Aleksander Doba

Aleksander Doba at the Polish Woodstock 2015

Aleksander Doba (born 9 September 1946) is a Polish kayaker known primarily for his long voyages crossing oceans. In 2010 and again in 2013 he kayaked across the Atlantic Ocean under his own power. The two voyages were the longest open-water kayak voyages ever made. He was named 2014 Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic. ^[1]

Kayaking

Doba was the first person to sail in a 7 meter sea kayak across the Atlantic ocean, a voyage that spanned 5394 kilometers.^[2]^[3] Doba's first voyage from Senegal to Brazil in 2010 set a record for the longest open-water crossing ever undertaken by a kayaker, at roughly 99 days. He was 65 years old when he undertook this journey. (The previous longest kayak crossing belonged to Peter Bray, which took over 76 days in 2001, who traveled from Newfoundland to Ireland.)^[4] Doba's journey started at 15:30 Polish time^[5] on 26 October 2010 in Dakar, Africa, and ended when he reached Brazil, touching dry land at 10:12 local time for the first time in 98 days, 23 hours, and 42 min. He then reached Acaraú at 17:50 local time (99 days, 6 h, 20 min).^[6] His mean speed was 2.26 km/h, and he averaged 54 km per 24 hours, with a maximum 24‑hour distance of 126.5 km.^[7] When he arrived in Brazil he weighed 64 kg. He lost 14 kg in 14 weeks of the journey.^[8]

After resting there, he planned to paddle 6,000 kilometers north along the shorelines of the Americas to Washington, D.C..

He was attacked and robbed when paddling in his transatlantic kayak from Peru to Brazil on Amazon river about 20 km from Coari in Brazil.^[9]^[10]

In October 5, 2013, at age 67, he departed from Lisbon (Portugal) for a second transatlantic voyage, with the intention of paddling 5,400 miles across the Atlantic's widest point. He arrived at New Smyrna Beach, Florida on April 19, 2014. The voyage took him 196 days to complete, and he paddled 6.300 miles.^[11]

Doba has also paddled in a kayak with others around the Baltic Sea (in 1999, 80 days, 4227 km), from Police to Narvik (in 2000, 101 days, 5369 km) and around Lake Baikal (in 2009, 41 days, 2000 km).^[12]^[13] He has also jumped 14 times with parachute, piloted gliders for a total of 250 hours, and practised cycling. He holds a marine yacht steersman licence.^[14]

Personal Life

Aleksander Doba was born 9 September 1946 in Swarzędz, and now lives in Police near Szczecin, Poland.

References

Thomas, Pete (February 4, 2011). "Kayaker, 64, completes marathon paddle across Atlantic". GrindTV.
Mihell, Conor (February 2, 2011). "Landfall: Aleksander Doba reaches South America". Canoe & Kayak.
Mrozek, Małgorzata. "Kajakarstwo - Aleksander Doba przepłynął Atlantyk". naszemiasto.pl (in Polish). Polskapresse Sp. z o.o.

External links

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