"97% of Antarctica is ice... the rest is rock. The Antarctic Peninsula stretches northwards for around 800 miles, but the navigable zone is concentrated on the highest 300 miles. Further south, the ice becomes too impenetrable for a small boat, protected anchorages are rare, and wildlife is disappearing.
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We reached the mainland via South Shetland, anchoring first at Deception Island, then heading south again, protected on one side by the islands of Barbant and Antwerp and on the other by the mainland. We descended to the latitude of Hovgaard Island, where the ice blocked our path.
Drift ice was particularly abundant this year, and increased as we progressed southwards. Along the way, the big icebergs aren't a problem because they're visible, but the small, car-sized growlers are harder to see when there are small white breakers around, and they can cause a lot of damage if they collide. They can easily rip off a rudder, or your propeller, or even sink your boat if it's made of polyester. As we progressed southwards, ice build-up became a real problem.
We had some interesting, even tense moments trying to find our way through Lemaire Strait, when the ice became increasingly dense and the current began to swirl. At the narrowest point of the passage, there was mostly ice, very little open water, and we really had to fight our way through for a few hours. The noise and shock of the impacts on the boat were heartbreaking... But we made it through and the boat suffered very few after-effects, apart from a few scars on the antifouling and the frayed nerves of the skipper and crew!
The biggest challenge we faced was finding anchorages protected from drifting ice. Ice movement is unpredictable, dictated by both current and wind. The safest anchorages are those with relatively little water to stop large ice cubes, but these are few and far between. The deepest anchorages require an ice watch at night. We had to move several times at night, once as a matter of urgency when we were threatened by the arrival of a large ice pack which could have blocked us or pushed us against the rocky shore. With 8 mooring lines ashore as we were waiting for the wind, and Vera, the friends' boat, alongside, we had to make use of the dinghy very quickly, and as we raised the anchor, the ice began to attack our planking. We then made our way under motor in semi-darkness, amid threatening chunks of pack ice and in a strong wind, towards a relatively more protected shelter. Quiet anchorage on Cholet Island... except for the fact that we had to move in the middle of the night when the ice began to creep in.
We had decided to take on an extra crew member for this trip, something we rarely do as we prefer to sail alone, just the two of us, Lynn and me. We met Javier, a professional beekeeper, on the pontoon in Ushuaia when he wanted to try his hand at Antarctic sailing. He proved to be an excellent crew member and a very safe pair of hands at the helm, having raced dinghies as a teenager. An additional crew member brought real peace of mind during the Drake Strait crossing, keeping an eye on the ice, and setting (or removing) moorings ashore in difficult conditions. Many thanks to him.
We also spent most of the trip in the company of Vera, a Swan 47 skippered by our very good friends Michael and Britta. It was great to be together, but also reassuring to know that in case of trouble there would be another boat nearby. We spent quite a few evenings together watching the BBC series "Pride and Prejudice". A very pleasant time, and the perfect way to forget the vagaries of the ice in the south.
HaiYou performed very well, and is perfectly suited to this kind of situation thanks to the Interior watch station, panoramic vision, robust aluminium construction and the redundancy most systems. I can reasonably say that of the handful of sailboats of our size that we encountered sailing in these parts, none was better equipped, both in terms of comfort and safety, than HaiYou.
But this trip was no "walk in the park", and as skipper I felt the weight of responsibility for the safety of the boat and its crew in this hostile environment, where minor problems can quickly turn into critical situations. The pressure was constant for practically the whole two months we were down south, with no respite as no anchorage was totally safe from the ice, and it only left my shoulders when we found ourselves safely in Micalvi, Tierra del Fuego.
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But the vision of Antarctica's pristine environment, glistening in the sun or oppressive in the storm, and the satisfaction of having overcome our fears, will stay with us forever. Lynn and I are both more eager than ever to explore the most remote places in this world... I'm a very lucky man!"
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