Old-School Sailboats Return to Poland's Mighty Vistula
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2014 Jacek Marczewski and helpers load a wooden boat on a trailer for transport to Jacek Marczewski baptizes ‘Slawka’ his wooden boat on the banks of the the Vistula river in Warsaw. — AFP photos Vistula river. Old-school sailboats return to Poland’s mighty Vistula liding down the river on a sleek wooden hull, its white sail gleaming as it catches the Gbreeze, the vessel could easily be mistaken for a traditional Egyptian felucca sailing down the Nile. But this mighty river, the Vistula, runs through Poland and in its capital Warsaw, rigged skiffs first built centuries ago for trade on the wild waterway are making a comeback thanks to a new breed of sailing buff. “Our boats look a little like feluccas. They have what Egyptians call a ‘crab claw’ sail with one spar along the lower edge,” pho- tographer Jacek Marczewski, who built his own boat from scratch, told AFP. “In other ways, our boats are quite unique, just like the Vistula is special,” he says of the traditional “pychowka” or “push-boat” in Polish, named for its long pole reaching the river bottom that is used for navigation, much like on the famous gondolas of Venice. To avoid any accidents, police escorted his 8.5 metre-long (29 foot) vessel through the streets of the capital to its launch site near the impressive national stadium built for the Euro 2012 football championships. Marczewski waded waist-deep into the river on his 55th birthday to launch his boat, named A wooden boat is being transported through the streets of Warsaw. “Slawka” after his late mother. It’s a sleek but sturdy ways in the late 19th century. Marczewski is capti- shop in Warsaw just a stone’s throw from the southern Tatra mountains to its northern delta on design and the 12-square metre (129 square feet) vated by the Vistula, which he dubs “wild and Vistula to feed his passion for building boats. He the Baltic coast, but unlike centuries gone by, sail is fixed to a five metre high mast. He used three changable.”“Areas that are deep can become shal- honed his skills while refurbishing a traditional there is little traffic on the Vistula today. The different types of wood to build it: acacia for the low from day to day and islets of white sand appear skiff he acquired from the police, who had confis- real attraction of the “pychowka” for weary city frame; oak for the bow and larch for the hull. “We and disappear with the seasons,” he told AFP. He cated it from poachers. “Because these boats folk is the quick escape it offers from the hustle built it based on the design of traditional skiffs dreams of sailing the Vistula and its tributary the have flat bottoms, they are very stable and noth- and bustle of metropolitan life. used for centuries on the Vistula to transport goods Bug, on Poland’s eastern border with Ukraine, as ing dangerous can really happen,” says Perkowski “All you need to do is get in the boat and push or for fishing. well as the Oder on its western border with of the traditional “pychowka”. off the river bank,” says Perkowski. “You’re still in “Larger boats were used to dredge sand from Germany. He and fellow “pychowka” fan Lukasz “There’s no keel or centerboard and you can the centre of a city of well over a million people, the river bottom used in building, or to ferry goods Perkowski, who helped Marczewski build his boat, easily come ashore in sandy or rocky areas,” he but you’re in a completely different world and up the river from Krakow in the south to Gdansk, want to sail it at the “Festival de Loire”, an annual explains. “That’s also why the boat can only use a you see the city differently,” he says. “An hour on the Baltic coast,” the tall, husky Marczewski told event in Orleans, central France, drawing river boat back or side wind. downstream from Warsaw, you discover the AFP. Pychowki boats moved everything from enthusiasts from across Europe. “The Vistula has the reputation of being a very peace and quiet of the wilderness, of nature,” wheat to potatoes and textiles up and down the dangerous river and people are afraid to navigate Perkowski told AFP. “It means you can be in the Vistula as far back as the 17th century, but river A quick getaway it,” he adds. Over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) city and quickly step out for a little vacation any transport fell out of favor with the advent of rail- A ceramics artist, Perkowski uses a carpenter’s long, the river spans Poland from its source in the time you wish.” — AFP Jacek Marczewski launches his wooden boat to the Vistula river. A wooden boat is being transported through the streets of Warsaw..