Antarctic 2011

[oldvarnish]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

Just FYI, there have been a number of glass boats that have cruised the antarctic, and (to my knowledge) none have gotten into serious trouble.

My last boat was a 'family cruiser' called Ayesha (Biscay 36) and was sailed to Antarctica by Miles Quitmann with no problems. He teamed up with a French aluminium yacht who went ahead and scattered the ice allowing Ayesha to venture further south that any GRP yacht had been at time (1998?). It may be a record she still holds. Nothing wrong with a properly built GRP yacht even though it was twenty years old at the time and basic by modern standards.

[nemoofsweden]

Another bounce of thread.

At the moment mored in San Fernando, Buenos Aires, Argentina and preparing to go south. We have done a lot of maintenace and checks but are not totally sure about the Antarctic plans, we have to see what happens south of Mar del Plata. But if anyone else is on their way on this side of South America and read this, please let us know, its always interesting to hear about others routes and thoughts.

[MrLugnuts]

Originally Posted by craigsmith

No offense but you may like to consider your plans for Antarctica without a metal boat.

??? Is this a typo? Did you mean "reconsider"? Aren't metal hulls desireable for growlers/bergs??

[nemoofsweden]

A little update from Nemo of Sweden:

* We are in southernmost Argentina since a few weeks (at the moment in Ushuaia)
* still with a metal boat, even if I personally don't think that matters.
* WITH a permit to visit the Antarctica, both for crew and boat.
* still planning

[abh]

Blog?

[nemoofsweden]

Originally Posted by abh

Blog?

If u don't blog about it, it never happened...

[abh]

jaja, var är din blog?

[cwyckham]

Originally Posted by abh

Blog?

Another vote for a blog, please. Would love to know how things turn out for you!!

[nemoofsweden]

Well, not to hard to find starting from nemoofsweden.com and then on to wordpress. The hardest part is to get a hang of the swedish language if you dont know it. But using translate.google.com might give you an idea maybe. We are not doing anything to prove a point, no sponsoring, no timetable, no meta-ecological-vision. So no stress on us please

[nemoofsweden]

In "english" we at Nemo of Sweden are here: Google Översätt

Other boats to read about down here right now is:

Dawnbreaker, Ironlady, Polarwind, Anico, Spirit of Sidney, Pelagic, Grey Pearl, Parati 2 and a whole bunch more, just to get an idea of what to google if one might be interested in reading about guys that messes around in boats when it's cold and wet...

[Paul Elliott]

If you're curious, I experienced some strong katabatic winds (williwaws) last December while on a small cruise ship in the Antarctic. I was very glad not to be on my sailboat!

Here's a link to a video I took:
Antarctica Wind - YouTube

This was near Livingston Island in the South Shetlands, where the wind was blowing across the mountain glaciers and down to the water.

Later in the video there are some shots of a storm in the Drake Passage. Also pretty impressive...

Yes, I know I misspelled "williwaw" in the video.

[NoTies]

Enjoy yourself Nemo. I haven't been to the peninsula but if it is anything near as beautiful as McMurdo Sound you will bring back irreplaceable memories. Once you get there you will realise that it is impossible to describe adequately to anybody that hasn't actually experience it. Winter time is even better but not really an option for you I guess.

[nemoofsweden]

Originally Posted by NoTies

Winter time is even better but not really an option for you I guess.

It's autumn soon and for some strange reason we always have food onboard for a year... Freezing in might be an option as soon as we get the good old diesel-maker up running again.

[NoTies]

Have you read North to the Night by Alvah Simon? Good reading about icing in in the Arctic.

[Brazil]

Go Nemo