Evgueni Gvozdev fue un marino ruso, explorador y viajero.2 fotos

Evgeny Gvozdeyev
Russian sailor, explorer, and traveler

The interrupted journey of a 74-year-old solo traveler

This famous Russian sailor and traveler was the first Russian captain to complete a solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1996, using a small recreational dinghy. Later, in 1999, he undertook another round-the-world voyage. However, during his third attempt in 2008, he lost his life at sea.

Evgeny Alexandrovich Gvozdeyev was born in 1934 in the Belarusian city of Pinsk. His father was taken away in 1937 and never returned. Evgeny grew up with his mother, but she died during the Great Patriotic War, and he later lived with a distant relative.

After graduating from a maritime school in Astrakhan, Gvozdeyev began working on ships, serving as a marine engineer for over thirty years.

In the late 1970s, he began his yachting career, building his first boat himself from an old sailing ship that had been decommissioned. He named it “Getan,” combining the names of himself and his family: Evgeny (GE), his wife Tatyana (T), son Alexander (A), and daughter Natalia (N).

With this boat, he crossed the Caspian Sea several times. On July 7, 1992, he set off on his first circumnavigation in a small 5.5-meter vessel named “Lena.” This voyage was groundbreaking, as no one had previously done such a thing in a ship of that size. The journey was dangerous: in August 1995, he was attacked by local pirates off the coast of Somalia and nearly killed.

His second round-the-world voyage began on May 17, 1999, from Machachkala, where he lived with his family. This time, he used a 3.7-meter boat named “Said.” This vessel later became known as the smallest sailboat to ever cross the Magellan Strait. In the three years prior to this voyage, Gvozdeyev had spent preparing and repairing his ship.

At the age of 65, he embarked on his third round-the-world voyage in September 2008 on a new 5.5-meter boat named “Getan-2.” Unfortunately, this journey ended tragically: he successfully crossed the Black Sea but then encountered a fierce storm off the coast of Italy in late November. Contact was lost with him on December 1, and his body was found on a beach in Italy on December 2.

Thus ended the life of this brave Russian sailor who brought honor to Russian yachting around the world.In memory of him, his boat “Lena” is displayed at the “Admiral” yacht club in Moscow, and “Said” is exhibited in a school in Machachkala where he used to live.

Interestingly, Evgeny himself admitted that he had always been afraid of the sea, but it was precisely this fear that drove him to venture out into the ocean time and again. If his last voyage had been successful, he likely would have continued on. Sadly, this did not happen.Friends of Gvozdeyev knew that he deeply cherished life at sea and would have preferred to die in the ocean rather than on land.'We men must accomplish something in life that we can be proud to tell about: climbing Mount Everest, planting a garden, curing a disease, writing a book—anything meaningful and useful,'> he used to say.