Forty-six-year-old Adrian Flanagan has resumed his Alpha Global Expedition to sail solo round the world on the ‘vertical’ route.

Flanagan slipped his mooring at 1130 last night (1430 Alaska time) from the port of Nome, setting sail for Chukotka, Russia on his attempt to sail the first British flagged yacht along Russia’s Arctic coast. Success will mean Flanagan would become the first sailor to achieve this feat single-handed.

Flanagan originally set sail on 28 October 2005 aboard his 40ft stainless steel sloopBarrabas. He covered over 26,000 miles going west around Cape Horn to Nome, Alaska but it wasn’t without mishap see previous news story here. 

A string of problem including a couple of knockdowns around Cape Horn and gear breakages forced detours to Honolulu and then Nome, Alaska. There were also a few issues with obtaining permission to enter Russian waters which delayed him further so the boat was hauled out in early August 2006 and stored in Nome for the winter.

Expedition Manager and Flanagan’s ex-wife, Louise Flanagan stopped at nothing to obtain the necessary permission for Barrabas to enter Russian Waters. She contacted Roman Abramovich, governor of the Russian Far East region of Chukotka where the Northern Sea Route (NSR) begins, to ask for much needed assistance in receiving the required permits. Apparently Governor Abramovich generously agreed to help, and representatives of his administration were in the process of trying to obtain those permits when circumstances required that the Expedition be put on hold for the winter.
Louise Flanagan said: “Over the past few months, in preparation for the restart, those efforts were renewed and Governor Abramovich’s administration provided invaluable assistance in obtaining the necessary documents from the Transport Ministry’s Northern Sea Route Administration as well as the national and local divisions of the Federal Security Service.”

Once Flanagan arrives in Russia in the north-eastern settlement town of Provideniya his yacht will be inspected prior to completing his attempt to sail the first ever single-handed vertical circumnavigation of the globe via the Russian Arctic.

As he settled down into his first night at sea Flanagan commented from the boat: “?Winds are light and out of the west. The next three days look to be similarly fair. Provideniya is 200 miles across the northern part of the Bering Sea so I expect to make port sometime on Friday. However, I will be crossing the International Date Line so will warp forward 24 hours. It will be Saturday local in Provideniya, which gives me Sunday to rest from this first stage.”