Success on icy journey

A POLISH Antarctic sailing expedition is headed for Hobart aboard the yacht Katharsis II, after completing the first successful circumnavigation of the continent while staying south of the 62nd parallel.

Skipper Mariusz Koper, with a crew of eight, completed the circumnavigation on March 20 in 72 days, five hours, 33 minutes and 44 seconds, after leaving Cape Town in December last year.

They expect to reach Hobart next Wednesday or Thursday after travelling more than 23,000km. “Our expedition’s primary purpose was to circumnavigate Antarctica on a non-stop journey by sailing entirely in the continent’s waters, that is south of the 60th parallel,” Capt Koper said.

“While a number of attempts had previously been made and a number of expeditions organised, nobody had ever managed to close the Antarctic loop in a single journey so far south.

“It seems that we completely circumnavigated Antarctica not only according to our original plan, that is, south of the 60th parallel, but even south of the 62nd.”

Capt Koper said the crew were tired, but happy.

It was also a scientific challenge. While circumnavigating Antarctica, the crew collected water samples for a program investigating the spread of micro plastics developed by Poland’s Institute of Oceanology.