Pole Position

As you guys already know, Francis Joyon and Thomas Coville both have giant trimarans (approx. 100ft) under construction at the moment. Thomas is building his in Australia, and Francis here in Brittany, the two sailors willing to give a shot at Ellen MacArthur's outstanding RTW solo record - which she took away from Joyon in 2005.

Now here are the news… a third singlehander will also be in the starting blocks by the fall of 2007, and in fact, his boat is already sailing! Meet Roman Paszke, from Poland, and his brand new 90-ft catamaran designed and built (in just 3 and a half months) by Marström Composites in Sweden! Born in 1951,Roman graduated from the Gdansk Academy of Sports, which is quite historically meaningful. Gdansk has been the home of Polish naval construction for decades, and that's where the early 80s revolts against General Jaruzelski's brutal communist regime took place… Anyone here remember the Solidarnosc union leaders, and especially a certain Lech Walesa? I don't know how big that was for you in the US, but I can tell you that in Europe, that was a huge moment. Maybe the first signs of weakness of the iron curtain.

But back to where I was heading initially. Roman started his career as a sailor and coach - "I was only allowed to leave the territory something like twice a year, for international regattas, under the communist regime", he says. He nevertheless managed to go on, and in 1989 built the first high-tech racer his country ever had. The boat was Gemini, a One-Tonner made of carbon. He then made very successful campaigns aboard the "MK Café" ILC40, and was part of the 1997 Admiral's Cup winning team. Involved in The Race, the event created by Bruno Peyron, Roman and his crew managed to sail around the planet aboard the old Jet Services / Commodore Explorer, re-christened Polpharma Warta. Those guys had a drive and an enthusiasm that was really amazing. Even caught in 80-knot winds off the Falklands, they remained positive and still felt lucky to be where they were.

After having campaigned the former Bonduelle trimaran in the Nokia Oops Cup (cool event, btw), Roman worked on his maxi-cat project. "It was not a secret", he said when I asked him why it all came to the public's attention so late in the process (i.e., when the boat was launched!). "It's just that I'm backed up by a Polish firm, and at first they did not really develop the international side of their PRs concerning this project." The 90-ft catamaran is 14 metres wide, and weigh roughly 8 tons - "It's comparable to the weight of Ellen's trimaran, but my boat is longer, hence supposedly faster. I also should think a trimaran is safer, so that means I'll have to be careful in heavy weather." During the first tests, the Bioton cat reached 33 knots in 26 knots of wind, under reefed main and ORC jib. With less than 500 miles under her belt, and no setup whatsoever.

Roman Paszke (yeah, it does take a while to spell that name correctly) will probably take a shot at the Discovery Route (Cadix - San Salvador - Bahamas) solo record this spring, and get to know his boat before entering the standby period for his RTW attempt next fall… He'll start off Ushant, where lies the traditional Jules Verne Trophy starting line. But Joyon and Coville will also be in the neighborhood!

Jocelyn Blériot

Picture courtesy of www.magdalena-lasocka.com02/23/07