Hi everyone, this is probably the weirdest post you are going to see on this forum but I am deadset serious about this.
I was wondering if anyone had ever considered sailing to Antarctica or any outlying arctic islands. I have been eager to see to the Scott Coast or basically anywhere in Antarctica. I was hoping if anyone was ever going if they could help me get there, I am an explorer based in the Sydney region with limited experience at sea, and was wanting someone to help with my Arctic expedition in which I hope to finish at the South Pole. This is really brief and I doubt anyone will be going to Antarctica but please email me. Once again I am serious about this.
Feel free to email me with any help,
VinkovicS01@dowstu.catholic.edu.au
Tony Mowbray is your man. He sailed his Cole 43 down there and then bought a 65.- 79 foot schooner and has been chartering around scale horn and Antartica for a while.
Not the correct answer to your post but if you would consider sailing down there, get a hold of Matt Tuckers dvd "Snow Petrel-Down Under" its well worth watching. 
Try Cath Hew on Icebird out of Ushuaia.
Take the sea sickness tablets.. The Drake Passage is rough as guts.
Would you be able to get to Antarctica in a 19 foot Trailer Sailer? Just wondering they are pretty cheap and I have never been sailing before so it could be fun. Leaving from Sydney?
So Archer how old are you.
You sound to me more like an adventurer than an explorer.
Its a mighty adventure your looking at doing and perhaps a bit more research is needed .
My doctor goes to the Antarctic every eighteen months as the resident doctor and says one never gets tired of the scenery and there is always something new to discover.. As a young man he crewed on the yacht that won the second Sydney/Hobart race , but not in that race. See if you can find the name of the yacht.
Some years ago on one trip he noticed two Swedish sailors who worked in the freezing cold on the foredeck of the icebreaker twenty minutes at a time only in shirts. He asked how they could do such and not freeze and they introduced him to a then new drug that open up the veins allowing the blood to flow freely to the hands and feet etc.
I now use that drug for Reynards syndrome when it gets below 12c.
I think a trailer sailer might be a bit small and fragile .
Would anyone be able to help get me there? I was hoping by the end of the year around the Ross ice shelf. This seems really weird but I am not joking. If you want to help or know the actual details about who I am and the record I am going to attempt to break contact me via email.
Select to expand quoteArcherHeath said..
Would you be able to get to Antarctica in a 19 foot Trailer Sailer? Just wondering they are pretty cheap and I have never been sailing before so it could be fun. Leaving from Sydney?
If your trailer is a low loader and your sailer is a 30-40 yacht designed for southern Southern Ocean conditions, sure.
Hi Archer,
You could do it on a Hobie Cat if you really put your mind to it, the fact it would be horrific and you wouldn't want to is another matter entirely. So yes, a 19' could theoretically do it if all the stars align. But I would suggest that kinda jumping to the cool part and shopping/looking for the boat first is not an optimal approach.
Look at the route. Plot the distances involved. Estimated your speeds and produce a time plan. Plan your boltholes and options for shelter in the time plan too.
Plan for weather along the route. Get expert advice for long passages, weather can kill you.
Plan your provisions, plan medical , plan comms,
Plan crew management, including fatigue and safety.
Train on system maintenance, electrical, fluids, engine, comms, rigging, sails.
(We do the above checklist before every offshore race, so it's not unrealistic to expect this as a minimum for a trip of this size)
Learn to sail.
Read any book you can find near to the subject at hand, reach out to people that have done it before.
Then go looking for a suitable boat.
I'd then go sail around Tassie first to get in the groove and see what breaks.
Or go looking for work that involves Antarctica and get some first hand experience using other peoples money. They only announced a big job push a few months ago for the next cycle at Murdo.
Good luck in your endeavours, sailing to Antarctica and back sounds really cool.
Doing it on a shoestring and with naff all planning or training isn't, that's the exact opposite of cool.
Regards,
SB
Select to expand quoteArcherHeath said..
Could you tow a smaller boat for provisions behind a Hobie Cat?
No.
Select to expand quoteandy59 said..
Tony Mowbray is your man. He sailed his Cole 43 down there and then bought a 65.- 79 foot schooner and has been chartering around scale horn and Antartica for a while.
He has sold that boat
Select to expand quoteArcherHeath said..
Would you be able to get to Antarctica in a 19 foot Trailer Sailer? Just wondering they are pretty cheap and I have never been sailing before so it could be fun. Leaving from Sydney?
If you need to ask that question this trip is a dream for you. Nothing more
I think Shaggy must've had a few reds when he wrote his reply. The correct answer should've been "you can depart for Antarctica in a Hobie, but your life expectancy would be measured in days if not hours"..
Same said for any trailer sailer
Select to expand quotesunycoastguy said..
Maybe he's related to chopesbro
I thought maybe Shanty had returned from sin bin 
Select to expand quotetwodogs1969 said..andy59 said..
Tony Mowbray is your man. He sailed his Cole 43 down there and then bought a 65.- 79 foot schooner and has been chartering around scale horn and Antartica for a while.
He has sold that boat
That's was a nice boat.
There's some great blow up rubber dinghys on eBay that would make a good tender for your hobbie cat. ??
nah th, it,s a mild minus 49 degrees with a breeze up to 100 kph.good sailing weather.
btw teacher it,s to not too.
Select to expand quoteBusybee said..
Try Cath Hew on Icebird out of Ushuaia.
I met Cath in an anchorage on Ilas Hornos in 2016. She had just returned from a charter to the Peninsular.
'Icebird' is an aero-rig , very interesting but I never could really work out the un-stayed rotating mast with jib on a fore-boom. Must be totally seaworthy though.
And, to the original poster, you cannot just arrive in Antarctica - there are serious permit requirements, and you have no hope of getting there other than on a fully supported charter. Sorry to pour cold water on your plans - but there is a lot of cold water down there!
It's too cold here in Melbourne, let alone Antarctica.
However, notwithstanding the serious permit requirements and permissions, and the peril of getting there in such a small boat with zero experience, you could read this book about Berserk:
www.bookdepository.com/Berserk-David-Mercy/9781592282777
and a similar story was by Dr David Lewis in his Ice Bird story in the '70's.
This video was filmed by the crew of Berserk, a 27 foot yacht. It is in English/Norwegian/and one of the Yugoslav languages. www.dailymotion.com/video/x31k80d
Not recommended. The first chapter of the above book is difficult enough reading, let alone trying to do it yourself
I don't have much time to preparer. I'm giving myself 3 months but am taking time off to prepare. The reason due to the lack of a larger boat is the fact I'm planning to go solo and don't have enough funds for the boat.
