Thursday, January 26, 2012
Berserk
A few minutes ago, the NZ coastguard made an announcement on the VHF radio that they are looking for the sailing yacht, "Nilaya," which may have been renamed "Berserk." Yesterday I read on aftenposten.no that Jarle Andhøy is (was) in New Zealand, had bought a boat, and is planning to sail back to Antarctica this (southern) summer. You may have read about his tragic Antarctic expedition in February 2011 when his boat "Berserk," was hit by a storm and presumably sank with all three crew (Andhøy and another team member were already ashore, planning to ride quad bikes across Antarctica). When I had a look at photos of "Nilaya," I recognized it, having walked past it (with a "for sale" sign) almost every day while Twister was docked in Westhaven Marina in Auckland. At 19 years old, Andhøy sailed his 27 foot Albin Vega (alone from Norway to Ushuaia, Argentina, then) with one crew to the Antarctic Peninsula and back to Ushuaia. Ever since, he has been in continual trouble with various authorities for sailing in the Arctic and Antarctic without the proper permits. Good luck, Jarle!
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I think Jarle might need more than luck.
ReplyDeleteAgain he is finding he needs outside help, on a continent where he has attacked, demonised and insulted almost everyone who has helped him previously.
It's a tight knit culture down here, bound together in mutual dependency by the impassive adversity of the elements. It's a culture in which Andhoey's gone out of his way to make himself thoroughly unwelcome.
There's simply no spare headroom for manufacturing additional adversity in that way, yet he persists in trying to trade on it to portray himself as an genuine individualist, embattled by pointless, numbing bureaucracy, and assailed by been-there, done-that know-alls.
Personally, I hope he makes it back to temperate latitudes without further "sturm und drang". . . and stays there!
I know this is an old and over debated thing, but really; what harm does a few sailboats down there? Those who makes the permits are flying down, drive around i trucks and watch the cruise ships take tourists about. A sailboat is what they focus on to save this prestine environment. Really? !
ReplyDeleteAnd, I'm really looking forward to read this whole blog :-)
R-E,
Bergen, Norway