67-year-old Aleksander “Olek” Doba is attempting to become the first person to kayak from Europe to North America. The Polish adventurer began his journey on October 5, and has been paddling his way towards Florida ever since. On December 20, he lost communications. On December 22, a distress signal was detected coming from his satellite phone. The U.S. Coast Guard picked up the signal and sent the closest ship that was available to help Doba. The crew of the ship was surprised to find Doba waving them away. Doba spoke briefly to the crew of the ship, telling them that his communications were down, but he was going to finish his journey anyway. It is unclear whether the help button was pressed inadvertantly or not.
Doba has been facing much adversity on his 5,200 mile adventure. Storms have pushed Doba back about 100 miles, and headwinds have kept him going in circles in the Bermuda triangle. All of this has Doba running short on provisions, a secondary threat to the harsh conditions. Despite all of this, Doba has said “The kayak will survive and so will I”. Doba still has one form of communication, his GPS tracker with the emergency signal. Doba’s GPS signal is noted and updated on his blog each day by his son.
Doba’s Previous Adventure
Doba is no stranger to rugged kayaking excursions. In 2011, Doba kayaked from West Africa to Brazil. The journey was 3.345 miles and took 99 days, the longest kayaking voyage on record at the time. The current endeavor has already surpassed this record, at 114 days so far.