Photos: Antarctic cruise, lots of luvly pics

I sailed with this chap (former Glenans teacher, thrice round the world). Knows his stuff and good fun too. Does Antarctica every season. Boulard . Recommended. As for price, not sure, but if boat full, probably around €2500 plus flights all in.
 
Thanks for the photos!

Apologies for the poor maps; but there are 6 of us mapping an area several times the size of the UK!

Did you find the Antarctic Digital database ? Although not a charting resource it contains the most accurate coastline for the Antarctic Peninsula. However, as with all Antarctic mapping, use it with caution!
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Hey, the charts we had were adequate for basic navigation (+ radar, constant watches, and some very careful eyeballing), but there is still massive swathes of unsurveyed waters. The water is clean but not clear as you might imagine, on account of the glacial water which makes the upper layer milky and difficult to spot morraine and rocks.

For the little detail, we had no source other than other yachts. The bigger operators aren't interested in where you can moor a small yacht; the priority is for ships.
 
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Fabulous! Thank you for that! I like the way you found Puerto Toro to be a 'town' after Antarctica; I remember just half a dozen houses, home to two families! Did you come across Jean Monzo aboard Le Boulard in your travels?
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Yes, Boulard was with us in Ushuaia and also Puerto Toro for a night in fact and left for the Drake with us at the same time, with a pile of charter guests crammed onboard. Jean doesn't speak much English though, and my French is rudimentary and Peter's is nonexistent... so can't say we know him too well.
 
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Fantastic, thankyou. Have you got any info about the boat? She looks a beauty.

I have to admit to always loving to read about the boats that people take on challenges, and what mods and specifications, rigs etc. I just love that sort of stuff.
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Found it!

http://www.petersmith.net.nz/about/kiwiroa.php
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Yes, unfortunately that page is not yet finished, I didn't anticipate so much interest! Watch this space as they say, I'll let you know when it's done. I plan to expand it out with a more complete 'tour' of the boat, plus a bunch of construction history if I can find and rescue the old photos.
 
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Thanks, that site has made my day.

This is the kind of trip I'd love to do either North or South. Can you give some idea of costs and how you go about doing it?

Is it a case of calling a "Skip Novak" style firm and if so, what's the likely ballpark cost in terms of time and cash?
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Ummmn I believe Peter had budgeted around $10K for that trip, counting only immediate costs plus wear on the boat. We had a Dutch couple onboard also who contributed to costs so that helped. They were sailors too, just didn't want to do Antarctica on their own boat as they felt it wasn't up to it.

As you can probably ascertain this is Peter's boat; this was entirely a private trip with our own organization etc. Skip Novak runs two charter yachts in the area, which takes paying guests down. Depending on the outfit, you can be a 'guest' in the true sense of the word, or you can be expected to essentially be crew. Those boats are typically fully booked and run off their feet, and there's a lot of competition for the paid crew positions, so you won't get any free lunches.

Obviously we prefer to take our own boat - but then the boat was built for it, designed from scratch for this sort of usage, and planning and researching for Antarctica needs to be done well in advance.
 
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Great pics - thanks for taking the trouble to post them. You seem to have proved your point about Rocnas but I was puzzled by your statement "the wind funneling through Neptune’s Bellows is over 60 or 70 knots. Below, the chain to the anchor is straightened and nearly bar-tight." The accompanying picture confirmed you lay to an all chain rode.

I thought you were a big advocate of a rope/chain combination?
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Well, we're an advocate of: whatever works best... :)

There are a number of factors involved in this argument, and nobody ever appears to consider that different situations call for different solutions.

On a theoretical level, there is no benefit to the anchor's performance from catenary from heavy chain or all-chain rodes. We start from that fact.

You need chain however for abrasion and other reasons. The necessary length is dictated by the anchoring area. For many of the common areas around Britain or the US, this doesn't dictate very much. Use a chain leader the length of the boat and the rest rope, and you're fine. For areas like the South Pacific (deep water + coral) or, well, Antarctica, you need much more.

The other significant factor is scale. Kiwi Roa is a 16m boat displacing 27 tonnes. Firstly, she is in a different world to a 30'er of 5 tonnes (the factors that apply to one do not scale evenly to the other). Secondly, she can afford to carry a lot of weight without too much trouble.

Actually Kiwi Roa has 12mm G40 at the moment, and it would be greatly preferable to have lighter (maybe 10mm) G70 high tensile. She doesn't, for various legacy reasons. But those notwithstanding, we would nonetheless recommend the G70 if anyone else asked. It would get a lot of weight out of the pointy end.

The final major factor with rope is shock absorption, i.e. all-chain is generally bad if there's no snubber. You'll notice in the photo you referred to, there's no snubber. You'll also notice that in other photos, if you look, we are using a snubber. It's just about the different situations, where it's needed in once case but not the other. Scale again: smaller lighter boats require snubbers at much lower thresholds; Kiwi Roa can get away with a lot more.

Can I ask, if you want to reply, that you start a new thread so as not to go off-topic? Quote this or something if you like and PM me the link. Cheers.
 
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Hey thanks all for the feedback.

I'll be doing the Patagonia photos soon (Chilean and Argentine Tierra del Fuego), so look out for the link in a few weeks or so!

There's video too, but that might take a little longer...
 
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