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| Solo Vertical Circumnavigation Completed |
Through an action-packed 30,000-mile voyage, Adrian Flanagan, 47, has battled to become the first yachtsman to sail a "vertical" north-south circumnavigation, rather than the traditional east-west circumnavigation, westwards via Cape Horn and the Russian Arctic.
"The voyage has been long and it has been hard, at times filled with moments of joy and at others of terror," Flanagan told the Daily Mail. "Facing down the challenge of rounding the notorious Cape Horn against wind and currents from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean presented the greatest physical peril."
During his 405 days at sea in his 36-foot stainless steel sloop Barrabas, Flanagan was thrown overboard into 40-foot waves and was tracked by pirates off of Brazil. He rounded Cape Horn the wrong way, one of only a few modern sailors to do it in that way, and recorded the first solo non-stop UK to Hawaii journey.
While in shipping lanes in Brazil, Flanagan awaoke to see a stationary vessel 200 yards in front of him. "She was bristling with electronic surveillance," Flanagan told the Times Online. "I sailed past her. I reckon she was waiting near the shipping lanes for a better target." The pirate vessel followed him for two days. "I armed my weapon. I had a pump action shotgun on board specifically for that purpose. I stayed awake for 48 hours." The pirates eventually lost interest.
With permission to sail through the Russian Arctic, granted through the help of billionaire Roman Abramovich, Flanagan's journey was made possible. "As the first British flagged yacht to enter Russia's Arctic territorial waters, her [Barabas] place in sailing history is assured," Flanagan said.
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