Almost every one of us is like the legendary Sisyphus, spending our entire lives rolling the stone of our fate uphill. We cannot break free from the ruts of life because they have been etched too deeply. Before birth, the child swims in the amniotic waters of the mother. The sea is like the mother, we do not feel the hard earth beneath our feet. The entire body regenerates wonderfully. I love this rocking state. I obtained my first sailing qualifications as a sea skipper in Bydgoszcz in the 1960s.

I completed my sailing education in Gdynia on my own yacht, SUN, with the rank of Captain of the Merchant Navy. In the preserved ship’s log, my sea voyages are recorded. I sailed alone and with friends on various bodies of water, and after several years, my wife Aleksandra joined me.

According to the book ‘Józef Menet, Robaczek’ by Bogumiła B. Słupecka

Ppłk. pilot mgr inż. Józef Menet was a fascinating figure, with a very interesting personality and exceptional psychophysical traits. He was a legendary figure at Polish airports, but a tragic accident ended his military pilot career. He was not a hero, but he fought against his own weaknesses and life’s adversities. Modest and friendly, he was also a volcano of ideas.
A passion for flying led him to want to make it available to others, which is why he greatly supported the creators of ultralight aircraft. The book only partially reflects the richness of his life, but it is an attempt to preserve in memory for future generations the knowledge about a man who paid with his life for his passion.

In the mid-1970s, Józek learned about a shell of a beautiful fiberglass yacht available for purchase. Since he had some money from a contract in Libya, through Jerzy Mańkowski, a well-known sailing designer, he acquired the hull of a SWAN 36 yacht.

The yacht’s construction was a project spread over years. These were times when there was a shortage of everything, especially materials available for foreign currencies. The assembly of the hull and its covering took nearly two years, before Józek gathered the funds, organized equipment and people, obtained the necessary permits, and found time for it. He involved Jerzy “Kuba” Jaworski, who supervised the yacht’s construction and with whom he discussed all project modifications. Józek divided his time between the Aeroclub, commissioned aviation work, and the yacht. He also worked at the Aircraft Repair Plant, which had taken over the hangars of the closed airport. This allowed him to use metalworking tools, and sometimes he would stay overnight in the workshop spaces while working on the yacht. Józek’s friends were an important supporting group, but he did most of the work on the yacht with his own hands. He purchased necessary materials from his own funds, although they also lent him significant sums for the trip in advance. In the early 1980s, Józek went to Sweden and bought a VOLVO PENTA diesel engine, originally intended for this yacht. Through his contacts, he imported special profiles for the mast and boom. He needed resins and plywood for the interior, conticell structural foam, and all sorts of small items resistant to seawater. One of his friends gave him exotic wood to use, but Józek wanted the interior to be lined with larch plywood, in a warm, beige tone. Therefore, he exchanged the exotic wood for larch, and when I saw the interior, it was beautifully done. I wasn’t surprised to see how Józek lovingly and proudly ran his hand over the framed sections, the ready parts of the interior. He personally cut the wall elements and furnishings, installed hinges in the lockers. It was real fine craftsmanship, but he put his whole heart into this work.

Many are probably curious about what happened to the yacht built by Józek. Well, two years after his death, it was sold to Zbigniew Nowak, a well-known bioenergotherapist. He financed the completion of the construction at the Naval Shipyard in Gdynia and launched the yacht named “SUN” on May 28, 1994. The yacht is now located in Podkowa Leśna, and its owner is waiting for a new owner, a passionate person who will appreciate its remarkable history.