DAR MŁODZIEŻY

A three-masted ship which is the heir of LWÓW and DAR POMORZA, legendary Polish training tall ships.

The idea of building a successor of DAR POMORZA dates back to 1970s. The number of supporters and opponents was equal. The former claimed that the ageing full rigger did not fit modern times, since she failed to meet safety standards, e.g. she did not have watertight bulkheads and a double bottom. The list of drawbacks was long. Opponents argued that the ship was perfectly fit for her purpose, and her robust structure should enable sailing for many years to come. The discussion would have continued if it was not for the interest of the Soviet Union to build in Poland five training tall ships. However, Russians did not want to buy a pig in a poke. The design had to be a proven one, and since shipbuilders in Gdansk had never built a tall ship, the development of a prototype fully rigged ship started. She was designed by a team of naval architects headed by Zygmunt Choreń.

On 30th June 1981, the laying down ceremony was held and just 134 days later, on 12th November, a hull was launched from the C-1 slipway of the Gdańsk Shipyard. Helena Jurkiewicz, a wife of Kazimierz Jurkiewicz, a long-standing commander of DAR POMORZA, became the godmother of the ship. The brand new fully rigged ship was put into service on 4th July 1982. The guard of honours change ceremony took place in a pouring rain in Gdynia. With the roar of ship sirens and the accompaniment of the Polish national anthem, the two DARs moored back to back symbolically passed the baton in the grand relay of Polish training tall ships. The public gathered at the wharf was shocked by the ship’s stern. People accustomed to the classic line of DAR POMORZA found it hard to accept the modern, box-like stern with four large portlights. For a long time, architect Choreń had to face criticism, both in Poland and abroad. Negative opinions stopped, after the young tall ship beautifully marked her presence during The Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race in 1982.

The ship sailed into oceans in consecutive years as well. In 1983, it sailed to Osaka, Japan, where the ship was invited to participate in the festivity commemorating the 400th anniversary of the castle. A year later, DAR MŁODZIEŻY sailed across the Atlantic to Canada to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the Jacques Cartier expedition. In 1987-1988, under the command of Leszek Wiktorowicz, the tall ship circumnavigated the globe for the first time. Among other locations, she visited Australia, where she became popular and loved for her bravado full-sail passage under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. During the 274-day voyage, the tall ship successfully sailed past Cape Horn on 6th March 1988 at 7:15.

She had to wait over 30 years to complete her second world loop. A pretext for the second circumnavigation was the 100th anniversary of Poland’s independence. The Independence Cruise started on 20th May 2018 to end on 28th March 2019. The white full rigger operated under the command of two captains, Ireneusz Lewandowski and Rafał Szymański. During 313 days, the ship called at 22 ports in 18 countries and covered a distance of 38 thou. nautical miles. She welcomed on board more than a 1000 young people, including students of maritime universities, secondary schools, and laureates of nation-wide competitions. During the voyage, the crew came up with an idea of a Christmas tree design lit on the mainmast. The tall ship with the Christmas decoration visited in Los Angeles, Acapulco and Panama during the World Youth Day. The illuminated decoration turned out to be so popular that it was used again during 2019 Christmas, this time in Gdynia.