>From the Detroit Free Press online: Supporters hold out hope for missing kayaker But officials say chance of survival is slim despite skill August 5, 1998 BY JOHN FLESHER Associated Press TRAVERSE CITY -- To his fans, Polish national Andrzej Czechowicz is no ordinary sportsman. Not only has he crossed the Baltic Sea in a kayak, he once spent 12 days in a cave, subsisting on water. So they aren't giving up on Czechowicz two weeks after his overturned kayak was found in Lake Michigan, although U.S. officials say chances he survived are slim. He embarked July 16 from Chicago, headed for Mackinac Island in Lake Huron. About 30 Chicago-area Polish Americans searched last weekend in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, where some of Czechowicz's belongings washed ashore July 22, the day after his boat was found. "We believe we will find him. Andrzej was very well prepared for such situations," Wieslaw Gogacz, who led the search, told the Polish news agency PAP on Saturday. PAP said people in Chicago considered the 43-year-old Czechowicz a daredevil and dubbed him Rambo. The search yielded no fresh clues, said Pawel Pietrasienski of the Polish consulate in Chicago. The group distributed leaflets in and around the national park asking residents and tourists to be on the lookout for Czechowicz, who speaks no English. "Yes, yes, of course there is still hope," Pietrasienski said Tuesday. "We were told by his doctor in Poland that he was a natural-born winner." Czechowicz is a firefighter and sea rescuer at the famed Gdansk Shipyard, birthplace of the Solidarity labor union in 1980. He taught survival skills and is an avid outdoor sportsman. He made the Baltic Sea crossing last year and immediately began preparing for the Lake Michigan trip, Pietrasienski said. He hoped to reach Mackinac Island in 100 to 110 hours, paddling along the western shore. He wanted no escort, according to PAP. Bad weather forced Czechowicz to stop July 18 in Two Rivers, Wis., said Lt. Lee Petty of the Coast Guard district headquarters in Cleveland. He apparently left the next day and has not been seen since. After the kayak was found, the Coast Guard spent a day on an aerial search, and then another after some of Czechowicz's belongings were found on beaches near Empire and farther north. Among the items: a cellular telephone, a life jacket, a baseball cap, a hand-held global positioning system and a photocopy of Czechowicz's passport in a plastic bag. Members of a Polish sailing club in Chicago that had sponsored his trip identified some of the items, Petty said. High winds had kicked up 6-foot waves before the kayak was found, but the water was calm once the search got under way, Petty said. Water temperatures were around 70 degrees, warm enough to survive indefinitely, but the discovery of Czechowicz's life jacket diminished his prospects, Petty said. Because of his good physical condition and survivalist background, Czechowicz had a chance of swimming to shore, Pietrasienski said. Supporters hope he wandered inland or perhaps landed on an island. The National Park Service searched the Manitou Islands north of Empire, said Roger Moder, chief ranger at Sleeping Bear Dunes. He said with all the campers and residents in the area, it's unlikely Czechowicz would have been ashore this long without being spotted. "As each day goes by, it looks less and less likely that he'll be found alive," Moder said. Staff writer Joe Swickard contributed to this report *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Aug 11 1998 - 10:14:49 PDT
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