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Biography
Biography
Skipper / Lecturer / Expedition Leader
Henryk Wolski
Henryk Wolski, born in 1951, studied at the Technical University of Poznan (Poland). After gaining his degree as an engineer he worked for some years in a company making engines for ships.
Having been an enthusiastic sailor since boyhood, Henryk gained his master's license for ocean-going yachts during his studies at the university. After leaving the marine engineering company, he first worked as a sailing instructor and skipper for "High Sea Yacht School North Sea" in Bremen.
In 1989, Henryk founded his own company, Concept Sailing, which promotes what Henryk calls "concept sailing": He undertakes sailing trips mostly under historical mottos like "Following the tracks of Ulysses" - to give just one example He also organizes moderate adventurous sailing trips in different parts of the world.
In 1994, Henryk organized his own expedition called "Following the Tracks of the Vikings". He successfully navigated the rivers across the European continent from Riga to Odessa. After this historic voyage he had a replica viking ship built for future expeditions, the "Welet".
Another facet of Henryk's life are his expeditions. He was a member of Arved Fuchs's ICESAIL expedition team. This expedition's aim had been to sail around the north pole via the northwest as well as the northeast passage. The expedition lasted four years. In 1993, the northwest passage was completed. The northeast passage was successfully completed in 2002.
In 2000, he was one of the four members of Arved Fuchs's expedition following the tracks of the most famous expedition of Sir Ernest Shackleton using a replica of Shackleton's lifeboat "James Caird". They sailed from the Antarctic continent via Elephant Island 900 nautical miles to South Georgia. Following the landing, the team crossed the island, and by doing so, retraced Shackleton's historic voyage. About the expedition Henryk published the book "Fortitudine Vincimus – durch Ausdauer zum Sieg".
In summer 2003, Henryk's personal circling of the north pole came to an end by sailing from Norway to Greenland on the yacht "Zjawa IV". By that, the sixth person in history has navigated the seas around the north pole completely. Later that same year, he also made a trip around notorious Cape Hoorn – again on the yacht "Zjawa IV".
In 2006, he finished his project "Following the Tracks of the Vikings" by sailing from Gdansk on the coast of the Baltic Sea to Odessa on the coast of the Black Sea. With his ship "Welet" he sailed more than 2.000 km on the rivers Vistula, San, and Dnjestr. So, he retraced the last of the four known trading routes of the vikings. This voyage was documented by one of Germany's leading TV stations (ARTE) in their famous series "GEO 360°".
In 2008, Henryk organized on the yacht "Nashachata" an ambitious sailing trip from Gdañsk (Poland) to Australia, the motto being: "Vom Bernsteinstrand zur Korallensee" - "From Amber Beaches to the Coral Sea". During this trip, he led the leg beginning in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in october. He took the yacht through the Straits of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean, around Cape Hoorn and on into Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego). In Ushuaia, Henryk left the "Nashachata" to take over the wooden boat "Fuegia", a historically correct replica of a whaling boat.
This was the start of his expedition "Darwin & Tierra del Fuego" sailing Beagle Channel waters. The idea of the expedition was to retrace an important part of the historical trip around the world (1831 - 1836) of HMS "Beagle" under Kapitän Robert FitzRoy. During this expedition the then young Charles Darwin did a lot of research which finally lead to writing down his theory of evolution.
At the end of December 2008, after finishing the "Fuegia"-Expedition", Henryk in Ushia again took over the yacht "Nashachata". Ahead lay a very ambitious leg: "Antarctica – Circumpolar Navigation Part I". The ship and crew visited the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Cap Town, and - in the Indian Ocean - Crozet Island, Amsterdam Island, and Melbourne (Australia). The trip ended in may 2009 in New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean.
During his trips on the "Nashachata", Henryk has rounded the three southern capes: Cape Hoorn (South America), Cape Agulhas (Africa) und Cape Leeuwin (Australia).
On 21st June 2015, just at the time of the solstice, he reached the North Pole on the Russian nuclear icebreaker „50 Let Pobedy".
2016 lead the kayak expedition in Antarctica - „Belgica, the cradle of scientist and explorers“
2017 – sailing on the mv "Ortelius" – Semi circumnavigation from Ushuaia to New Zealand by Ross Sea with sightseeing of the historical sites on the Ross Island and continent.
2017 - Sailing on the yacht “Agens" from Panama to Cairns in Australia, through the Panama Canal and the islands: Galapagos, Easter Island, Pitcairn, Mangareva, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Tonga Fiji.
The following year, 2018, he sailed on the yacht "Lady Dana" from Puerto Montt in southern Chile, through Juan Fernandez Islands, Easter Island, Marquesas to Kiritimati Island. He made numerous cruises on the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic.
Henryk has been sailing on a lot of different ships in different areas of the world. In total, he has around 160.000 nautical miles to his credit, which is more then to circling the equator 8 times.
Since 2000, Henryk has been working regularly as an expedition leader and/or as a lecturer on expeditions cruise ships in the Arctic, the Antarctic, the Amazon, and other areas of the world.
June 2023