Polish adventure kayaker Aleksander Doba has arrived in Bermuda where he will make repairs to his broken rudder before continuing on to Florida in an attempt to become the first person to kayak solo from Europe to North America.

Mr Doba left Lisbon in Portugal on October 5 but was forced to divert to Bermuda after a month of storms damaged his rudder and threw him off course.

After paddling to the Island unassisted, Mr Doba, a retired engineer, made landfall in Ely’s Harbour early yesterday morning and was then towed by marine assistance company, Sea Assist, to Ordnance Island, St George’s to pass customs.

The 67-year-old was in good spirits and after losing some weight on the journey was looking forward to a hearty meal.

“I had my first stop on the land this morning, after four months and two weeks. It was a little horrible. When I stand on concrete, whoa,” said Mr Doba, pointing to his legs, referring to the illusion of motion felt on dry land after spending time at sea.

“When we got here I noticed my trousers were loose, so I must be weighing less. Of course, I look forward to good food, all the time.”

Over the next few days staff at Convict Bay Marina will help repair his rudder — free of charge — after which Mr Doba hopes to hitch a ride aboard a boat back to the position he was in before the storms blew him off course.

Despite receiving some assistance, his friend and colleague Piotr Chmielinski said the record bid might still be intact.

“Even with support for the mechanical purpose, that is sometimes excusable,” said Mr Chmielinski. “It’s not completely clean but if he does only get support for repairing, he can go back south of the Island and move out. Helping with the boat, outside of his route, it’s considered breakable, but [the record is] not completely out of the question.”

“He cruised for six weeks south of Bermuda during the storms. Now what he would like to do is go back on some bigger ship where they could take him to his original line, where he can cross and finish in Florida in that fashion, unassisted, from the place where he started to be pushed North.”

While he was satisfied with getting to Bermuda, Mr Doba said he is only 75 percent done, and his objective remains to get to Florida. “Now, I only need to find a way to do it.”

Getting Mr Doba to shore has been a team effort, strung out over the course of several days, between Sea Assist, Bermuda Harbour Radio and Convict Bay Marina.

Aboard Frog Cutter, the boat that towed Mr Doba in, Sea Assist crew Chris Maughan and Brent Munro were weary after waking up at 3am to go and find Mr Doba after he made landfall.

“I am surprised that after only a few hours I received so much willingness to help. I feel at home. The host and hostesses are very friendly,” said Mr Doba.

“Life is interesting and life is short and I want to know as much of the world as I can. One of the tools I have is a kayak, and that is the way that I enjoy the world.”

Asked if he found Mr Doba’s unique retirement plan inspirational, Mr Munro was unequivocally clear.

“Inspirational? Yeah. But would I want to do it? Nope.”