Halifax man preparing for solo round-the-world sailing race

HALIFAX -

Edward Walentynowicz recently spent a month-and-a-half alone at sea.

The Nova Scotia sailor has barely returned to shore and is already planning a much more ambitious trip.

"Sailing is my hobby," Walentynowicz says. "I'm not a professional. I always dreamed about sailing around the world."

He said one day, he looked at the Golden Globe race and noticed someone from Ontario but no Nova Scotians, so he signed up.

"The Golden Globe race is a classic race," Walentynowicz says. "No electronics, no GPS, just the stars."

The race starts in France and the last winner took 211 days.

"All this, what I'm doing right now, is a preparation for the race," Walentynowicz says. His last trip, which took 46 days to sail from France to Halifax, was his longest Atlantic crossing yet.

He sailed his 32-year-old boat, a Rustler 36, which is the longest a boat is allowed to be for the race around the world.

"I've been in the past in a hurricane and it's not pleasant," Walentynowicz says. There is a real risk to suffer irreparable damage to such a small boat in bad weather.

On his most recent trip, it was actually excellent sailing, something he's hoping for a year from now when he begins his race around the world starting in September 2022.