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Will be posting a lot more over the next week or so; unreleased stories and footage so stay tuned in!
ON 20TH OCTOBER 2016 WE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED A CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE NORTH POLE IN ONE SUMMER SEASON (4 MONTHS & 1 DAY). THIS MEANS THAT WE TRANSITED THROUGH THE ‘NE & NW PASSAGES’. THIS IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE MANY YEARS AGO THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE DIFFICULT DUE TO IMPEDING SEA ICE. THIS IS WHAT WE SET OUT TO DO. TO SHOW THE WORLD THAT THIS IS NOW A POSSIBILITY. DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGES IN THE ARCTIC AREA.

NE and NW passages skippered by Russian Captain Nikolai Litau, in Irish boat Northabout. 20 crew over 4 months. Atlantic Crossing skipper New Zealander Mike Stewart

Expedition log, crew blogs, photos, footage updated everyday!

Navigate the Future of the Arctic Responsibly

Expedition Leader David Hempleman-Adams

Speaking from Bristol, UK 18 June 2016, the day before expedition start. More here: Expediton Objectives

11 Sept upon near completion of both NE & NW passages

Expedition Leader David Hempleman-Adams reflects on the Expeditons Objectives

EXPEDITION LOG

Updated everyday

SHIPS LOG from Saturday 22th October 12.00 UTC

We arrived in Bristol!!

22/10/2016Northabout

Thankyou to everyone who turned out to wave hello to us as we came into Bristol on the final leg of our journey on Thursday (20th October) And to Estella Tincknell the deputy mayor who welcomed us back. Thankyou to the school pupils who visited and to all the press and TV. I hope we made a good enough ‘entrance’. We had a super sail under the suspension bridge and were made to feel very welcome.

Keep tuned in here as we will be posting unreleased stories, photos and footage over the next few weeks. And ‘The Polar Ocean Challenge’ will continue. Watch this space!! Try following on twitter too. It’s worth it! @polaroceanchall

In the meantime our associated charity Wicked Weather Watch will continue its work with primary school kids to educate them about climate change in the Arctic region.

Not goodbye 😉

David Hempleman-Adams

 

See picture above is us in Portishead ‘up the road’ It’s lovely to see her!

20/10/2016Northabout

Its David Hempleman-Adams here. Back on my boat.

See picture above is us in Portishead ‘up the road’ It’s lovely to see her! (thanks Tim H. for the photo).  Thanks to the super crew of guys who brought her across the Atlantic home. Thankyou to all crewmembers, and everyone involved in this project. We are having a cup of coffee on board and getting ready to depart Portishead and come up the Bristol channel under the iconic suspension bridge and back to our home town Bristol.

Please look out for us, please wave we are very excited to be home. We have made a full circumnavigation of the world via the Arctic. There wasn’t enough Arctic Sea ice ie. polar ice cap ice to impede us this summer. This is what we wanted to show. Well. We have. There really isn’t as much ice up there anymore it would seem. Please watch the right hand video above.

On a lighter note. We’re home soon!! See you Bristol harbour arrival between 11.00 and 12.30 from loch to SS Great Britain

David Hempleman Adams. Expedition Leader.

WE ARE HOME! In Bristol, UK 20th to at least 20th January 2017

This has been our 4 month 1 day journey since 19th June – 20th October 2016

View out of our ‘office’ window most days 🙂

PREVIOUS SHIPSLOGS !!
READ ALL CREW LOGS
ARCHIVE PHOTOS FOOTAGE
RADIO4 ARCTIC DIARIES
Press release completion of NE & NW passage
NE & NW passage crew facts & figures

LATEST NEWS

Landfall in very welcoming IRELAND after our very stormy ATLANTIC crossing

RTE (National Irish news), 6pm evening news 13 October. Drew a very insightful comparison between The previous Irish crews trip 15 years ago where they were often impeded by ice and took 2 seasons to complete their voyage. And with now where we saw little ice (esp. NW passage) and have gone round in one season.

“A Canary in the Mine” Global Warming Editorial in the Irish Saturday Times 15 OctPrint and online

Expedition to highlight effects of global warming yields frightening results County Mayo news 18th October

Irish Times online 13 Oct. “Irish-built yacht sails round Arctic in seven weeks. Record speed of voyage that took two summers 15 years ago highlights severity of ice melt” by Lorna Siggins print and online

LATEST PHOTOS AND FOOTAGE

Click on images to view as slideshow. Showing last entry only. Click ‘load more’ at the end or access more via top menu

20th October – Bristol homecoming

22/10/2016Northabout
20th OCTOBER BRISTOL HOMECOMING!! 4 MONTHS AND ONE DAY SINCE WE LEFT.

Set off in the morning for Bristol, We were surprised to see quite a few people who had come out to wave at us. It was super sailing under the Clifton Suspension Bridge; it really felt like we were coming home then! And then when we got the the SS Great Britain there were a bunch of press and TV cameras there. It was super. Estella Tincknell the deputy mayor greeted us and welcomed us back to Bristol which was lovely. We hope you saw us on TV, those of you who couldn’t make it in person. We all went home very tired! Will be posting a lot more over the next week or so; unreleased stories and footage so stay tuned in!

19 October readying boat in Portishead

19/10/2016Northabout

19 OCTOBER. Getting boat shipshape and BRISTOL fashion for arrival tomorrow!!

Tidying rope, taking remaining food to foodbank, cleaning, getting bags off etc. Making space for lots of people on the boat tomorrow who have been involved with this project either as crew or ground support. And the all important Court Marshall for Rob for spilling coffee on the log book. See previous crew-logs for context on this ongoing story.

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New here?

You’ll want to see what we’re all about…

A 3 minute film that encapsulates the very important purpose behind our expedition

‘Northabout’ is the name of our boat

We filmed this in Svalbard last September 2015 whilst boat testing and crew training

ARCTIC SEA ICE NEWS

September update

12/09/2016Northabout
Click image to start slideshow
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sea-ice-decline-21st-century-trans-arctic-shipping-routes-by-nathanaelmelia-et-al-sept6-2016
arctic-sea-ice-volume-august-2016
arctic-sea-ice-extent-as-of-sept-10
piomas-polar-science-center-3-sept
nsids-13-sept-2016-ice-extent
Arctic Sea Ice minimum volumes 1979 – 2015
Arctic Sea Ice movement summer 2016 until 10 Sept

Very latest Crew (b)log entries

The crew is changing somewhat over the 4 legs of the expedition, and so you’ll hear several voices, offering different perspectives of the journey. If you want to find out more about the crew member click through to their entry on the ‘Team’ page.

My court martial was finally held in Northabout’s saloon Wednesday night…..

21/10/2016Northabout

Rob Hudson, crew 4th leg Greenland to Bristol

It’s all over. We arrived back at the SSGB at noon to finish the expedition, and it was also the end of the last leg back from Nuuk in Greenland.

What a fantastic experience! Thank you, DHA, for letting me share in the adventure, and to all my crewmates on the last leg for your unfailing good humour in often quite challenging circumstances.

But enough of that. I guess you are more interested in the outcome of the trial of the century. More eagerly anticipated than the recent case on the Archers, my court martial was finally held in Northabout’s saloon last night. My good friend of 24hrs, Andrew Carnegie – the micro poet – acted as my defence lawyer (nobody else would take it on), and I was marched in to face the judge, Skipper Mike, to the welcoming words of “Bring in the guilty bastard”. Ben did a great job of prosecuting, Andrew valiantly presented a defence of the indefensible, and the trial soon descended into ever more complicated arguments about incomprehensible points of legal irrelevance until I pointed out that I had already been found guilty but had appealed against the leniency of the sentence, so it was only a question of how extreme to now make it.

Keel hauling with the keel up or down? Hanging from the yard arm? Cleaning the heads?

No, the judge chickened out, and I was sentenced to sing a song. My wife will confirm that listening to me singing is far more of a punishment for the audience than the singer, but I was prepared. I had thought this would all take place in Ireland, so I had remembered a song by Tom Lehrer called “the Irish Ballad”, which has lots of verses, suitably silly refrains, and is all about murder.

After 4 verses I offered to cut out a few (which was gratefully accepted) and just did the last 2 to finish.

The whole thing was videoed by Steve, so it may be inflicted on you on this website in due course. I am truly sorry!

So, it’s over. I’ll sign off now, and thanks for all the fish…..”

Thanks, Frances, for letting me serenade you last night! It was a real pleasure.

Northabout had the bit between her teeth, and we surged along at 10/11kts – into Portishead!

19/10/2016Northabout

Rob Hudson, crew 4th leg. Docked in Portishead getting ready to go to Bristol tomorrow.

Well, we arrived at Portishead last night after flying up the last bit of the Bristol Channel after the tide turned at Barry.

Northabout had the bit between her teeth, and we surged along at 10/11kts – into Portishead.

As we entered the lock first leg skipper, Dave, was there to greet us together with another Thornbury Sailing Club member, Nigel. Andrew from Cardiff Bay YC sailed across to join us for a drink or two – our micropoet Twitter follower – great to meet you at last!

We will get to Bristol tomorrow morning – DETAILS WILL BE ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THIS WEBSITE (for the benefit of my various family and friends who fancy turning up.

The trial of the century has been deferred again – the sentences being discussed before it has even started don’t promise a fair hearing. If I survive, I’ll try and do a final update.

With the wind and swell behind us we were doing twelve knots at times with an average of about seven. Amazingly that continued and continues to continue as we continue to head east. Thence to Bristol, see you there!

18/10/2016Northabout

Ben Edwards, crew. Whole Expedition 18 October from near the entrance to the Bristol Channel

So three days ago we pulled into Dingle.  A charming little coastal town with an abnormal number of pubs.  The reason for this is Dingle is the destination that the American tourist industry has focused on.  As a result while nice it probably the only place in Ireland where you can actually buy a green top hat.  Judging from current evidence at least some of it’s fifty two pubs are very nice.  At about eight o’clock the five of us( Dad had met us on the pier) minus Mike got a lift from a man named Aiden who has been following the boat on twitter and his daughter, Kate.  We went to a pub out of town called the South Pole Inn.  It’s claim to fame was that it was run by Tom Crean, the carpenter on Shackleton’s expedition.  Aiden and Kate sadly had to go but we stayed for about an hour before getting a taxi back when Mike called with the location of dinner.  Shaun from Eagles Quest joined us, they’d been following us in convoy since Westport and had arrived two minutes after us.  After a very satisfactory meal we went back to the boat and slept.

The next morning we set off with high spirits.  We’d had a look at the weather forecast and it was tailwinds all the way, for once.  The next twenty four hours moved us very very quickly towards our target, Dad got seasick but fortunately that didn’t last long.  With the wind and swell behind us we were doing twelve knots at times with an average of about seven.  Amazingly that continued and continues to continue as we continue to head east.  We’re now in the lee of Wales and hope to get to Portishead tomorrow.  Thence to Bristol, see you there!

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