Gdynia Maritime University GMU

On 14 September 2025 at 09:30 hours, the Dar Młodzieży returned to Gdynia with 127 student cadets from the Faculty of Navigation on board, completing the 2025 sailing season.

As members of the crew, the students had the opportunity to gain experience at sea, during which future officers of the merchant navy will not only familiarise themselves with the ship but also test their skills in preparation for their future profession as seafarers. They also learned to overcome challenges and complete specific tasks through teamwork. From 20 to 24 August, the cadets took part in the 10th SAIL Amsterdam, which this year was held during celebrations for the city’s 750th anniversary.

Gdynia Maritime University’s tall ship began this year’s sailing season on 14th March, leaving port for Antwerp with a group of 50 pupils from the Maritime Schools Complex in Gdańsk who helped to prepare the ship for sea. Boarding the ship after these young sailors had embarked were a group of students from Antwerp Maritime Academy for a month-long maritime internship, during which they called at Port Ponta Delgada in the Azores. The White Frigate then returned to port on 18 April, where the Belgian students were replaced by a group of approximately 120 secondary school students from Gdańsk, Kędzierzyn-Koźle and Wrocław. 

The Dar Młodzieży visited the port in Oslo, where it took part in celebrations for the 3rd May National Holiday organised by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Oslo. As part of the voyage, the pupils had the opportunity to take part in celebrations for the anniversary of the Port of Hamburg – an event which is recognised as the biggest maritime festival in the world. The Dar Młodzieży arrived at its home port on May 18, and three days later, on May 21, it set off on another training voyage across the Baltic with 100 student cadets from the Maritime Schools Complex in Świnoujście and the West Pomeranian Centre for Maritime and Technical Education in Szczecin. 

The ship returned to its home port on 17 June, from where, on 20 June 2025 at 09:00 hours, the Dar Młodzieży set sail on its final voyage of the sailing season with 115 students from the Faculty of Navigation and 7 students from the Faculty of Marine Engineering on board. The cadets took part in The Tall Ship Races 2025 and, from 13 to 17 August, participated in another regatta, held in Bremerhaven since 1986. On 14 August, a GMU delegation, including members of the Senate and headed by HM The Rector, Professor Adam Weintrit, arrived in Bremerhaven to take part in celebrations for the 50th anniversary of The University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven (Hochschule Bremerhaven), with which GMU has collaborated since 1978.

During the visit to Bremerhaven, representatives from the university, along with students, also visited the cemetery in Nordenham Blexen (Bremerhaven), where the last commander of the Dar Pomorza and the first commander of the Dar Młodzieży, Captain Tadeusz Olechnowicz, is buried, to pay tribute to the deceased.

From Bremerhaven, the ship headed to Amsterdam, where, from 20 to 24 August, it participated in Amsterdam Sail 2025. During this recurring event, held every 5 years, the white frigate participated in the tall ship parade. The event was attended by thousands. After Amsterdam, the ship voyaged to Aalborg, featuring in the Aalborg Regatta 2025 from 28 to 31 August, before starting out on its return home. During its return to Gdynia, it called at Świnoujście.

The Dar Młodzieży first took to the sea 43 years ago on 10 July 1982, under the command of Captain Tadeusz Olechnowicz. Since then, more than 25,000 cadets, many of them future merchant fleet officers, have trained on board the White Frigate.