Natasza Caban – Solo circumnavigation of the world

A bit of news now from the nautical world, in December last year Natasza Caban completed her solo navigation of the globe. She started sailing as a youngster on a local lake in Utska Poland, by the time she was 22 she was joining crews sailing to Australia and the South Pacific.

On the 27th July 2007 she set off from Honolulu, sailing westwards in the same boat that many other solo circumnavigators have used(David Dicks, Jesse Martin, Don McIntyre, Jessica Watson) – a Sparksman & Stephens 34. For this boat she will be ever grateful to Australian sailor Mike Steward, who sold her the boat. ‘He let me prepare here before I even had the money. He was a first person to gave me a hand believing in my dream and I’m very thankful to him.’

As Natasza gradually made her way around the world, the number of people following her journey increased. Soon not only her family and close friends were aware, but ‘kids in schools, TV and radio, specially in Poland.’

One of the things that has pleased Natasza greatly is the letters that tell her that she has inspired them to fulfill their own dreams. As to her own inspiration, she quotes another Polish sailor Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz, the first woman to sail around the world solo, Teresa Remiszewska-Damsz, a Polish sailor who took part in a Transatlantic Race in 1972, and Leonid Teliga, the first Pole to circumnavigate the world solo.

If Natasza ever feels the need to sail the world again with just herself and her vibrator nature then I’d happily volunteer to join her.