Troubled Norwegian sailor Jarle Andhoy heads for Antarctica again

by Lee Mylchreest on 25 Jan 2012 Have you seen this yacht? Unless you are on your way to Antarctica, probably not. The rogue self-proclaimed Viking sailor who embarked on an illegal journey to Antarctica last year which ended in the death of three of his crew and the loss of his boat, is at it again.

Jarle Andhoey has confirmed to a Norwegian newspaper that he is heading to Antarctica from New Zealand on his newly purchased steel yacht pictured above, the Nilaya, purportedly for the purpose of finding out exactly what happened to his three crew and their yacht last year.

Mr Andhoey, who undertook last year's polar adventure, it seems, without permission from the Norwegian or New Zealand governments, has a history of launching unsanctioned voyages.

Maritime New Zealand, the Customs Service and the Royal New Zealand Navy are trying to find the Nilaya, which, like Berserk before it, does not have the legal authority to head to Antarctica.

Jarle Andhoey has told Oslo's Vestfold Blad that he also wants to travel to the South Pole by quad bikes, the ones he left there there last year after abandoning his previous quest to the Pole when the Berserk went missing. He and his fellow crew and bike buddy, 19-year-old Samuel Massie, returned just in time to catch the last plane out of the continent before the winter set in. On returning to Norway he was fined 25,000 kroner (a little over $4000) for his illegal voyage.

Andhoey left Auckland over the weekend on the 16 metre steel yacht, Nilaya, pictured above. 'I'm going to go down again, I must have answers to what has happened,' he told the newspaper. 'For me it is unreal that a boat with three men, so much deck equipment and cargo is lost without a trace, except for a torn inflatable.

'They found only pieces of equipment during the search, water bottles and various trifles. But we had a lot more on board that definitely should have come up.'

Customs believe Andhoey could have changed the name of his vessel to the Berserk or Berserk 4, after the name which he has used on previous boats.

Andhoey is sailing with the same teenager, Samuel Massie, whom he took with him on the quad bikes last year and several others, including a television cameraman.

He told the newspaper he thought about the three dead men every day and could not calm down until he returned to Antarctica. 'I work constantly to find more information about the disappearance. After all, three very good friends who are gone, and I will not rest until I know more.'

This new voyage came a week after Norway television ran documentary made by Andhoey on last year's disaster. Families of the three sailors lost at sea went to court unsuccessfully to stop the broadcast.

For the tragic story of the loss of the Berserk, read the Sail-World story http://www.sail-world.com/index_d.cfm?nid=80815!here.

A New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said Mr Andhoy arrived in New Zealand in early January and failed to declare he had been deported from Canada.

Since then the Norwegian Government had apparently notified Antarctic Treaty Parties it was concerned he might be planning another voyage to the Ross Sea, the spokesman said, now confirmed by his interview with the Norwegian newspaper.