Captain Jan Pinkiewicz honoured in Gdynia's Polish Sailing Avenue

In the company of sailing legends

The Sunday afternoon ceremony drew representatives of the Polish Navy, the sailing community, the captain's friends and his daughter, Jarmiła Ulatowska, to the Polish Sailing Avenue (Aleja Żeglarstwa Polskiego). The city was represented by Tadeusz Szemiot, Chairman of the Gdynia City Council. In keeping with the tradition of the site, the plaque was blessed by Father Edward Pracz, chaplain to seafarers, and guests laid flowers beneath it.

The council chairman was generous in his praise. He described Pinkiewicz as a titan of Polish and Gdynia sailing, a co-founder of the Kotwica club, an outstanding ocean sailor and a role model for generations to come.

His daughter gave the ceremony a personal dimension. She recalled that the tribute honours not only her father but also her mother, who kept the club's chronicle and hand-wove its pennants. Each yacht received its own, bearing the White Eagle emblem on a red field alongside the vessel's name, every one a separate piece of her mother's craftsmanship.

The same day also saw the presentation of the Gdynia Centenary Sailing Cups. The accompanying regattas were sailed in four classes: Yardstick, KWR, ORC A and ORC B.

From Volhynia to the Naval Officers' School

Jan Pinkiewicz was born on 18 March 1929 in Brody, in what is today Ukraine. His family was killed during the Volhynia massacre. He joined the Soviet partisans and, after the front line moved west, enlisted in the First Polish Army. Following an officers' course he was sent to the Naval Officers' School in Gdynia, and he would remain bound to the Polish Navy for the rest of his life, retiring at the rank of komandor, the senior Polish naval rank.

It was in uniform that his sailing career began. He logged his first miles at the Navy's Sailing Training Centre in Gdynia and, from 1958, at the Maritime Yacht Club, today the Navy Yacht Club Kotwica. He was a co-founder of the club, later its commodore and finally its honorary commodore. He also helped to establish the Gdańsk Regional Sailing Association, now the Pomeranian Sailing Association, where he served as vice-president.

The great ocean voyages

It was his blue-water voyages that brought Pinkiewicz lasting renown. In 1976 he commanded Hetman on a passage to the United States for Operation Sail. In 1989 he led Jan z Kolna on a seven-month voyage to Australia, and in 1992 he took the helm of Koga III in the Columbus Regatta.

His greatest recognition came the following year. In 1993 he skippered Dar Świecia into Arctic waters, retracing the wartime actions of Polish sailors during the Second World War. For that voyage he received the Silver Sextant, the main honorary award of the Voyage of the Year competition. He was also an accomplished racing sailor, and among his distinctions was the Medal for Special Service to Pomeranian Sailing.

Captain Pinkiewicz died on 4 February 2023 at the age of 93.

An avenue that keeps growing

The Polish Sailing Avenue is one of the most distinctive places on Gdynia's sailing map. It has existed since 2012 and was created on the initiative of the Polish Sailing Association, the Pomeranian Sailing Association, the City of Gdynia and the Maritime and River League. Among the figures commemorated there are Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz, the first woman to sail solo around the world, the distinguished racing sailor Zygfryd Perlicki and one of the fathers of Polish sailing, Otton Weiland.

The plaque to Captain Jan Pinkiewicz joins their number as another chapter in a history shaped by people who combined naval service with a passion for sailing.