B&G® on-board for latest expedition by S.V. Barba to the Arctic
by B&G 8 Jun 2021 00:00 PDT
B&G® on-board for latest expedition by S.V. Barba to the Arctic © Tord Karlsen / barba.no
B&G®, the world's leading sailing electronics manufacturer, will again be on-board sailing vessel Barba as it departs Stavanger, Norway this week for a 3,000-mile, half-year Arctic research voyage to the Norwegian islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen.
The trip is formally named Arctic Sense 2021 and it's the fourth year that B&G has provided technical and electronics support to ocean expeditions led by marine biologist and former Navy diver Andreas B. Heide.
"B&G has been alongside Andreas and the Barba crew for several years now and we fully support the amazing and insightful research he and his team are doing," said Simon Conder, Global Head of Brand, B&G. "With the addition of a new B&G Zeus 3S and Halo 20+ radar for this expedition, to the already comprehensive suite of B&G electronics on board, he will be fully equipped to deal with some of the most extreme conditions".
Heide and his team have been leading voices for marine conservation and Arctic research since initiating the Barba program over a decade ago with a particular focus on studying Arctic whale populations and measuring the impacts of global warming and plastic pollution at sea. Past expeditions have included sailing trips to Greenland, Jan Mayen, Svalbard and Iceland.
"This latest Arctic Sense trip has three objectives - research, whale identification and youth education - and will be divided into four key chapters including the Norwegian coast, summertime in Svalbard, a trip to Jan Mayen and our final sail into London," said Heide. "Having B&G on-board not only makes this trip possible but it gives us the confidence to travel further and do more, knowing we have the most reliable and accurate equipment to guide us."
Barba is a re-fitted 37-foot Jeanneau Sun Fast that Heide has been using since 2012. As a quiet, non-intrusive platform to use for studying whales, Barba offers close wildlife encounters with minimum disturbance to nature.
"We hope everyone will follow Andreas and his team along the way for this voyage," added Conder. "Andreas' stories about our fragile ecosystems and majestic mammals like the arctic whales help all of us better understand what is happening in the environments that we all love to sail in and recognize things we can do to protect them for future generations."
Heide and his Barba sailboat depart June 1 from Stavanger and will spend June sailing north. July and August will be spent in Svalbard, including a circumnavigation around the archipelago, before heading to the tiny island of Jan Mayen with no permanent inhabitants. The voyage finishes in London in late Fall.
For more information, please visit www.bandg.com