Molod Ukrainy recognizes Batkivschyna's captain as Man of the Year (04/29/01)

Molod Ukrainy recognizes Batkivschyna's captain as Man of the Year

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Dmitrii Birioukovitch, skipper of the Ukrainian schooner Batkivschyna, which made such a splash in the United States as it journeyed along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard during Operation Sail 2000 last summer, received a Man of the Year Award from the popular Ukrainian newspaper Molod Ukrainy (Youth of Ukraine) on March 22.

The award was presented to Mr. Birioukovitch after a readers' poll judged him to be the private individual who most improved Ukraine's image in the last year.

"He showed the world who Ukrainians are and performed people's diplomacy by telling everyone about Ukraine, its history, culture, its current problems and perspectives," explained Anatolii Zubkov, a journalist for the newspaper who has followed the two-year odyssey of the Batkivschyna, which began after Mr. Birioukovitch decided to become an unofficial ambassador for Ukraine.

Mr. Zubkov said Mr. Birioukovitch won over a lengthy list of everyday, private citizens that the newspaper had spotlighted over the course of the year as part of its 75th anniversary celebrations. In recognition of his accomplishments, Mr. Birioukovitch received a large, custom-made vase from the historic Baranivskyi Porcelain Factory in Zhytomyr, with a color portrait of the captain on its face.

A year ago, the captain set sail for the United States in a 28-foot concrete-bottom sailboat that he had re-built from the remains of a rusted-out fishing vessel. His goal was to take part in U.S. millennium celebrations along the country's Atlantic coastline, which culminated in a Fourth of July gala in New York Harbor.

Capt. Birioukovitch's effort, planned as a trans-global voyage, was dubbed the "Discover Ukraine" project, because it set out to let the world know about Ukraine through display boards, music and native costumes that were exhibited at each port of call made by the ship. Mr. Birioukovitch conceived of the idea after he became fed up with constant inquiries at the various ports he had called at during excursions into the Mediterranean Sea on the identity of the blue-yellow standard he sailed under.

The Batkivschyna became the hit of OpSail 2000 after a series of storms and navigational problems left the schooner badly off course as it journeyed across the Atlantic to the U.S. In fact, for a three-week period nobody could say exactly where the ship was. After the ship, discovered wandering the middle of the Atlantic, was set back on course and finally reached Norfolk, Va., it and Capt. Birioukovitch became the darlings of the press.

Every major newspaper and most local television stations along the Eastern Seaboard featured the ship and its crew in news reports on OpSail 2000, which made its own mark as the largest gathering of maritime vessels in history.

The trek to the United States was the second leg of the Discover Ukraine round-the-world project. In 1999 the skipper and his crew sailed from Kyiv through Europe to El Ferro, Spain, for an international regatta. They had planned to begin their voyage across the globe then, but lack of financing forced them to change gears and undertake the venture in piecemeal fashion.

The next stage for the captain and his schooner as he continues his quest to tell the world about Ukraine begins in late May, when the Batkivschyna leaves its winter port of Norwich, Conn., sails south to New York and then turns north again, this time up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal and into the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes. There it will spend the summer months as part of the Great Lakes Challenge, a regatta of sailing ships that will circumvent the five Great Lakes while making stops at more than a dozen ports, including Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago. It is also expected that the Batkivschyna will stop in Toronto, although plans have yet to be confirmed.

Afterwards the Discover Ukraine project will make its way to the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico. After spending the winter cruising the warmer climates, it will pass through the Panama Canal and enter the Pacific Ocean and journey on to Australia before heading home via the Middle East.

For more information on the Batkivschyna and the Discover Ukraine voyage, as well as on how to participate in the schooner's visit, visit the website at: www.batkivshchyna.org.

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