History of a successful man - Aleksander Doba

Success depends on many things - some of them we do have a chance to take care of, another does not depend on us.

We can:

• work hard, although hardworking is not always enough
• educate ourselves, even for free, with the use of the Internet, although people who can afford the best schools and tutors always will have it easier
• take a risk to not skip the "once in a lifetime" opportunity, although it's easier to risk the money, when we have much more on the bank account, nearly impossible if we count each penny hoping to survive

Success depends also on the social circle we are in (knowing many influential people gives us some opportunities which others won't get) and also on luck.

Many successful people around the world thanks to hard work achieved what they wanted, like Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, Madonna, or Steve Jobs, creator of the Apple brand.
Other successful people, as they were born in influential, rich families, got some shortcuts, like half of the Hollywood stars whose parents were already working in the movie industry. Finally, the third group is successful only in the theory - they have the money and/or fame because of their families, like Kardashians.

I won't be writing in any of them, because many others already did it. I would like to use this opportunity to show that success does not always mean becoming rich. Sometimes success means being brave enough to follow your dreams, make something unusual and simply, be happy.

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Aleksander Doba

I will tell you about my Polish hero, Aleksander Doba. He loved to travel - not having the money he started to save some cash from his work in a factory to follow his dreams. Saved enough to buy the canoe and start practicing.

Shortly after he became Polish Champion in Mountain Canoeing and continued working on his skills. Finally, he got all canoe badges of all ranks of national organizations and the highest international organization ICF.

He sailed around the Baltic Sea and Lake Baikal in a canoe. He was also the first to circumnavigate the entire Polish coast from Police to Elbląg and diagonally across Poland from Przemyśl to Świnoujście.

He was the first man in history to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a canoe from continent to continent (from Africa to South America) solely thanks to the strength of his muscles. This event was widely commented on in Polish and global media, it gave him great publicity and fame. In addition, it should be emphasized that Aleksander Doba did it at the age of over 65, proving that it is never too late to make your dreams come true.

the "Transatlantic kayak expedition" expedition took place on a vessel built especially for him in Szczecin. On October 26, 2010, Aleksander Doba set off from Dakar (Senegal) towards Fortaleza (Brazil). He reached the town of Acaraú in Brazil after a 99-day voyage and traveled 5394 km using his muscles only (the kayak required rowing, had no engine as a booster) - as the first in the world. Before that, three people crossed the Atlantic on a kayak: Franz Romer in 1928, Hannes Lindemann in 1956, and Peter Bray in 2001. The difference, however, was that all predecessors supported by sail and sailed from island to island when Alexander Doba relied solely on oars and sailed from continent to continent.

Doba said that the most difficult moment during the trip was traversing the Bermuda triangle, which took him over a month.

Later, Aleksander Doba repeated his transatlantic canoe trip two more times.

Canoeing was the greatest passion of Aleksander Doba, but his achievements did not limit his die only to this one sport.

Alexander also learned to fly gliders. He had over 250 hours of flying time, winning the Polish silver badge. He jumped 14 times with a parachute, obtaining the third jumper class. He obtained a license as a yacht helmsman with the authorization for sea cruises. Alexander also trained in cycling.

Alexander died as he lived - on a journey, overcoming barriers. He died of a heart attack while climbing Kilimanjaro.

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Thank you for reading,
@papi.mati