The historical yacht of general Ryszard Kukliński has an interesting and difficult past. The yacht was built in 1965 at the Joseph Conrad Yacht Shipyard in Gdańsk (former name of the Stogi shipyard) as a prototype unit of the Opal series, designed by Edmund Rejewski and Wacław Liskiewicz – yacht constructors written in the history of Polish sailing. Ryszard Kukliński bought a boat from the Navy in 1980. Before that, from 1969, he was a vice-commander, and then a commander of the Atol Club of the soldiers from the Warsaw Garrison.

After Kukliński’s escape to the USA, the yacht was confiscated for the benefit of the state treasury and stored in the Central Maritime Museum.

In 1986, the vessel was bought by the Polish Yacht Club in Gdynia. Two attempts to restore the decaying unit to service have failed. In 1997, the yacht was bought and renovated by the Atlas company and a year later handed over to Kukliński during the colonel’s visit to Poland. Kukliński initially planned to move the yacht to the USA, finally he donated it as a notarized donation to the Christian School Under Sail in Gdańsk. After the renovation, for almost seventeen years it served the yachting training of youth.

The lack of sufficient funds for a thorough renovation meant that four years ago the boat had to be saved from sinking. Until spring 2021, there was no hope of returning the yacht to the sea. It was then that the idea of renovating it and creating a monument to Polish sailing arose. The Jack Strong Foundation bought the yacht to fulfill the general’s will, thanks to the initiative of business leaders.