Aleksander Doba

Aleksander Doba (born 9 September 1946 in Swarzędz), lives in Police near Szczecin, Poland. Doba is the first person to sail in a 7 meter ocean kayak across the Atlantic ocean using the power of his muscles alone, a voyage that spanned 5394 kilometers^[1][2]. Doba's effort is believed to be 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, recorded over 76 days in 2001, from Newfoundland to Ireland.^[3] Doba's journey started at 15:30 Polish time^[4] 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 after 98 days, 23 hours, and 42 min. He then reached Acarau at 17:50 local time (99 days, 6 h, 20 min).^[5] Mean speed achieved during the expedition: 2.26 km/h, mean 24 h distance: 54 km, max. 24 h distance: 126.5 km.^[6] When he arrived to Brazil he weighed 64 kg. He lost 14 kg in 14 weeks of the journey.^[7]

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.^[8][9]

Doba has also paddled in kayak among 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).^[10][11] 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.^[12]

References

• Thomas, Pete (February 4, 2011). "Kayaker, 64, completes marathon paddle across Atlantic". GrindTV. http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/24051/kayaker+64+completes+marathon+paddle+across+atlantic/. 
• Mihell, Conor (February 2, 2011). "Landfall: Aleksander Doba reaches South America". Canoe & Kayak. http://canoekayak.com/kayak/landfall-aleksander-doba-reaches-south-america/. 
• Mrozek, Małgorzata. "Kajakarstwo - Aleksander Doba przepłynął Atlantyk" (in Polish). naszemiasto.pl. Polskapresse Sp. z o.o.. http://poznan.naszemiasto.pl/artykul/762022,kajakarstwo-aleksander-doba-przeplynal-atlantyk,id,t.html. 

External links

• Official website
• Unofficial blog for Aleksander Doba Transatlantic Kayak Crossing