SY Polonez

A plastic model of the Polish SY Polonez yacht was glued from the Mirage Hobby kit in 1:50 scale. The work was presented at the 9th Lublin Model Meetings in 2014.

The Polonez yacht was built for the start of the Polish sailor in the Observer Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race (OSTAR). Polonez is the two-masted ketch was made of wood in the Maritime Yacht Shipyard in Szczecin, Poland.

The first race of the Polonez yacht was the start in the Polish Championships in 1971. In this regatta, Krzysztof Baranowski swam alone. It was part of the training before the start in OSTAR'72.

In the race across the Atlantic, captain Krzysztof Baranowski took 12th place out of 43 starters. The cruise lasted 30 days.

From May 2, 1972 to June 24, 1973, captain Krzysztof Baranowski circumnavigated the globe alone. The voyage began in Newport in the United States after the OSTAR regatta and ended in Gdynia. The yacht was heading east. There were four stops on the way in Cape Town (South Africa), Hobart (Tasmania), Port Stanley (Falkland Islands) and Plymouth (UK).

In 1973, the yacht was transferred to the Maritime University of Szczecin. After 14 years, the owner sold Polonez to an entrepreneur who started the conversion of the yacht, but did not finish it. Then the ketch was bought by the Szczecin Shipyard, which, however, did not invest in its renovation. Finally, in the 21st century, Polonez was bought by a construction company which rebuilt the yacht, building a superstructure on the yacht's deck. On June 13, 2008, the Polish flag was raised again at the Polonez.

Some technical data:

• Length: 13.8 m (45.3 ft),
• Width: 3.8 m (12½ ft),
• Draft: 2.2 m (7⅕ ft),
• Displacement: 12 t (UK-11⅘ tons),
• Number of masts: 2,
• Sails area: 80 m² (861 ft²).

Sources:

• http://krzysztofbaranowski.pl/polonez/
• http://krzysztofbaranowski.pl/regaty-ostar-1972/
• http://excluzive.pl/sporty-wodne/polonez-regaty-ostar-1972/660
• https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/SY_Polonez

04 Nov 2014