Captain of the Yacht Peter I

Sailing Neva river

Are you still thinking that the streets of Russian cities are full of dancing bears with balalaikas, and the men drink vodka, sitting under the Christmas trees? Well you are almost right.

To see the proof with your own eyes make sure to visit the most northerly in the world regatta “Adventure Race 80 degrees”. A real Russian safari is waiting for you: polar bears and rough sailors, ancient villages and churches of the Russian North, ice and land, that have almost never been touched by human hands. But most importantly – the extreme race in the highest latitudes.

You’ve probably heard about the record-breaking voyage of the Russian yacht “Peter I”. In 2010 she sailed around the North Pole during a single navigation without wintering and the help of an icebreaker. In 2011, the yacht crew organized an international environmental regatta “Adventure Race 80 degrees”.

Thanks to this regatta foreign yacht for the first time without problems were able to get into the internal waters of Russia.

They followed two very interesting routes: cruise in company from St. Petersburg to Arkhangelsk and Arctic race from Archangelsk to the Franz Josef Land and Murmansk.

The cultural capital of Russia – St. Petersburg became the first port of the regatta. Most of the participants gathered there on July,1st, the day before the start. The next day, July 2, the regatta was officially launched by its organizers – Daniel Gavrilov – Captain of the Regatta’s flagship yacht “Peter I” and Elena Solovyeva – Chief mate.

They spoke of the bureaucratic difficulties and other obstacles they faced. That included many months of obtaining permits for the yachts to sail in the inland waters of Russia, and arranging moorages along the route of the race. But nothing stopped them from gathering a fleet of eight boats from five countries: Britain, Germany, Czech Republic, Finland and Russia.

Russian inland waters

Fleet of the regatta

About the Regatta & the Russian Arctic

Elena Solovyeva, director of the regatta “Adventure Race 80 dg”:
- Difficulties were mainly of an organizational nature – all kinds of agreements and documents to obtain permits for foreigners. To get the permission for four foreign yachts to sail in the inland waters we eventually had to get Putin’s signature on one of the documents. The very idea of the race came to mind only six months ago, so we had to work at extreme speeds. But we had a very good team, which easily coped with everything.

Michael Smith, the captain of an English yacht “Willywaw”:
- For a few years we have been unsuccessfully trying to get the permission for the boat to pass the inland waterways of Russia. This year, at last, we were able to do this- thanks to the regatta «Adventure race». Next time will invite other English yachts.

Kizhi

Sailing race

Regatta. Step by step

The starting time was chosen so the bouts will pass along the Neva River under the drawn bridges. On the night of July 4, three boats set off on cruise in company route of the regatta. The first stop was at the estuary of the Neva River, where there the medieval fortress Oreshek is situated. Participants rested, went on an excursion and continued the cruise.

The next step was sailing on the largest European freshwater Lake Ladoga. After that the boats went to the Svir River, and then to Lake Onega, where they examined the main attractions of these places – petroglyphs (ancient rock paintings) in the eastern part of the lake and the island of Kizhi.

The island is famous for the landmark of Russian wooden architecture – Kizhi churchyard. In 1993, it was included in UNESCO World Heritage List. The part of the route in the White Sea-Baltic Canal became memorable for the participants because of both its interesting navigation, and history. This channel of 227 km in length with 19 locks, was built in less than a year, while world-famous shorter canals needed many more years to construct. In the White Sea yachts visited Solovki Islands, where the crews got acquainted with the history of the Solovki monastery and the Gulag Archipelago, and met with “Onega regatta.”

White Sea Baltic Canal

Solovetsky monastery

Solovetsky islands

Participants of the AR 80 DG

After the yachts crossed the sea and sailed on the River Dvina they were warmly welcomed in the city of Arkhangelsk. There, on July 16 the closing ceremony of the first part of the regatta and participants awarding took place.

On July 19, a second part of the Arctic race began. Yacht “Peter I» (Russia) and «Lena» (Finland) started from the Buoy of Arkhangelsk. They passed 950 miles in autonomous navigation to the Franz Josef Land, where they made a stop for five days.

It should be said that for such a voyage the yachts were well prepared: «Lena» had repeatedly sailed to Spitsbergen, and “Peter I» had completed the Arctic circumnavigation. The vessels were equipped with life rafts of unlimited navigation area; buoys, double navigation system, satellite communication, and the crew members had dry suits with them.

Boats were lucky – there wasn’t a lot of ice on the way. At 23:08 Moscow time, July 25 the yacht “Peter I” from Saint-Petersburg, after going around Cape Flora, crossed the declared 80th parallel of north latitude at 80 ° 0’0 .00 “N 50 ° 4’44 .71? E.

The crew had some time to enjoy the beauty of nature, icebergs and gigantic glaciers, wild animals – all of this is a small part of what can be seen in the Arctic.

Sailors managed to visit the island of Champa, which is famous for its perfectly round stones, Hayes Island, with the most northerly post office in Russia. They also got to go to the polar stations on the island Hooker, where the second expedition of Georgy Sedov was wintering in 1913, 1914; the places of wintering of an outstanding Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen’s expedition; on the island of Jackson, the famous Cape Flora, where virtually all of the arctic expeditions, that explored the Franz Josef Land had been based. Crews conducted environmental campaign to draw public attention to the problem of pollution in the Arctic where empty fuel barrels had been scattered for decades. Yachts finished in Murmansk August 9, 2011

This year, “Rusarc” is organizing a second regatta “Adventure Race 80 dg – 2012.” The cruise in company route will be added with the islands of Konevets and Valaam in Lake Ladoga. Race time will altered a little – it will start June 23 and end August 4, 2012.

So if you’ve always wanted to visit Russia and see what it is like with your own eyes, you still have some time to join the regatta as a crew member or a tourist. All the details can be found here: en.rusarc.ru.

Captain and chief mate

Yachts Peter I and Lena near Franz Josef Land

Peter I near Franz Josef Land

Interesting meeting

Vladimir Potapov during his snowmobile expedition in the Arctic zone of Yakutia, Siberia, Russia. Early November 2011.

More about 2011 Arctic Snowmobile Expedition to Laptev Sea in Yakutia, Siberia / Russia.

Reindeer sledding journey in the world's coldest inhabited valley of Oymyakon in Yakutia, Siberia, Russia

More about The world’s coldest reindeer sledding in Oymyakon.

Proud to announce that our Cold United group on Flickr is becoming popular! We’ve got 684 members and 8,899 cold winter photographs. Cool! Feel free to join us.

Meanwhile, enjoy Cold United members’ pretty chilly portraits. All pics are clickable.

Flagstaff Eskimo. By Shanks, Flickr.

29 Eric Lon at Stok Kangri, October 2011. By Eric Lon, Flickr.

Snow heart in Yakutia, Siberia. By Egor Fedorov, Flickr.

Two sisters in the fish market in Yakutsk, Yakutia, Siberia. By Bernard Grua, Flickr.

Standing on a frozen lake. By LiamCH, Flickr.

With All Of My Heart. By John M. Kennedy, Flickr.

By Jessica Joy Photography, Flickr.

Indeed, winter has already started. For instance, my city of Yakutsk has -24C right now. Not extremely yet, but it’s good time to shart sharing the cold and its beauty

Yesterday was a turning day in Yakutsk. It looked like the Winter said, “Ok, no more games with mild winter weather. Let’s have the real cold come right now and for a long time.”

The day didn’t promise anything extraordinary. It was pretty regular in the beginning. -3C and light snow. By the end of a work day, something happened. Winds started blowing furiously and snow descended in abundance. It was the Arctic-like blizzard that lasted, unfortunately, not so long.

Cool anyway! People liked it. See more snowstorm photographs and a video.

After one-hour storm:

To see the progress of the winter start in the Siberian city of Yakutsk, check the last post at eYakutia.com.

I’ve heard about the Adventure Race 80dg Ecological Sailing Regatta before, but I didn’t expect that the Finish yacht “Lena”, one of regatta participants, will continue traversing along the Russian Arctic heading to… guess where… right… to the Lena Delta and Tiksi. In other words, Finish sailers will reach my area called the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Moreover, they plan to go upstream and make it to Yakutsk, where I live! Cool!

Meanwhile, enjoy photographs of Franz Josef Land Archipelago, Russian Arctic, brought by RusArc’s Petr I yacht crew.

By the way, before you proceed watching Arctic photographs, here is a short description of AR 80dg.

The 2011 International Ecological Sailing Regatta “Adventure Race 80 dg” (“AR 80dg”) is officially completed. It was organized by the Russian company “RUSARC ltd” (http://en.rusarc.ru/) and lasted from July 03 till August 09 within the Russian Federation.

The race consisted of two parts. The 1st one was Arkhangelsk – St Petersburg (through inner river waterways), the 2nd went on the Arctic route St Petersburg – Franz-Josef Land (with paying visit to the old meteo station “Tikhaya Bay”) – Murmansk.

In the first lap, there were sailing boats from Russia, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic, England. In the second, two only. They are the Russian yacht “Petr I” and the Finish Lena.

So now we expect to see the Finish guys in Yakutia (Russia). I will try to follow the Finish yacht, though I didn’t found their official website with sailing updates. Meanwhile, you might wish to learn more about my land at AskYakutia.com and eYakutia.com.

Photographs from RUSARC ltd’s Expedition Blog that is done in Russian and English languages.

Social Media is awesome! It provides an unique opportunity to keep in touch with unique people.

In in the end of July 2011, Vladimir Sevostianov, a fb friend of mine, visited
Franz Josef Land and brought amazing photographs of the Russian Arctic in summer.

Take a look at his photographs and learn that the Arctic is not just ice, snow, fog, dark stones and cliffs, and polar bears, but it is also full of real life. Animals, colourful flowers and even mushrooms.

Vladimir Sevostianov is President of Commander Islands and BC Nature Protection and Conservation Association in Russia. A big fan of writing. Check out his page http://proza.ru/avtor/orca7.

Franz Josef Land Archipelago is located in the Russian Arctic 540 miles from the North Pole. Includes 191 ice-covered islands. Discovered by the Austian expedition in 1873.

Like it?.. Please, feel free to share this page

A tidewater glacier on Svalbard during last week s Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic Expeditions adventure in the Arctic.

Today is Ice Photo Wednesday run by Polar Explorer Eric Larsen (www.ericlarsenexplore.com) on Facebook (see his page) and #IcePhoto on Twitter.

Ice Photo Wednesday is the day, when anyone are welcome to share their love of ice, cold and snow with the rest of the world. How does it work?

Every morning on Wednesday, Eric Larsen – it was him, who invented the event – announces the start of The Ice Photo Day. He publishes his own fascinating “ice” photographs and ask his readers and followers to do the same… And you know what? People do share pictures of gorgeous ice and magnificant snow.

When Eric see new pics, he resharing them on his Facebook and Twitter accounts and give their authors big publicity and promotion. If the famous American explorer is online… hey, he can be connected even from the Arctic or the Everest top, you might see his fantastic photographs.

Give a try and join Eric on his facebook page and Twitter using the hashtag #IcePhoto.

Meanwhile, enjoy Mr. Larsen’s ice photographs of the Arctic Ocean, Norway’s Svalbard, and Everest!

Saying a lot of sincere thanks to him for permission to show his pics on ColdUnited.com. It’s a big honor! Here and further all captions to ice photographs are given by Eric Larsen himself.

More ice!

Remember, it's cool to be cold!

Cooling you off with an Ice photo...

Incredible week in Svalbard. Definitely great to be back in the land of ice!

Does the warm weather mean that I am running out of IcePhotos? Absolutely not! Time to share the cold, snow and ice. This week: Hoar frost on the Arctic Ocean.

Sharing my love of ice, cold and snow with the rest of the world... Sea Ice while flying over Svalbard.

On Everest looking back toward Camp 1.

See tons of magic ice pictures on Facebook and Twitter.

Who is Eric Larsen?
In November 2009 Polar explorer Eric Larsen began the Save the Poles Expedition a first-ever journey to the South Pole, North Pole and summit of Mt. Everest in a continuous 365-day period. His purpose? To travel to the “front lines” of global warming to document the changes occurring in these last great frozen places.
Website, Blog, RSS, Facebook, Twitter.

At the crevasse separating the European and North American continental plates at Thingvellir, Iceland.

This photo was received from Gissur Pálsson, who runs the Ask Iceland facebook page. Give him your like on the fb page

In the picture: Gissur’s daughter Elisabet holding the “Cold United” sign at the crevasse separating the European and North American continental plates at Thingvellir, Iceland.

P.S. Thank you so much, Gissur. You are so helpfull and… inspiring !!!

Cold United at Hveralallar, Iceland. Photo by Gissur Palsson.

What a great photograph! It was sent by Gissur Palsson, a friend of mine/ours, from Iceland. Can you also take such a fascinating picture?

Btw, take a look at Gissur Palsson’s Ask Iceland facebook page.

Can you imagine? When the rest of the world is suffering the heat and the temperature much above +40C and even +50C, people of Greenland’s Uummannaq settlement are enjoying “the sight and light and smell of the salty seawater and fresh glacier air” daily.

That’s the way Hivshu Ua described the Uummannaq life among Arctic icebergs in July 2011.

Uummannaq dwellers are very lucky to have such honor… Unfortunately, it might not last forever. In 30 years, scientists predict the ice-free(!) Arctic…

Who is Hivshu Ua?

He is one of great men participated in the Uummannaq Music project. Be sure to visit UM’s website, facebook page and Flickr sets to learn more and see Greenland in its currently-existing glory.

Hope, you will like this and below-published photographs and say thanks with me to Hivshu Ua, their author, for letting us to see such an Arctic summer beauty online.