DONCHO PAPAZOV AND YACHT “TIVIA”
The circumnavigation adventure of Papazov family began on 29 April 1979 from Sozopol. The yacht “Tivia” (owned by the Bulgarian National Television – BNT) was skippered by Doncho Papazov and the crew included his wife Yulia and their 6-years-old daughter Yana. They were accompanied to Gibraltar by Hari Mladenov and Stoyan Miladinov from BNT. They crossed the Atlantic Ocean along the route: Gibraltar – Canary Islands – Martinique – Venezuela – Curacao -Panama. They passed through the Panama Canal and entered the Pacific Ocean. The long journey followed across the ocean: Ecuador – Tahiti – Tonga – Rarotonga – Fiji – New Guinea. They passed through the Torres Strait to Port Darwin, Australia. They crossed the Indian Ocean, passing through Christmas Island, Mauritius Island, Reunion Island and reached Durban, South Africa. Next were the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Town. They crossed the Atlantic to Brazil. From here they headed east again to the Azores Island – Gibraltar – Ceuta, Algeria – Istanbul. On 14 June 1981 they arrived in Sozopol.
The tour lasted 777 days from 29 April 1979 to 14 June 1981 Yulia, Doncho and Yana successfully passed though four of the most difficult and dangerous places in the world for sailing, without having any serious damage or problems: the Torres Strait, Indian Ocean, Cape of Good Hope and the killer waves in the Aghulas Current.
DONCHO PAPAZOV’S SOLO CIRCUMNAVIGATION WITH YACHT “TIVIA” ON “THE IMPOSSIBLE ROUTE”
Doncho Papazov set off again with “Tivia” from Sozopol to Buenos Aires in 1987. He sailed to there with the mountaineer Metodi Savov, and on the way to Bulgaria – with television cameraman Nicolai Yotov. After a five months journey through the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, they reached Buenos Aires – the starting point of the expedition called “The impossible route”.
On 29 December 1987 “Tivia” sailed from Buenos Aires. His second circumnavigation began on 1 January 1988 from San Antonio Lighthouse (South-East from Buenos Ares). The yacht entered the Atlantic Ocean and headed towards Africa. After 35 days, she rounded Cape of Good Hope and continued across the Indian Ocean to Australia. She passed south of Cape Leeuwin, Australia and the islands of Tasmania and New Zealand. This was followed by a long passage across the Pacific Ocean eastward toward Cape Horn. On 30 May 1988 she crossed the Cape Horn traverse and was back in Atlantic Ocean. She sailed north and on 13 June 1988 at 13:13 reached the starting point at the San Antonio Lighthouse.
The voyage lasted 164 days, covering 19 000 nautical miles, entirely south of the 40th parallel, without stopping in port. The yacht capsized twice, causing serious damage. The engine failed early on and Doncho relied only on the sails and the wind. He never lost his presence of mind, and radio sessions with family and friends were his main support this “impossible” lonely voyage.
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Key data of yacht “Tivia”:
Two-masted yawl
model – “Konrad-45A”
built – Poland, 1978
hull – wooden
length – 13,65 m.
width – 9,60 m.
displacement – 10 t.
sail area – 80 sq. m.
auxiliary engine – “Volvo Penta”
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“Mum, why do we want to reach the coast, when we are in the sea and when we are on the coast we hurry to sail away into the sea?”
Question of 6-years old Yana during round-the-world voyage.
