Legendary Siberian Sailing Vessel Goes to Antarctica

The Siberia yacht sets its sails on Sunday, July 7. The extreme circumnavigation is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the sixth continent discovery. Travelers will follow the trace of Lazarev and Bellingshausen, reports a correspondent of tvbrics.com.

To reach Antarctica, the Siberia will pass along the route of the legendary expedition and cross the Atlantic Ocean from North to South. The route will start in Omsk. The yacht will sail through Irtysh, the Gulf of Ob, the western part of the Northern Sea Route, and the White Sea-Baltic Canal, and then it will arrive in St. Petersburg.

Specifically for this cruise, solar batteries and navigation systems were installed on the boat, a modern high-power engine was bought, new sails have been set.

Siberia will be accompanied by other sailing ships. One more yacht from Omsk, Zhemchuzhina (“the pearl”) will go to the Northern Capital together with Siberia. In St. Petersburg, the yacht Rus will join them. In Brest, France, the Spanish yacht Ksanadu will accompany Siberia to Antarctica. It is planned for the beginning of September.

Besides the permanent crew, 25 tourists – bloggers and writers, who were specially selected for participation in the circumnavigation, will come aboard.

Joint crews of Omsk citizens will conduct the scientific research of glacial water condition. When they are joined by other crews, the travelers will study the ocean ecology. The captain of the Spanish ship Maxim Ozerny said that a part of the equipment specially purchased for these purposes will also be established on the Omsk yacht.

What is more, the yacht will call at about 60 ports on its way. According to Igor Vyatkin, the head of the Omsk office of the Russian Geographical Society, they plan to meet the local peoples. Seamen will tell them about the discovery of Antarctica by Russian travelers, polar researches and adventures.

Disembarkation at the Russian Bellingshausen Antarctic Station is planned for January 28, 2020, the day of the 200th anniversary of discovery of the Antarctic pole.

The Siberia yacht is going to come back across the Pacific Ocean, passing by two Americas. Then the Omsk ship will pass through the Bering Strait by the Northern Sea Route, and finish its route in Omsk in October 2020.

30 million rubles will be spent on the round-the-world expedition. Ten million are allocated from the Presidential Grants Foundation for new yacht equipment.