Antarctica

Antarctica – Destination Dreamin

/ Ben Starling / 1 Comment
Photo by: Rita Willaert

I spruced the Can Opener up and dragged him down to the Red Tabby Yacht Club last week – for the first evening lecture of the (off-)season!

Steve Powell presented the Falkland Island-Antarctica-Chilean Channel segment (5 months) of his three-year round the world tour. He purpose built Uhuru, an Oyster 62, for the journey.

Wow! (Did we mention – WOW!!?!!?) His photos were spectacular! Both Steve and his brother are pro photographers and – Great Bastet! – does that ever make a difference! 

After posting here, I am off to troll the internet for photo courses to order the Can Opener to take.

Steve’s team
For the Antarctica leg, Steve was accompanied by his buddy Alastair, his photographer brother, an ice guide/climber/diver and a 23 year old First Mate. Steve himself, despite growing up in Lymington, England had only been sailing for a few years before setting out on this journey of a lifetime. 

It was an interesting choice of teammates and ‘fit’ is extremely important to consider when you are planning to be out of contact and miiiiiiiiiiles from anywhere for long periods of time. Steve said they went 6 months once with only 1 day spent sleeping off the boat. It was a team that seemed to get along very well indeed with similar goals and aspirations.

The team did seem, however, to be a little light on the sailing-experience side. Steve said that in the toughest storms only he and the First Mate could handle the steering and that only he and the First Mate ever left the cockpit. The rest of the team really did not seem to have much sailing experience. I would have expected an engineer, a doctor and maybe an IT crewmate to have been included in the mix. 

Steve, however, chose to train himself in extreme wilderness and medical emergency training and to choose a crew that was very fit in the first place. And this worked out well for him. The worst medical crisis that happened in 3 years was that he had to hand out painkiller for hangovers. Also his boat was designed to have backups for every system you could possibly think of on board.

Steve’s boat – redundancy is good
Steve was very involved in the design and build of his ship, insisting on redundancy for every possible system on board.  

People usually choose a steel boat for Antarctic voyages, but Steve preferred fibreglass as more suitable for the overall journey he had planned. Apparently the materials specialist he consulted said that if you hit an iceberg – no matter what you are made of – you sink. It’s just that steel boats sink more slowly. So Steve went with fibreglass.

And instead he added two autopilots to Uhuru, two heating systems, two intake systems, 3 anchors (2 spade, I danforth), redundant halyards and lines, 2 sets of all safety gear: life rafts, grab bags, communication systems… etc etc.


The Route
They went from Falkland Isalnds to Ushuaia, Argentina to Antarctica (Thunder Bay, Point Lockroy), past Cape Horn, back up through the Chilean Channels (4 weeks, 600 nm), Magellan Straits, and then back to the Falklands.


Why did he do it?
At first, Steve just wanted a challenge… and sailing around the world seemed like a good one. Then it seemed like everyone was doing this. 

But not too many people voyage down to Antarctica. So that’s what he did.


Highlights of the Antarctic leg

  • icebergs and growlers – provided 1000 year old ice cubes for their evening G&Ts
  • volcanoes
  • williwaws
  • wildlife: penguins galore, seals, whales, dolphins, endless birds…
  • fresh fish, crabs, scallops for dinners
  • Force 10-11 storms and 30 foot seas on the way back to the Falklands – he found that heaving-to is the perfect antidote
  • but usually quiet, beauty, amazing contrasts and absolute peace…

  
Any damage to the boat?
Yep. Birds pecked the buttons off his autopilot and there were scratches from growlers on the bow. Other than that… no.

Would Steve do it again?
Now that he’s already done it once? 

Uh… Nope. 

That challenge is done. In fact, Steve’s not sure he’s even going to keep his focus on sailing. …But if he did do it again, he do it in a steel-hulled boat. And it would be an Oyster.

Steve’s focusing now on looking for the next big challenge. We’re looking forward to seeing what he’s up to next…

Photo by: Rita Willaert

Got any fantasy dream-of-a-lifetime journeys in mind? Where would you go?

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Previously: Grenada – Destination Dreamin’
Next: Bora Bora