The Williamstown maritime community has rallied around a Polish sailor who ran into trouble while circumnavigating the world in honour of his late grandmother.
Gregor Wegrzyn, 64, has been invited to use the slipway at the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria (RYCV) until his 10.5-metre boat is ready to set sail for Auckland.
His vessel is named Regina R in honour of his grandmother, and a flag bearing her likeness flies atop the mast. He set sail from Poland on June 6, 2015.
Crossing the Indian Ocean, his vessel passed through 16 storms. The backstay failed and he had engine problems so he sailed into Fremantle. While there, Mr Wegrzyn was invited to stay in Melbourne where his boat is undergoing more repairs.
Speaking through an interpreter and member of the RYCV, the veteran sailor said he planned to circle the globe twice.
“I plan to circumnavigate the globe anti- clockwise and then once I get back to Poland I plan to do a refit on the boat over a period of perhaps a couple of years.
“Then I plan on doing a circumnavigation as close as possible from north to south around the globe. I want to tie a bow around the globe and that’s a present for my grandmother.”
He said it was unknown when his quest would end. “A sailor doesn’t say when he’s going to finish because he can’t predict it. When he arrives, that’s when he’s there.”
RYCV vice-commodore John Duffin said members had rallied to help, honouring a long-standing mariners’ tradition to help each other in times of need.
“The club decided that we’d give him all the assistance we could to make the ongoing trip around the world as safe possible,” Mr Duffin said. “We’ve provided him with somewhere to work on his boat free of charge and we’re looking to lift the boat out of the water so that he can do some underwater painting and again we will provide all that on a complimentary basis. A lot of members have taken down supplies to him and we’ve helped to restock his boat.”
Follow Gregor Wegrzyn’s journey on Facebook at www.facebook.com/samotnyrejs/
