Rolf Bjelke and Deborah Shapiro

Rolf was born in Sweden in 1936 and Deborah in America in 1951. Northern Light, a 39ft steel, double-ended Joshua ketch, was launched in France in 1974. Rolf, a goldsmith and jeweller by trade, sold his business to build Northern Light, which he sailed extensively before being joined by Deborah, a personnel manager with little sailing experience when she and Rolf set out for the Arctic and then Antarctica, for which they won the Cruising Club of America Blue Water Medal. They have since undertaken several more Antarctic voyages and spent an entire winter there. Rolf and Deborah were awarded the Ocean Cruising Club’s Award of Merit in 2010.