Experience Sailing The Arctic & The Antarctic

In January of 2019 the Rosehearty, a 185 ft. sailing yacht, ventured into Antarctica and the southern-most tips of Chile and Argentina. Sailing below the Antarctic Circle in icy waters is not something most people would think of doing with a sailing yacht, but this was not to be a singular achievement as the crew then took the Rosehearty into the Northwest Passage within the Arctic Circle in August of the same year.

On Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. Jerry Herring will share photographs, videos and stories from those two excursions. Jerry was one of 8 guests included in the trip into Antarctica, and then six moths later his wife, Joan, accompanied him and 10 other guests into the Northwest Passage and on to Greenland.

The talk is the first in a series of free presentations to be held at the new Fayetteville Community Center on Fayetteville’s Square. “The talks should be entertaining as well as informative,” said Jerry Gips, the director of the series. “And they are open and free to everyone.”

Sailing the Antarctic

One doesn’t just take a large sailboat across the Drake Passage into Antarctica without serious preparation. Herring’s long-time friend, Joey Kaempfer, who lives in Connecticut and London, was set on taking the journey so he had his boat winterized, stocked a large amount of diesel fuel in the hull in enormous bags, turned the hot tub into a vegetable locker, and hired an Antarctic specialist and an ice expert to guide the excursion. The guests included a medical doctor, a scientist form Tanzania, a world-class sailor from San Francisco, and Jerry, a graphic designer from Texas.

The trip took over three weeks and was well documented in photographs as well as amazing drone videos taken by one of the boat’s engineers. Besides spectacular scenery, the participants were treated to up-close whale watching, observing sea lions and taking many walks among three different species of penguins. The group visited both British and US science stations, where the hosts explained their work on the continent and the oceans around it.

For the most part the trip was on smooth, ice filled, water. The group even kayaked to land to explore. However, the trip back to South America across the Drake Passage — where three oceans converge — took 60 hours in 25 ft. seas. Once in South America, the group sailed into several glacier- fed fiords in Patagonia.

Sailing the Arctic

The trip to Antarctica was taken in the area’s “summer” months, and the trip to the Northwest Passage was timed for the best weather as well. However, to sail in Canadian waters the Captain had to obtain permission for the trip and have the boat given a “rating of sea worthiness,” one being the lowest and ten would be an icebreaking vessel. Every day the Caption communicated with the Canadian authorities to check on the ice conditions which were also ranked from one to ten. Even in the largest open areas, large formations of ice could move from one area to another as the winds shifted, so the authorities notified our Captain as to where he could safely sail each day based on the ratings.

After days of hiking the shores and hills, watching whales and polar bears, and visiting an Inuit village, the trip had to be altered for fear of being “locked in” for weeks by the ice. The boat retraced its path and went on to visit three ports in Greenland which included short trips among massive icebergs.

While drones are not allowed in the Canadian arctic, the Herrings took photographs of this once in a lifetime trip and will share them on a large screen at the Fayetteville Community Center. Everyone is invited to this free event.

For more information call Dr. Crystal Gully, Fayetteville Community Center executive director, at 979-530-5356.