“I wanted to do it – to travel around the world at the end of my life. The latter was devoted to the construction of yachts and voyages with them. Otherwise it would have been like something had remained incomplete – I just had to close the circle, to put the lid on top. I had to sail around the world,” says Dr. Vasil Kurtev at the end of his successful tour. After 22 months in the open sea the skipper of the Odesos yacht was festively welcomed at Varna’s Marine Station – with a garland and the music of the representative naval brass orchestra. Mr. Kurtev is the oldest Bulgarian who has toured around the world with a yacht by himself. His story comes to prove that old age is a matter of spirit and not of the body and also that dreams have no age.

Vasil Kurtev was born on 22 January 1937 in the port town of Mangalia, Romania and later on he relocated to Bulgarian Kavarna. He has spent all his life by the sea, constructing boats since his childhood years.

“The initial vessels that I made were not a success. There were lots of difficulties – I didn’t have the knowledge, neither the skills. Then gradually my work began to improve in terms of quality,” the dentist recalls. However, his true vocation appeared to be sailing, as he admits before our Radio Varna colleague Matei Todorov.

Dr. Kurtev kicked off on his tour around the world on 5 August 2015, in order to merge once again with the sea, to enjoy its wild sunsets and tender dawns, to overcome the caprices of the wind and the harsh tests that a lone traveler is to face. He now has 25,000 sea miles behind his back. The last stage of the tour proved to be the most difficult one:

“The second part of the Indian Ocean with its uncertain breezes was a challenge. One of the final stages – from Sri Lanka to Suez took me no less than 44 days. That was the longest transition in my life. The previous one, years ago, was 41 days - when I crossed the Atlantic Ocean. It was really tough across the Red Sea as well – no wind, squalls, or head-wind, then no wind again with days spent on one spot… It is a true challenge,” Vasil Kurtev says, adding that the trip had not been planned as a solo adventure.

“There were two of us. The other guy had to get back. There was nobody else. Another person appeared, he wanted it so much, but after one transition he gave it up and returned home. I was known for having crossed the Atlantic on my own before. I was prepared,” the yachtsman says.

His three Golden Globe awards of the Cor Caroli Foundation for best Bulgarian wind sailing achievement prove that. The prize was founded in memory of another brave person – Captain Georgi Georgiev, the first lone Bulgarian sailor to travel around the world. The first prize came in 1982 for a tour of the Black Sea with the Nord yacht. It has been reported these days that the latter will be deployed in the resort part of the Black Sea town of Kavarna and will become a tourist attraction. Two years later the next recognition came for Dr. Kurtev’s participation in the OSTAR cross-Atlantic regatta. The third award was handed to the sailor for his travel from Kavarna to Newport, Rhode Island, USA with the Bizone yacht in the period 1 August 2009 – 26 June 2010.

Dr. Kurtev dedicates his tour around the globe to his late brother Nedelcho. In the past the two brothers shared both their passion for boat designs and voyages. The comfortable and rationally planned yacht Odesos, used by Vasil in his latest adventure was made by Nedelcho.

Edited by: Miglena Ivanova

English version: Zhivko Stanchev