BarentsObserver met the explorers in the port of Kirkenes, Norway’s gateway to the Russian Arctic.
From before, the famous Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen is the only person who has sailed both the Northeast and the Northwest passages, more than 100 years ago.
Today, Norwegian adventurers Børge Ousland and Thorleif Thorleifson are to duplicate Amundsen’s feat, but they want to be the first to sail both sea routes in one season. This week, they are portside in Kirkenes, making the final preparations for the exigent Arctic expedition with their small boat.
They will sail from Kirkenes towards Murmansk on July 1st. After Murmansk, they will cross the Barents Sea towards the Kara Port and along the northern coast of Siberia.
The trimaran “Northern Passage” is to transport Ousland and Thorleifson through their expedition, which is calculated to one month through each passage. Stanislav Kostyashkin from Russia joins the journey for the Northeast passage and steps off half through the sail. The Basque Vincent Colliard swaps shift with him, casts off and enrolls for the last part of the journey, the Northwest passage.
Global warming has allowed for passage through the Northern sea route during the summer due to retreating ice masses. The retreating Arctic sea ice has resulted in possibilities for shorter travel distance from Europe to Asia during the summer season.
- The environmental challenge concerns us all. But the interesting thing is how we as society deal with them, says one of the crew members Thorleif Thorleifsson.
- We are to give eyewitness reports of the environmental changes, thus people may judge by themselves from our portrayals. We do not travel as environmental crusaders, but sail to demonstrate that we are able to navigate through this route, argues Thorleifsson.
The climate changes might in this respect be regarded as provider of opportunities, but he adds that the opportunities come with a sub flavor. The retreating sea ice is due to global warming, and the melt provides for ships to sail a shorter route between Europe and Asia.
BarentsObserver reported last week the entrance of the Russian sailing yatch “Peter 1”, who is to perform the same expedition as the Norwegian trimaran. The Norwegians regard it as nice, and assume it will attract interest to the case.
Thorleifsson does not regard it a race between the Norwegian and Russian vessels, and asserts that they are fully concentrated on the sail, not who comes first. -One aspect is who gets first, another is the way you get first. Our objective with this journey is to illustrate there is possible to sail both Northern passages in one season.
There are two shots at the quest, one Russian and one Norwegian. Global warming has literarily opened for new sea routes as the ice is melts. But the opportunities resulting from global warming come with a bitter aftertaste.
