Evgeny Aleksandrovich Gvozdev was born in 1934 in the Belarusian city of Pinsk. The boy's father was taken away in 1937, and he never returned from Stalin's dungeons. Evgeniy grew up with his mother, but during the Great Patriotic War She also died during the bombing, and he lived with a distant relative. After graduating from the nautical school in Astrakhan, Gvozdev began working on ships, and he spent more than three decades as a ship mechanic.
Gvozdyov became a yachtsman in the late 1970s; his first yacht was a homemade single-deck yacht, which Evgeniy built from an old whaleboat decommissioned ashore.
He named his ship "Getan", the name was made up of the names of Evgeniy himself and his family - Gvozdev Evgeniy (GE), his wife Tatyana (T), son Alexander (A) and daughter Natalya (N). So, on his yacht, he first crossed the Caspian Sea, and later, according to estimates, he crossed the Caspian about 50 times.
On July 7, 1992, Evgeny Gvozdev went on his first circumnavigation on his new yacht called "Lena". It was a small ship, 5.5 meters in length, and its circumnavigation of the world became a record in its own way, since Gvozdyov became the first to accomplish this on such a small ship. The journey turned out to be quite dangerous - in August 1995, in the waters of Somalia, he was attacked by local pirates, robbed and almost killed.
For the second time, Gvozdyov set off on a circumnavigation of the world on May 17, 1999, he sailed from Makhachkala, where he lived with his family. His vessel was the 3.7-meter yacht Said, and later it was called the smallest sailing yacht that sailed through the Strait of Magellan. By the way, for the last three years he has been preparing and repairing his yacht, sewing sails, gluing and preparing for the next trip. This time the traveler was already 65 years old. Gvozdyov also met the new millennium at sea, this was just before entering the Strait of Magellan. The second circumnavigation ended 50 months later, on July 10, 2003.
However, Gvozdev did not stop there. So, on his new 5.5-meter yacht called “Getan-2”, 74-year-old Gvozdev set off on another round-the-world swim on September 19, 2008, starting in Novorossiysk. Alas, this journey was not destined to end well. In October, Gvozdyov reported that he had safely crossed the Black Sea, and at the end of November he was caught in a severe storm off the coast of Italy. Communication with the captain was interrupted on December 1, and a day later, on December 2, 2008, Italian sailors found the body of Evgeniy Gvozdev on the beach. His yacht Getan-2 was found not far from its captain a few days later.
Thus ended the life of the brave Russian navigator, who brought worldwide fame to Russian yachting. In memory of Evgeny Gvozdev, his yacht "Lena" is exhibited in the Moscow yacht club "Admiral", and in one of the schools in Makhachkala, where he lived, his yacht "Said" is exhibited.
Best of the day
Surprisingly, even during his lifetime, Eugene himself admitted that he was always afraid of the sea, and it was this fear that forced him to go to sea over and over again, overcoming himself and his fear. If the last circumnavigation of the world had ended successfully, then Evgeny Gvozdev probably would not have stopped there. Alas, this was not destined to come true. By the way, Gvozdev’s friends know that he, a sailor to the core, was always afraid of dying on land. So, fate gave him his last chance - Evgeny Gvozdev, as befits a sailor, died at sea.
What does it take to make your dream come true? Evgeny Gvozdev needed virtually nothing to set off on his first circumnavigation at the age of 58. After retiring, he devoted himself to the ocean.
In the last years of the famous traveler’s life, he was called grandfather. Evgeny Gvozdev was born in the Belarusian Pinsk in 1934, lost his parents early, wandered around the USSR, served in the army, graduated from the naval school in Astrakhan, and after 35 years worked as a ship mechanic on fishing vessels. He retired and decided to go sailing around the world... His dream came true, he went “around the ball” on a pleasure dinghy, which the yacht company had specially allocated for him for this purpose.
In Makhachkala, where Gvozdev lived for a long time, the yachtsman was recognized on the streets and asked to tell about distant countries. Grandfather did not refuse anyone, he gave lectures, but he was eager to go on another voyage. In the apartment, on the sofa in front of the TV, he felt uneasy; he fundamentally refused to devote his retirement to such an idle waste of life.
Gvozdev went on his second circumnavigation of the world on the yacht Said (see photo) with $100 in his pocket. He was greeted with great honor in ports around the world. The yachtsman said that in the USA all local media wrote about him - from children's to glossy magazines. The very image of a “half-crazy” Russian bearded man attracted attention to him. In Russia, little was written about Gvozdev, sparingly, as if reluctantly. This is partly explained by the “opinion” that Gvozdev allegedly disgraces Russia by being “so poor” that they give him everything, although he doesn’t particularly ask. After all, I didn’t ask for 15 years while I was getting permission to go abroad...
Strange and criminal logic. She makes us proud of Abramovich’s largest yacht and embarrassed for the retired Russian sailor who challenged the ocean.
Gvozdev was asked why the Said yacht was so small and he answered: “Like the balcony, so is the yacht.” When the material was published that Gvozdev was going on his second voyage around the world, a letter from Canada immediately arrived in his mail. The author of an article in an American magazine mixed up photographs of Gvozdev’s yachts and illustrated the material with a photograph of the Said yacht, which Gvozdev was just then building on his balcony. He literally collected material almost from landfills. He received his pension of 3,000 rubles for 35 years of work as a ship mechanic and built a yacht 3.7 meters long.
In a letter that came from overseas, a wealthy businessman offered Gvozdev his yacht for the trip. The only condition is that the yachtsman starts from Canada under the Canadian flag. Gvozdev could not agree to this. It was important to him that the yacht be built in Russia and set sail under Russian flag. Evgeniy Aleksandrovich did not give in to temptation. He completed his yacht, lowered it from the balcony and went on his second round the world trip.
Gvozdev and the pirates
During his first circumnavigation of the world, Gvozdev fell among real pirates off the coast of Somalia. The yacht was completely cleaned, even the glasses were taken. As Gvozdev later admitted, he was not killed for three reasons. First of all, he didn't have a weapon. Secondly, he tried to remain calm, even giving the pirates an educational lesson on how to use the first aid kit. Thirdly, as Gvozdev believed, he survived because he was from Russia. According to Evgeniy Aleksandrovich, the pirates did not allow themselves to shoot a Russian with Russian weapons. Of course, there is a healthy dose of irony in this assessment. They didn’t shoot me, but they left me with nothing. They even took my size 60 cotton pants.
Gvozdev, of course, went further. After the robbery, the extreme conditions became even more extreme. I had to eat and drink three times less than usual, and the left half of my body began to go numb. But the old sailor came to the port, where kind people met him, went out, cured him of scurvy, helped him with food and equipment. Then, in Djibouti, the captain of the French frigate Jules Verne asked a Russian sailor: “What did the Russian government and fleet do in response to the robbery of your yacht in Somalia?”
Gvozdev and the whale
During the first circumnavigation of the world near Tahiti, Gvozdev’s yacht found itself dangerously close to a whale; he raised the boat and the Lena even slid down the whale’s side back onto the water. The whale did not bother Evgeniy Gvozdev anymore, but the emotions from the meeting almost forced the yachtsman in Australia to sell the yacht and return to Russia by plane. While “grandfather” walked to Australia, he resigned himself, survived this experience, and moved on. Gvozdev had a principle: if you had the desire and ability to work, the rest would follow. He had both in abundance.
Four rules
Evgeny Gvozdev was a practitioner, not a theorist of navigation. He never taught anyone, he shared his experience. Here are four things a yachtsman thinks it takes to sail around the world. Notice, not a word about money.
1. Preliminary training for acquiring sports uniform and psychological stability.
2. Continuation of psychological training already during the voyage: the yacht sails normally, but the captain loses in his mind emergency situations- a hole, a fire, a coup, a fall overboard - and “takes measures” to eliminate their consequences.
3. Special psychological comfort is created by the absence of obligations to sponsors regarding the timing and distance of the trip. That is, it is better if the captain is free from promises and makes the decision to terminate or continue the voyage.
4. Finally, the most important weapon in the fight against loneliness is being busy. The struggle for the survivability of the ship and ensuring its progress requires so much effort that it leaves no time to concentrate and feel the fear of loneliness. That is, the old motto is still valid: do the job and move forward.
See you in the ocean
Nikolai Litau, captain of the yacht "Apostol Andrey", recalled that before his third trip around the world, Evgeny Gvozdev said goodbye to the yachtsmen like this: "See you in the ocean." According to the recollections of his friends, it was important for sailor Gvozdev that his life would end at sea; he could not die in a city clinic.
The yachtsman died at the age of 75. His yacht was caught in a strong storm near Gibraltar. In one of his interviews, Evgeniy Aleksandrovich spoke about Gibraltar, claiming that it is there that yachtsmen meet.
Under the flags Russian Federation and the Republic of Dagestan. The photo clearly shows that the steering wheel handle is made from the leg of an old dining table. 1999
E. Gvozdev is a man of two elements. 1996
“I am convinced that if a woman gave birth and raised at least one child, she has done everything in this world that was destined for her by Fate, and can part with this world with a clear conscience. We, men, need to do something in life that we wouldn’t be ashamed to tell this child about: climb Everest, plant a garden, cure a person, write a book, well, at least something necessary, useful.
I have two trips around the world behind me, and I don’t hesitate to tell schoolchildren, students, my grandchildren and, God willing, great-grandchildren about sailing.”
E.A. Gvozdev
Preface
Evgeny Gvozdev himself should have and wanted to write this book. And it would have been more complete and interesting, since it would have been based on his personal impressions and diaries, and not on their retelling, even if interested and diligent. But the great traveler and navigator died during his third solo voyage around the world, so the story about his sporting and scientific feat is based on letters and telegrams to the author and materials from many friendly conversations before and after the circumnavigation.
As for maritime terminology, the author tried not to deviate from the “original language,” that is, from the texts and speech of Evgeniy Gvozdev himself, and if inaccuracies of this kind were nevertheless discovered by qualified readers, then we apologize to them.
When designing the book, photographs of the author himself, photographs from the archive of Evgeniy Alexandrovich, and views from the Internet were used. The author is grateful to photo master Sadyk Magomedov for providing photographs of the meeting of E. Gvozdev in the Makhachkala port after the second voyage.
Inside the yacht "Lena". And without a beard. 1992
Personal matter
Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Gvozdev was born on March 11, 1934; his nationality is Belarusian. Lived in Dagestan since 1948. He graduated from the Astrakhan Naval School with a degree in ship mechanics, and worked for many years at Dagrybkholodflot.
He has been involved in yachting and yacht construction since 1977. He undertook his first 60-day voyage across the Caspian Sea on the yacht “Getan” in 1979. Alone and on collective trips he crossed the Caspian Sea more than 50 times.
He made his first solo circumnavigation in 1992-1996 on a 5.5-meter-long pleasure dinghy "Lena". This was the first solo round-the-world voyage undertaken by a Russian yachtsman on a Russian yacht with a start and finish in a Russian port. Following the results of the first voyage, E. Gvozdev was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Makhachkala.
He completed his second circumnavigation in 1999-2003.
The trip is unique not only by the miniature size of the homemade yacht “Said” (3.7 meters), built on the balcony of the apartment, but also by the fact that E. Gvozdev made the transition from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Magellan. It was the smallest ship in the entire history of navigation in the dangerous strait. The campaign ended on August 9, 2003 in the Makhachkala port.
E. Gvozdev died at the beginning of the third circumnavigation of the world in November 2008 in the Bay of Naples. He was buried at the military cemetery in Makhachkala.
I. Round the world trip lasting four years and costing one hundred dollars (1992-1996)
With the terms of the first trip of Evgeny Aleksandrovich Gvozdev on the yacht “Lena”, indicated in the title, everything is in order - four years plus two weeks: on July 7, 1992, he left the Makhachkala port, on July 19, 1996, he returned. But with money, this is a clear exaggeration, or rather an understatement: of course, you can’t live on a hundred dollars for four years - you’ll stretch your legs.
But when starting his voyage, Gvozdev had exactly this amount at his disposal. And although he “didn’t stretch his legs” and “didn’t kick off his slippers,” when he got to the Canary Islands in August 1993, shorts and a T-shirt hung on him like on a slender garden scarecrow - the yachtsman lost 22 kg, and he had obvious signs of scurvy. By this time, Eugene decided to cross the Atlantic, although he was exactly a year behind the international “Great Regatta” in honor of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America. But it was precisely the anniversary of Columbus’s feat that was one of the main arguments when, two years before arriving in the Canary Islands, he persuaded the management of the SOVMARKET company to give him a yacht for testing and a promotional trip to the Atlantic. It was in the city of Aktau on the Kazakh shore of the Caspian Sea, and the company built only micro-class yachts made of fiberglass, intended for idyllic family and certainly coastal sailing.
Makhachkala – Las Palmas
Evgeny Gvozdev learned about the existence of this very “SOVMARKET” and its beloved products from the TV show “Field of Miracles”, where even under Listyev a yacht appeared as a background and a prize. A yachtsman from Makhachkala flew over the Caspian Sea, which he had previously crossed more than 40 times on yachts, and literally settled at the company so that six months later, in February 1992, he could bring a brand new “Lena” with bright orange sides to Makhachkala. He had a contract for three years of sailing and a test position. True, the size of the salary or, say, the prize for successfully conducting the tests themselves, as well as the sailing route, were not specified in this amazing document, and sometimes it seems that it was handed to the persistent Makhachkala resident along with the yacht so that he would leave the company alone. At least for three years. His 5.5-meter yacht, which was to sail either around Europe or to America, differed from the serial “Mikriks” only in that during its molding, two additional layers of fiberglass were placed on the bottom. And that's it - swim!
Friends who visited Lena a few days before the start were surprised and frightened by the frivolous equipment of the yacht, with which it was possible to reach, say, Astrakhan, but not to America. Therefore, in the Makhachkala port, where Gvozdev worked for many years, a cry was thrown out, and everyone began to carry whatever they could to the Lena - from signal flares and maps to a spare anchor and batteries. Only no one donated a radio station or a substantial supply of food - all this was supposed to be received from SOVMARKET already in Novorossiysk. And the main thing that SOVMARKET director Yuri Kantsev had to hand over was a foreign passport, which the yachtsman had unsuccessfully tried to get from the authorities for the previous 15 years.
"Lena" in all its glory
There was a whole story with this sailor’s passport, which began during the “heyday of stagnation”, when only a few were able to travel to Israel. And then some crazy person asked the authorities to let him out of the Union on a boat and reported this request to all authorities, from the local regional committee and the KGB to the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Gvozdev repeatedly wrote to the three nobles in this position, but none of them even deigned to respond, one after another leaving for another world. Therefore, when the next all-Union funeral took place, colleagues who were aware of Gvozdev’s problems worriedly asked the sailor whether he had bothered the next Secretary General with his letters? Or when he stayed too long in his position, they asked, not without black humor: “You should write, Evgeniy Aleksandrovich, to the Kremlin...”.
And now, in the summer of 1992, he had to go to Novorossiysk to get a foreign passport.
We saw off “Lena” from Makhachkala on a fine morning on July 7th. With a light sea breeze and a local southeast wind, several boats and yachts followed her out of the shipyard harbor. At one, a small orchestra of saxophone, guitar and drummer appeared and played “Farewell of the Slavic Woman” ( in the photo on the right). Gvozdev responded with several missiles and clasped hands raised above his head. Like, I’ll break through! When the escort took the Lena beyond the breakwater, the last thing the mourners saw was the orange Panama hat that the sailor had perched on his head. He was going to the tropics, and he couldn’t go there without a Panama hat. And the first thing Gvozdev did, which the mourners did not notice, was to fasten the carabiner to the halyard. Over the course of four years, this later became so habitual that he felt uncomfortable even on land without a seatbelt.
The official authorities of Makhachkala and Dagestan showed no interest in this campaign. One of the Makhachkala weekly newspapers, where the author then worked, had a very distant relationship with supporting the solo voyage of his fellow countryman. On behalf of the editors, the sailor was given several cans of stew and an all-wave radio before sailing. For this symbolic payment, as well as for boundless confidence in the successful completion of an unprecedented enterprise in the Caspian Sea, the newspaper received as an employee an extremely conscientious correspondent who, walking around the globe half-starved, wrote letters to Makhachkala for more than four years and sent telegrams from oncoming Russian ships.
So, “Lena,” led by a desperate captain beyond his years (he was 58 years old at the time), went out into the Caspian Sea and went to Astrakhan. Then there was the Volga, crossed under the Salyut motor, the Volga-Don canal and the path along the Don to the Sea of Azov and further to the Black Sea. A month later, a message arrived that Gvozdev was in Novorossiysk and was waiting for a foreign passport from the owners of the yacht. I am sure that a similar telegram, received at the same time at the Moscow headquarters of SOV MARKET, did not bring joy there, since the respite given to the company by its test racer turned out to be too short, and it was finally necessary to decide whether to let him go to the Mediterranean Sea or not. This decision took more than 5 (!) months, which became the most difficult for Evgeniy Alexandrovich in all four years of travel. Everything else, including three ocean crossings, against the backdrop of that grueling autumn-winter wait for a passport, money and food, turned out to be much more acceptable and tolerable. And then stand in the port against the wall, sway and freeze together with the yacht and think day after day, week after week: will they send your passport or not? And day after day I had to, excuse me, eat something. And since the products from the company arrived along with the passport and money only in December, Gvozdev also lost the first kilograms of his weight out of 22 lost by the time he arrived in Las Palmas.
Novorossiysk businessmen, having heard about a Makhachkala yachtsman waiting for months for documents in the port, proposed a radical solution to the problem. “Zhenya,” they said to Gvozdev, “why the hell do you need this “SOVMARKET”? Remove this word from the sides and sails of the Lena, write the names of our companies, take the money and blow in all four directions! Either to the Atlantic or to the Antarctic!” It was tempting to the extreme, but Gvozdev resisted, although he informed Kantsev about such proposals. Apparently, in the end, the threat of losing the yacht had an effect: food for three months and a sailor’s passport for its captain were delivered to the Lena. The passport contained those same 100 dollars: go for a walk, Zhenya, don’t deny yourself anything!
On December 15, 1992, Gvozdev left Tsemes Bay. And it would be nice to head towards the Bosphorus - I would starve less. But no, for another two months he walked along the coast of Crimea and Ukraine. I met 1993 at sea, near Sudak. I stood in Sevastopol for a long time, repaired the steering wheel in Odessa, changed the Soviet red flag to the tricolor Russian one, and only with the first days of spring crossed the Black Sea. He was afraid of the cold because he was walking with an empty gas cylinder and if something happened he would not be able to warm up or dry himself.
For many months no one knew anything about the fate of the Lena and her captain. In August, a telegram arrived from the fish transport and freezing vessel Prometheus:
“I am located in Las Palmas, Canary Islands. Everything is fine. After replenishing food supplies and repairs, I leave for the island of Barbados. Gvozdev."
Relatives and friends' hearts sank: Barbados is already on the other side of the Atlantic! But after the first of Evgeniy Alexandrovich’s letters abroad was published in September, readers and colleagues lost their last fears that we wrote all these letters and telegrams ourselves. You can’t create something like this, even if you really want to. So…
Unhappy pier in Novorossiysk
“As surprising as it may sound, I am writing from Las Palmas. I got there with difficulty: calm, headwind, fog and other nasty weather conditions extended the journey for four months. But I saw Greece, Italy, France, Spain. I am simply fascinated by foreign countries! The fact that the stores are full of food and goods is the least of my worries. I think that after some time we will have all this. But I’m surprised by the attitude towards us – “homo soviticus”. For seventy years we have been fed fairy tales about decaying capitalism, about their wolfish morals and other nonsense. Everything is completely different! They understand us perfectly and are ready to help at any moment. There were breakdowns along the way, hungry days, and other “little things,” and always when I asked, they were willing to meet me halfway and help. And if not for this help, I would hardly have been able to continue swimming.
I wrote you several letters and gave you telegrams. Whether you received them, I don’t know. The fact is that I could not send letters, say, from Naples or Marseilles for the simple reason that, through the fault of the valiant Albanian border guards, I found myself without a penny in my pocket. Without a map, in stormy weather he ended up in their territorial waters. After an inspection and a thorough check of the documents, the heirs of the great Albanian warrior Skanderbeg decided that I had no use for the money, and they cleaned out the ship’s cash register down to the penny (although they left 16 Ukrainian coupons). You understand, I couldn’t make a call or buy an envelope, so I took advantage of the opportunity.
Of course, the food stockpiled in Novorossiysk was not enough... The guys from our ships “Tarkhany”, “Leninsky Komsomol”, “Komsomolets Uzbekistan” and “Peter the First” helped out greatly. Judge for yourself: in December last year, SOVMARKET purchased food for a trip worth a little more than 10 thousand rubles (according to my calculations - for three months), and I spent more than eight on them. As a result, I got rid of the “extra” 20 kg of weight, recovered from classic vitamin deficiency (fingernails and toenails peel due to a lack of microelements and vitamins) and something else. Now that I’ve started and, in fact, the ocean voyage is just beginning, I’m sitting in Las Palmas penniless and without food.
Autumn of the Patriarch. 1996
Seeing off. 1992
Here in the port there are many of our ships from Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine and Russia, the guys are fattening me up. They brought bananas, apples, oranges and other fruits and vegetables. The motor ship "Valanchus" took me on full pay, the m/v "Prometheus" sends my telegrams home and to "SOVMARKET", the m/v "Ariel" took on some of my worries. In a word, our guys warmed my soul and instilled confidence in the successful completion of the voyage.
I sent a telegram to the management of the company with a request to send money for the purchase of food. Whether they will send it or not, I don’t know. Be that as it may, on August 20 I intend to launch across the Atlantic (I’ll get a little treatment and go). The guys bought a bunch of medicines, multivitamins, etc. for me.
I think I'll be back to normal by this time. Here the Sovispan company (Spanish-Soviet, directors Jose Gonzalez and Petr Rotar), which supplies our ships, promised to give me food for three months. I think that's enough for the transition. The plan is this: I’ll go to Barbados, and then along the Lesser Antilles to Puerto Rico and, weather permitting, to New York. If cold weather sets in, then, apparently, we will have to spend the winter in Puerto Rico.
I don’t know how I’ll get back. There are three options: 1 – sell the yacht and return home by plane (I don’t want to); 2 – load the yacht onto the ship and get to the Union on it; 3 – return home under your own power (to your liking, but there would be grub).
Journalists attack
Wait and catch up...
During the trip I had the opportunity to meet many foreigners, and, as a rule, they were very friendly people, ready to help. Sometimes it was uncomfortable for our perverted idea of them. Great guys! When I come, I’ll tell you a lot.
I had a chance to see something interesting and unusual in this sense. For example, I’ve been sitting in Gran Canaria for a week now, and still neither the police nor the customs officers have bothered to look at me. They, of course, know that the yacht has arrived in Las Palmas, but they don’t care about document checks, inspections and other formalities, of which our border guards have made a cult. Of course, as soon as I start misbehaving here, etc., they will appear instantly, but now they are trying not to spoil my holiday. And so almost everywhere. And I also remembered another incident by contrast. The yacht "Alpha", returning from Turkey to Novorossiysk, ran into a storm and its engine broke down. And instead of mooring at the passenger pier, where customs and border inspection usually take place, she went to the yacht club. Before the end was over, a squad of machine gunners was already at the pier. And off we go: who, where and from where? The comparison is not in our favor. Abroad, they respect the tourist, meet him halfway, help him (this is both employment for many people and a living penny). Tourists are held in high esteem here and are always a welcome guest. I felt this kind attitude myself, although calling me a carefree tourist can be very conditional.
When you receive this letter, I will already be in the ocean. If you receive any information about me and you decide to please the reader with it, then do not frighten him with fears about the starvation of a lone navigator. All these are little things. Everything will pass.
See you. Your Gvozdev. Las Palmas. 08/12/1993"
And indeed, in September he was already in the Atlantic and crossed it for 50 days. Happy with the products of the Sovispan company, Evgeniy Aleksandrovich managed to eat up and even gain weight slightly, although he never regained his previous weight.
…It was the second year of a trip around the world on the yacht “Lena,” designed for quiet coastal sailing.
Atlantic. Canaries - America
Fed and warmed by Sovispan, Gvozdev left Las Palmas on August 20, 1993, “descended” closer to the equator (so as not to freeze) and moved west. The beneficial trade wind and favorable current helped us make 50-60 miles a day. Despite the fact that the beginning of autumn is considered turbulent in these latitudes, the Makhachkala resident was lucky with the weather - only four days were stormy, the wind speed reached 22-23 m/sec, and the remaining forty-six were quite “country and successful”. The greatest trouble was caused by the so-called split sleep, when you cannot fall asleep for more than 15-20 minutes at night. Indeed, in oncoming traffic, from the appearance of a vessel on the horizon to a possible collision, according to Gvozdev’s calculations, only 24-27 minutes pass. During the day the yacht is at least visible, but at night any motor ship can crush it blindly or due to the inattention of the watchmen and, without noticing it, move on. So the captain of the Lena learned to sleep for a quarter of an hour and, looking at the horizon, constantly turn his head in the manner of a ship's locator or a fighter pilot from the Second World War.
The Atlantic in the tropical zone is a busy sea road, or rather a crossroads. And what greatly surprised the sociable captain of the Lena was that the oncoming ships did not show any interest in the yacht. They passed by as if every day they met lonely little yachts in the ocean. Of course, if Gvozdev had started sending distress signals, they would have helped him, but he did not have a radio station, so he never received greetings from passing ships. Not like in the Caspian Sea, where tankers even slightly changed course to greet the yachtsman on the open sea and loudly ask from the high bridge how things were on board and if they needed help. Apparently, in the Atlantic there are different morals, more rational relationships and stricter ship schedules. Gvozdev understood this, but he was still surprised and annoyed: how can you not greet people you meet?
Stand a watch or sit out?
True, this feeling quickly passed, since even on a small ship for one person there was too much to do. They were divided into three parts: ensuring traffic safety and the traffic itself; preparing food for 4 meals a day, including nightly meals, and, finally, maintaining order and cleanliness of both personal and ship.
I constantly had to “stand on the helm”, because the yacht did not have an “autopilot”. And although the rudder was secured with special guys, it was always necessary to monitor it in order to reduce the yaw of the vessel to a minimum. And then there’s another 2-3 meter wave. Being under the tropical sun for 12 hours gave rise to the problem of body overheating. Therefore, all day long I had to wear a light long-sleeved shirt, trousers, socks and cotton gloves with my fingers cut off. He's wearing a Panama hat and his face is covered with gauze underneath, like a cowboy's. Of course, it was possible to use special creams against solar radiation, but they require a lot of fresh water to wash off, and it had to be protected.
I washed myself mostly with sea water. At dawn, the deck and roof of the cabin were covered with abundant dew; it could be collected with a special rag and wiped off the sea salt from the body. There was little hope for rains, since they were short, and one day, having started swimming in a downpour, the traveler remained soapy in the middle of the Atlantic and washed himself out of a bucket.
I didn’t swim overboard for fear of sharks, although I never met one on this crossing. Constantly, day and night, he was “on a leash” - a safety belt kept Gvozdev fastened to the yacht. The danger of falling overboard was very great, and then you wouldn’t be able to catch up with the boat, swim or don’t swim. Unfortunately, such cases have happened in the history of solo voyages. The yachts were found empty, but the captains were not.
After a sleepless night
I washed myself with dew,
I had a leisurely breakfast
Overseas sausage.
This is a poem, or rather a song, from local ocean folklore. So the sailor entertained himself by preparing food at six o'clock in the morning. True, he lied slightly with the menu for the sake of rhyme, since he had breakfast mainly with milk porridge and “coffee” with cookies.
1934-03-11 - 2008-12-02 Russian traveler, navigator
Life
Evgeny Gvozdev was born in Pinsk, Belarus, in 1934. In 1937, his father was arrested, and he did not return from Stalin’s camps. Mother died during the Nazi bombing. The future traveler was raised by a distant relative.
Evgeny Gvozdev graduated from the nautical school in Astrakhan and sailed as a ship mechanic on large fishing vessels in the Caspian Sea for 35 years. Since 1949, E. Gvozdev lived in Makhachkala.
In the late 1970s, he became interested in yachting. In two years hard work by the summer of 1979, Gvozdev independently built a single-hull sailing yacht, converted from a decommissioned “whaleboat” (a fast boat with 4-8 oars).
From September 13 to October 20, 1979, for the first time in the history of the Caspian Sea, the mechanic of the Makhachkala motor ship seaport Evgeny Gvozdev alone traveled the route Makhachkala - Bautino - Shevchenko - Krasnovodsk - Baku on his yacht. The yacht was named “Getan”, consisting of the first letters of the names: Gvozdev Evgeniy, wife Tatyana, son Alexander, daughter Natalya.
After his first serious voyage in the Caspian Sea in 1979, Evgeny Gvozdev conceives a trip through the winter Caspian Sea, and in December 1982 he goes to sea on the Getan yacht, crossing the Caspian Sea along the meridian.
Working as a mechanic in the port of Makhachkala, a full member of the Geographical Society of the USSR, yachtsman Evgeny Gvozdev crossed the Caspian Sea on solo and collective trips more than 50 times. On the Getan yacht he visited all Soviet ports of the Caspian Sea, covering about four thousand miles.
1st Circumnavigation
On July 7, 1992, Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Gvozdev set off from Makhachkala on his first solo circumnavigation of the world on the yacht “Lena” (micro class, length only 5.5 meters). On July 19, 1996, the journey was successfully completed. With this, Gvozdev set a kind of world record - the first and only voyage in the history of solo circumnavigations made on an ordinary pleasure dinghy.
2nd Circumnavigation
Evgeny Gvozdev began his second circumnavigation of the world on May 17, 1999 from Makhachkala, where he himself built a 3.7-meter Said yacht from fiberglass on the balcony of his apartment.
Upon arrival at the Astrakhan port, the Said yacht was carefully placed on a truck and delivered to Novorossiysk, from where on July 2 of the same year E. Gvozdev set off to plow the World Ocean. Since the beginning of the voyage, the traveler crossed the Black, Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean seas, stopping at the ports of Istanbul, Athens and Calaverde (on the island of Sardinia).
After Gibraltar the journey across the Atlantic began. Gvozdev successfully reached Brazil, successively mooring at the ports of Las Palmas, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Rio Gallegos (the southern port of Argentina), and finally passed the Strait of Magellan, famous for its evil storms.
After that he went around South America and crossed the Pacific Ocean. But first, the brave captain walked along the coast of Chile to the north to “attach” to the western tropical current. E. Gvozdev started this main and longest and most dangerous transition in the Chilean port of Arica. Sailing westward, covering thousands of miles, he reached Tahiti and Samoa in four months. On July 29, 2002, Gvozdev reached the coast of the North Australian city of Darwin (the capital of the Northern Territory of Australia).
The next crossing is across the Indian Ocean with a visit to the Cocos Islands, Sri Lanka and the Indian port of Cochin. Having overcome the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, Evgeny Gvozdev is again in the Mediterranean Sea, which belongs to the Atlantic Ocean basin.
With great difficulties, both natural (strong headwind) and man-made (unfriendly attitude of the Greek border guards, who mistook Gvozdev for a Turk because of the specific name of the yacht), he crossed the Aegean Sea and reached the Dardanelles Strait, connecting this sea with the Sea of Marmara. This is where its second ring around the planet closed. This happened on July 10, 2003. About a week later, it docked at the Black Sea port of Sochi. And on August 9, 2003, Evgeny Alexandrovich was solemnly greeted in the Makhachkala port on his yacht “Said”.
After Gvozdev’s second “around the world”, the city administration of Makhachkala decided to build Russia’s first monument in honor of the legendary yacht and its captain on the seaside Rhodope Boulevard. Currently, the Said yacht is temporarily located in the local history museum of Makhachkala school-lyceum No. 39.
3rd Circumnavigation
On the third trip around the world 74-year-old Evgeny Gvozdev set off from Novorossiysk on September 19, 2008 on a specially built yacht Getan II. The start date was not chosen by chance: in September 1979, Evgeniy Aleksandrovich, then still a young captain, went on a solo voyage in the Caspian Sea for the first time on the independently built yacht Getan.
The length of the new yacht “Getan II” was 5.5 m, width - almost 2.5 m. And, according to E. Gvozdev himself, this time he was equipped much better than his previous trips.
Circumstances of death
In early October 2008, Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Gvozdev reported that he had safely crossed the Black Sea and reached the city of Eregli, Turkey, which is not far from the Bosphorus Strait. On November 10, Gvozdev safely reached the Italian coast near Cape Spartivento. December 1 Evgeny Gvozdev last time got in touch.
On December 10, 2008, the body of a 75-year-old Russian man with a deep wound to his head was discovered on the beach of Castelporziano in southern Italy. In the same area, on the beach named after Amerigo Vespucci, the yacht Getan II, on which Gvozdev set off from Novorossiysk on a circumnavigation of the world, was found washed ashore. On it, the carabinieri found personal belongings, travel notes and a list of names written in Russian.
Apparently, events developed as follows: on November 29, during a winter storm in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Naples, a 5-meter yacht capsized and broke its mast. After this, Gvozdev restored the yacht’s seaworthiness and continued on its way. There was no SOS signal. The last communication session with the traveler took place on December 1, after which Gvozdev no longer contacted him.
According to the preliminary version, Evgeny Gvozdev died on December 2 during a strong storm near Naples.
- October 14, 2011
