Another Missing Boat: This Time in the Antartic

[svs3]

See:

Hope Fades for Norwegian Adventurers Lost in Antarctic

and

Antarctica: Empty raft found, still no Berserk

Not that there's anything wrong with adventuring on a shoestring but to apparently do so while violating accepted safety practices for the area be visited, various international treaties, and cost the lives of three crew, I get the feeling this one wasn't as well thought out as it should have been.

Also, the skipper, Jarle Andhøy, had previously visited the Antarctic on an Albin Vega makes the slipshod nature of this enterprise all the more mind boggling.

[JonEisberg]

Originally Posted by svs3

Not that there's anything wrong with adventuring on a shoestring but to apparently do so while violating accepted safety practices for the area be visited, various international treaties, and cost the lives of three crew, I get the feeling this one wasn't as well thought out as it should have been.

Also, the skipper, Jarle Andhøy, had previously visited the Antarctic on an Albin Vega makes the slipshod nature of this enterprise all the more mind boggling.

Aside from the 3 dead crewmwmbers, of course, it really is a pity the mess this sort of “Hold my Beer, Watch This” YouTube sensation skipper will likely leave in his wake with this debacle…

People like Skip Novak, and Hamish and Kate Laird – who have been safely and responsibly voyaging to Antarctica for years – will likely suffer the consequences of the misadventure of BERSERK. Guaranteed, increased regulation and restriction of future voyages are bound to follow …

Given the amount of crap they had stowed on deck for this expedition, it’s a miracle BERSERK even made the passage from NZ to McMurdo to begin with… Has anyone found a pic of their departure from Auckland? I’d love to see one, if anyone has…

I cannot imagine pushing the season as they did, in a place like Antarctica… Until one has actually been there, one cannot even BEGIN to appreciate the harshness and remoteness of the place, and how quickly conditions can change… Closest thing you can do on this planet, to visiting another planet, is the only way I can describe it…

Paradise Harbor on a beautiful midsummer’s day, two full months on teh calendar before the skipper of BERSERK set out for the Pole on an ATV…

[smackdaddy]

Wow - I read something about this a couple of days ago - but I had no idea it was the Berserk crew.

That seriously sucks. I love those guys.

RIP

[svs3]

People like Skip Novak, and Hamish and Kate Laird – who have been safely and responsibly voyaging to Antarctica for years – will likely suffer the consequences of the misadventure of BERSERK. Guaranteed, increased regulation and restriction of future voyages are bound to follow …

You can add to that list one of my favorite cruising couples: Tim and Pauline Carr who have cruised the area successfully and safely aboard Curlew, a 100 year old 28ft wooden cutter.

[JonEisberg]

Originally Posted by svs3

You can add to that list one of my favorite cruising couples: Tim and Pauline Carr who have cruised the area successfully and safely aboard Curlew, a 100 year old 28ft wooden cutter.

I would have mentioned them as well, but for the fact they are no longer actively cruising for the time being – CURLEW was shipped back the Great Britain a couple of years ago, I believe… Also, I was thinking of people like Novak and the Lairds who have established successful and highly-regarded charter operations down there, and have always played by the rules that Andhoy so arrogantly ignored and circumvented…

The Carrs have long been heroes of mine as well, an autographed copy with a kind personal note of ANTARCTIC OASIS is one of my most prized books. I had the pleasure of meeting Tim and Pauline one evening at the Annapolis YC, at a presentation they gave after the book’s publication… Wonderful, charming, incredibly modest people, who I was lucky to meet once again a few years later, in Grytviken… The work they have done there, the Whaling Museum, and the restoration and maintenance of the cemetery and grounds, nothing short of incredible…



Tim and Pauline were sailors in the purest sense of the word, with a full appreciation of the nature of the risk they were taking, cruising in that part of the world… They deliberately eschewed carrying an EPIRB, for example, not wishing to place any potential rescuers at risk in such dangerous waters… Now, THAT is commitment, showing the deepest respect for both their own endeavor, and those others daring enough to venture into that part of the world...

[sailingdog]

The chances of recovery, much less rescuing any of the lost sailors is minimal given only one ship searching and how much time has elapsed.

[tdw]

John E.....methinks you have just added to my 'must buy' books list.

In general I am pretty free and easy in my attitude to most things but ffs, watching the Beserk films on UTube just left me shaking my head in dismay.

I really do loath this , as John puts it, "hold my beer watch this" stuff. That they have had their arses served to them cold comes as no surprise though it is somewhat ironic that the meathead who 'organised' the whole thing is one of the survivors.

Its a shame though, cos every time something like this goes wrong it gives the tight sphincter brigade more amunition to try and restrict freedom of movement.

[tomperanteau]

Originally Posted by tdw

John E.....methinks you have just added to my 'must buy' books list.

Mine, too. Seems Amazon doesn't have it out for the Kindle yet, but perhaps soon.