Tearaway Norwegian sailor departs Antarctic with 'new questions'
by Sail-World Cruising round-up on 27 Feb 2012
Nilaya headed for Antarctica SW
Tearaway Norwegian adventure sailor Jarle Andhoey has left Antarctica and is headed for South America, with New Zealand 'stowaway' Busby Noble still on board, 'mission accomplished'. He has NOT told Norwegian media that he has found anything of note about what happened to his lost yacht the Beserk. Neither have they ridden their quad bikes to the South Pole.
He has said that they carried out a memorial ceremony in which they 'put flowers into the sea' during their unauthorised visit to mark the deaths of the three crew members lost when the Beserk sank last year. Previously Andhoey had claimed that he had a Russian skipper on board and they had been given permission by the Russian government, but this has since been denied
The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet reported Andhoy had called his lawyer with the news of their departure from Antarctica.
Lawyer Nils Jorgen Vordah said he had talked to Andhoy via satellite phone. The sailor said that he and his crew have given up on the search for his missing yacht and are preparing to sail through a 200 nautical mile ice-belt.
Andhoey, 34, fled immigration authorities in New Zealand a month ago while planning his illegal polar expedition. And now he has ruled out a return to New Zealand as he and his crew believe they are likely to face prosecution here over their journey to Antarctica.
Vordah told the Dagbladet newspaper: 'There were no other circumstances which had occurred to make him give up the search. Their plans are now completed and they have decided to sail from the area and head north. But now Jarle has new questions he wants answered.'
Andhoy, 34, had sailed a 16-metre steel yacht, Nilaya, through the same area his yacht Berserk disappeared in during a fierce storm on February 22 last year.
The self-proclaimed Norwegian Viking was trying to reach the South Pole on a quad bike at the time of the sinking.
What the 'new questions' are is anyone's guess, but he has made previous claims that New Zealand ship the HMNZS Wellington may have ordered Berserk and her crew to leave a secure mooring in McMurdo Sound just one day prior to her being sunk in a storm in open water.
The New Zealand navy denies this is true, but admits the Wellington was in radio contact with Berserk the day before she was lost. The purpose of the communication, asserts the navy, was solely to advise Berserk's crew of the imminent storm.
To see what it's like to sail with the self-proclaimed Norwegian Viking, watch the video:
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/94317
