Unique’ boat built by homeless Poles prepares to set sail

Unique’ boat built by homeless Poles prepares to set sail

WARSAW: Docked in a river harbor in Warsaw next to coal storage and a rubbish tip, a steel-hulled sailing boat built by a group of homeless Poles is preparing for its maiden voyage. The boat was christened on Saturday with the name "Father Boguslaw“ after the priest who initiated the improbable project in 2006 with the aim of reintegrating homeless people back into society.

"The boat is finally alive!“ its captain, Waldemar Rzeznicki, who has headed up the project, said as he hoisted a flag up the mast of the 17.8-metre (58-foot) long schooner. "Every boat has its soul, every boat is different. This one is really unique,“ he said. One of the project participants, Slawomir Michalski, 64, who is homeless and also spoke to AFP on a previous visit in 2017, said the result was all the more remarkable for the lack of tools available.

"We didn't have the technical means normally used on shipyards like cranes or forklifts,“ he said. "We had simple DIY tools: a cutting torch for the steel, some hammers, sheet metal shears, some grinders,“ he said. A lot of the material-like the wood for the masts, the sheet metal or the eight tons of lead for