ARCTIC TONY
- Reasons for the Adventure
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Contact Tony on 07884022450
Sponsored by Edge Enviro Services Ltd
www.edge-enviro.com
Contact Tony on 07884022450
Sponsored by Edge Enviro Services Ltd
www.edge-enviro.com
Click 'about' to see my how my previous adventures went.
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Sailing to the Arctic was not an act of impulse or of running away from reality. It was after a lot of thinking that I came to the decision that I had no choice if I was to remain sane and stable without depression setting in.
There are various ways of killing off the retired population. One is to prevent children from competing in games where there are winners and losers so that they have a false sense of themselves and reside in undeveloped bodies destined for a death in their 60s and 70s. Another is to make sure that the majority of the pensioners die of depression because they have insufficient monies to live on. I was in the latter category and disinclined to become a garden hoeing, over drinking, depressed pensioner. In fact, my unpublished book 'Life Begins at 60' explains all. So what to do, with the emphasis on 'do'.
So many people were sailing around the world by going round the outside of the Antarctic Circle that I had no wish to be part of a queue or convoy. My sailing trip across the Atlantic in my Dickens converted motor boat had been inconvenienced by the loss of my main mast and I had to return to the nearest land which was the Azores. So I had no wish to repeat a journey which was even more crowded than the round world runs. So what was left to give me a focus on living?
In 2003 I discovered that no one had sailed round the North Pole. So after lots of planning I purchased a Seadog Ketch because it was so well built, safe and tough. In 2004 I sailed north and in the Barents Sea, my engine overheated. I was caught in ice, had to fight off a polar bear and was arrested by the Russians (they whispered 'a spy'). They towed me 200 miles into Russia. Later they towed me 400 miles to the Norwegian border and brought out a Warship to prevent me returning. I returned to Ramsgate to be threatened with court action if I did not immediately pay the few pounds I owed to the Council. Yet, even without buying drinks people referred to me as a hero or 'Arctic Tony' in my hearing. Out of my hearing I am sure less complimentary things were said. They were certainly said about the council.
In 2006 I sailed again and was given permission to carry on over Russia. They told me to wait in Norway as Murmansk was not a good place for yachts. In early July, the second in command emailed me that as his boss was on holiday he could not take the responsibility for allowing me to sail. Somewhat annoyed I sailed up to Svalbard, sailed round Spitsbergen and then up to the Polar Cap. I noticed that I was stuck in ice at latitude of 82°, 13 minutes. The Norwegians did not allow sailing round Spitsbergen without permission and single handed sailing was unheard of. I could not stand another setback so I just went.
I tried to reach Iceland but without a long tack almost to Greenland needed I decided to return to Ramsgate. I sailed via the Faeroes and the Orkney Islands where my steering wheel came away in my hands and I was almost wrecked.
This trip has two brave female crew members who have never sailed before but are made of the right metal and a new boat (with the compliments of my house purchaser) which has many state of the art bits and pieces.
We are now ready to accept this challenge!
There are various ways of killing off the retired population. One is to prevent children from competing in games where there are winners and losers so that they have a false sense of themselves and reside in undeveloped bodies destined for a death in their 60s and 70s. Another is to make sure that the majority of the pensioners die of depression because they have insufficient monies to live on. I was in the latter category and disinclined to become a garden hoeing, over drinking, depressed pensioner. In fact, my unpublished book 'Life Begins at 60' explains all. So what to do, with the emphasis on 'do'.
So many people were sailing around the world by going round the outside of the Antarctic Circle that I had no wish to be part of a queue or convoy. My sailing trip across the Atlantic in my Dickens converted motor boat had been inconvenienced by the loss of my main mast and I had to return to the nearest land which was the Azores. So I had no wish to repeat a journey which was even more crowded than the round world runs. So what was left to give me a focus on living?
In 2003 I discovered that no one had sailed round the North Pole. So after lots of planning I purchased a Seadog Ketch because it was so well built, safe and tough. In 2004 I sailed north and in the Barents Sea, my engine overheated. I was caught in ice, had to fight off a polar bear and was arrested by the Russians (they whispered 'a spy'). They towed me 200 miles into Russia. Later they towed me 400 miles to the Norwegian border and brought out a Warship to prevent me returning. I returned to Ramsgate to be threatened with court action if I did not immediately pay the few pounds I owed to the Council. Yet, even without buying drinks people referred to me as a hero or 'Arctic Tony' in my hearing. Out of my hearing I am sure less complimentary things were said. They were certainly said about the council.
In 2006 I sailed again and was given permission to carry on over Russia. They told me to wait in Norway as Murmansk was not a good place for yachts. In early July, the second in command emailed me that as his boss was on holiday he could not take the responsibility for allowing me to sail. Somewhat annoyed I sailed up to Svalbard, sailed round Spitsbergen and then up to the Polar Cap. I noticed that I was stuck in ice at latitude of 82°, 13 minutes. The Norwegians did not allow sailing round Spitsbergen without permission and single handed sailing was unheard of. I could not stand another setback so I just went.
I tried to reach Iceland but without a long tack almost to Greenland needed I decided to return to Ramsgate. I sailed via the Faeroes and the Orkney Islands where my steering wheel came away in my hands and I was almost wrecked.
This trip has two brave female crew members who have never sailed before but are made of the right metal and a new boat (with the compliments of my house purchaser) which has many state of the art bits and pieces.
We are now ready to accept this challenge!
Northpole: the final frontier.
These are the voyages of Mohican Too, to discover new ice and boldly go where no one has gone before
These are the voyages of Mohican Too, to discover new ice and boldly go where no one has gone before
Mohican Too- the boat for the upcoming adventure!
Anthony Kearney has twice sailed single handed from Ramsgate to the Polar Ice cap and around Spitsbergen in a 30ft Seadog grp Ketch called 'Mohican'. Much of Spitsbergen is uncharted so the voyages were of a discovery and challenging nature.
The new vessel purchased with the sale of the Tony's house is a heavy gauge steel 45ft sloop with 3 watertight compartments.
She was fitted out in Ramsgate and sailed single handed to the NE corner of Norway to await the crew in June. The vessel 'Mohican Too' is wintering in Vadsø. The next stage of the expedition will start in July when the ice has started to melt.
The new vessel purchased with the sale of the Tony's house is a heavy gauge steel 45ft sloop with 3 watertight compartments.
She was fitted out in Ramsgate and sailed single handed to the NE corner of Norway to await the crew in June. The vessel 'Mohican Too' is wintering in Vadsø. The next stage of the expedition will start in July when the ice has started to melt.