On Friday, 18 July, Sebastian Szubski completed his solo kayak circumnavigation of Great Britain, closing the loop at 14:51—exactly 37 days after he launched from the Scottish coast. Originally aiming to paddle 3,000 kilometres in under 40 days, the 46-year-old athlete from Bydgoszcz, Poland, beat his target by three full days in a bid to set a new Guinness World Record.

Szubski set off on 12 June at precisely 08:48, battling waves, fatigue, and the unpredictable weather. His route took him through the rugged Scottish coastline, along the shores of England and Wales, across the Bristol Channel, through the Irish Sea, around Ireland and Northern Ireland, and finally back to Scotland, where, on the Isle of Islay, he camped wild before his final push. 

„I landed on the beach and pitched my tent—just a few hours’ sleep before the last stretch,” he reported. “It was now or never.”

By 17 July, he had already covered 2,800 kilometres, with under 200 remaining, just two more long days, or nights, in the kayak. 

He paddled an average of 100 km per day. His home city of Bydgoszcz backed the attempt, not just for its sporting ambition but also for its powerful message: Szubski lives with bipolar affective disorder, diagnosed in 2009. 

“He proves that illness is nothing to fear, that life can be lived to the full,” said Urszula Szybowicz, head of the 'You Can’t See It In Me’ Foundation.

Source: bydgoszczinformuje.pl

Photo: @tvpbydgoszcz

Tomasz Modrzejewski