Arctic- what 40-45' yacht?

Monique said:
steel or alu. Reinforced bows.

Period. No GRP boat was ever meant to go in ice..
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Better not tell the Rev Bob Shepton - his Westerly Discuss won’t manage to make any successful trips to the Artic, will it :)
Or the hundreds of other GRP boats which have successfully cruised high latitudes.
(Though if budget not an issue some of the new alloy “expedition yachts” would be nice)
 
The main thing to bear in mind is that you will encounter ice - perhaps not in Iceland, but certainly in the inner parts of the fjords of Svalbard. As others have mentioned, GRP isn't ideal for that; steel, alloy or wood are preferable (the first two can take the knocks; you can protect the latter with a couple of sacrifical planks round the bow). The problem isn't big stuff - it's the sort of ice rubble that is difficult to see and therefore pretty much unavoidable.

In summer it won't be all that cold - usually above freezing in the western part of Svalbard and Iceland; Svalbard has a strong west-east temperature gradient, and is much colder as you go east. A sheltered helm position is valuable, and of course, good heating.

Bear in mind that there is (for practical purposes) no SAR in Svalbard, and unless things have changed, you are required to demonstrate that you are self-supporting (it used to be the case that when you arived at the airport, the first question you were asked was "Where are your supplies?" and if you didn't have a good answer, you were going back on the same aircraft!). I think this has eased up a bit these days, but bear in mind that Longyearbyen is still very much a company town.

In Svalbard you are required to carry a rifle for protection against polar bears. I think these can be hired at Longyearbyen - they certainly used to be.

In Svalbard, don't expect charts to have the complete coverage we are used to - keep a good lookout and navigate cautiously.
 
Steel/Aluminium, Expedition yachts? We don't see any of these. Just take your med-style grp gin palace and go.
svalbard.jpg
 

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I brought a couple with an Oyster 47 cutter through the canal today, on their way back from Northern Norway and the Arctic Circle, they told me of some of their other destinations including The North West Passage (failed to get right through) and the Falkland Islands. Multiple winners of the RCC Tilman Medal they seemed to regard it as just normal cruising.
 
I think I would like the security of a steel hull with an encapsulated keel and skeg protected rudder if I was going into these waters with unknown chunks of ice floating around, either on the surface or semi submerged.
I'm not to sure on an alloy hull, I've never been too keen on the idea, I may have read to many horror stories about them.
This has just popped up on eBay that would certainly suit the bill, not sure what price brackets are relevant.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-6m-Cu...a=1&pg=2509164&_trksid=p2509164.c100903.m5276

But if steel or alloy I would certainly recommend a full ultrasound and corrosion survey to be sure of not buying a colander!
 
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grumpygit said:
I think I would like the security of a steel hull with a skeg protected rudder if I was going into these waters with unknown chunks of ice floating around, either on the surface or semi submerged.
I'm not to sure on an alloy hull, I've never been too keen on the idea, I may have read to many horror stories about them.
This has just popped up on eBay that would certainly suit the bill, not sure what price brackets are relevant. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-6m-Cutter-Rigged-Steel-Sailing-Yacht

But if steel or alloy I would certainly recommend a full ultrasound and corrosion survey to be sure of not buying a colander!
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Nothing on that link.
 
grumpygit said:
I think I would like the security of a steel hull with an encapsulated keel and skeg protected rudder if I was going into these waters with unknown chunks of ice floating around, either on the surface or semi submerged.
I'm not to sure on an alloy hull, I've never been too keen on the idea, I may have read to many horror stories about them.
This has just popped up on eBay that would certainly suit the bill, not sure what price brackets are relevant.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-6m-Cu...a=1&pg=2509164&_trksid=p2509164.c100903.m5276

But if steel or alloy I would certainly recommend a full ultrasound and corrosion survey to be sure of not buying a colander!
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While I appreciate the advantages of an encapsulated keel for other reasons, it probably isn't relevant to the dangers of ice. A lump of ice deep enough to interfere with the keel of a sailing boat is big enough to be readily visible and avoidable, and it is extremely dangerous to get close to ice of that sort of size; small bergs can overturn without warning, posing serious risks to any form of construction. The reasons for preferring metal construction are resistance to constant impact with small lumps of ice - pieces less than a metre across, mainly. Anything as deep as a metre or so should be avoided like the plague, as you're probably looking at something at least as heavy as a yacht with the potential for sudden overturning. Having seen icebergs overturning, I can assure you that you don't want to be anywhere near them! This photo shows the range of things encountered
DSC00940.jpg

PS: - remember that there's a LOT more ice below the surface than above!

PPS. - The white streak on the water below the mountains on the right hand side of the image is a raft of the sort of rubble ice that is difficult to avoid. The rest are all of sizes that are best avoided.
 
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AntarcticPilot said:
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PS: - remember that there's a LOT more ice below the surface than above!
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Crikey :ambivalence:

These kind of expert insights help explain the rationale behind the 'panzer' polar vessels: heavy, expensive, highly self sufficient, mostly narrow in purpose, and slow under sail owing to quite modest amounts of hull-based ballast.

But what a stunning world we know so little about up there !! Tks to the artic/antarctic contingent on here for the insights and fantastic pics. Never knew there were so many of you on here :encouragement:
 
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