Longings from the Bottom of the Boat: Re-assessing Transformation in a Polish Sailing Resort

Abstract

This article introduces an ethnographic discussion of the afterlife of a legendary sailing tavern, the Zęza (The Bilge), in a small sailing resort in the Masurian Lake District, Northeast Poland. The existence of the tavern falls within the high times of post-socialist “transformation”: it worked from the 1980s to the early 2000s, when it was re-located as part of re-designing the marina. The author suggests that the discourse of longing for the community and atmosphere in the old tavern has mobilised members of the sailing community, local entrepreneurs, and, most recently, new investors to revisit and subvert the locally realized version of touristic “transformation”. The article analyses the debate of longing, loss and exclusion among the sailing community, then moves to introduce the owner of an emerging local enterprise that re-appropriates the values of the old tavern community for creating a new touristic alternative and self-gentrify. A closer look at the evolving local gastronomy provides insights into the compatibility of diverse sets of values in a shared place of longing in contemporary Poland.