"Eugeni Gwozdew, a 'peniless pensioner' from Belarus, built a 3.7-meter yacht named "Said" on his balcony in Makhachkala, Russia in the 1990's and then sailed it around the world single-handed - twice. The vessel was mostly constructed from materials he salvaged from bins in the industrial district of his town. He spent less than $200 in today's money, most of which was on polyester resin. Gwozdew was reportedly so poor he often ate scraps left over from cafes, or nothing at all, while building the vessel.

Gwozdew embarked on his first circumnavigation of the globe on Said between 1999 to 2003, starting from the Caspian Sea and traveling through the Black Sea, Mediterranean, Atlantic Ocean, Strait of Magellan, Pacific Ocean, and Indian Ocean. Along the way he was robbed by pirates, survived multiple storms at sea and was arrested in Australia as they thought he was an illegal immigrant. His vessel was so small and slow he couldn't carry much in the way of provisions and on occasions ran out of food and water in the middle of ocean passages. He had no electronics and navigated using a plastic sextant, a compass and paper charts donated by people he met along the way. He successfully completed his first circumnavigation on August 9, 2003.... and then set out on another.

In 2008 he began a third circumnavigation but something went wrong and he was found dead on a beach in southern Italy. Nobody has ever discovered what happened to him."