manage to reach the English Channel and Le Havre from the south? Maybe the storm and the winds will take me to the Bay of Biscay? It’s possible that I’ll hit Brest [a port city in Brittany, in northwestern France] in about nine days."

He also mentioned problems with equipment to prepare drinking water and food.

A native of the city of Police in northwestern Poland, Doba will turn 71 in September.

He has a number of hazardous trips under his belt. He previously managed to cross the Atlantic twice, in 2010 and again in 2013.

In 2010, it took him 98 days to paddle from Dakar in Senegal to Acarau in Brazil.

In October 2013, he set off from Lisbon, hoping to paddle 5,400 miles across the Atlantic's widest point and arrive in Florida in February 2014.

But due to storms and equipment failure, he had to sail an additional 1,300 miles and finished his journey in mid-April, after 167 days.

It was the longest open-water kayaking expedition across the Atlantic in history, and earned Doba the 2015 People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year title from National Geographic magazine. (str/pk)

Source: PAP