8 brilliant Polish yachts
This former Eastern Bloc country may seem an unlikely candidate to be a major boatbuilding nation, yet Poland produces a huge number of craft each year, employing around 20% more people than boatbuilding in the UK.
Despite having little more than 300 miles of coastline, Poland has a fine and long-standing seafaring heritage. This dates back to the time ports such as Gdansk were members of the powerful, wealthy Hanseatic League that dominated Baltic maritime trade in the late Middle Ages. In addition, the country has 10,000 lakes and more than 4,000 miles of rivers and canals.
Eighteen lakes are bigger than Windermere, England’s largest, with two of them each covering more than 100 square kilometres – similar to the area of Greater Manchester.
It’s no surprise then that many of the 15,000 plus craft built in Poland each year are small kayaks and open boats for the local market. This also explains the large trailer sailers with big rigs, but little ballast and transom-hung outboard motors, that sometimes find their way to the UK market. It’s a format that works well on Poland’s inland waters, but is less suited to sea sailing.
However, it would be a mistake to assume these inland craft define the country’s marine industry. Today Polish operations are responsible for building large numbers of yachts for some of the industry’s biggest international brands, as well as some of the largest superyachts.
‘Polish operations are responsible for building large numbers of yachts and superyachts’
Even during the years behind the iron curtain shipbuilding remained a major industry. This was
