Polar world sailor arrives home

by Dave Keating | May 21, 2008 at 08:06 am | 120 views | add comment

65: Barcelona World Race, Alpha Global Expedition, Slogs

After being forced to twice abandon his trip, a British father of two has become teh first solo yachtsman to enter the Russian Arctic. Many of the delays were due to beaurocratic red tape in getting clearance to enter Russian military waters in the arctic.

A British sailor who set off in 2005 to try to become the first person to sail solo around the world via the polar regions has arrived back in the UK.

Adrian Flanagan, 47, who lives close to the Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire border, has spent 405 days at sea in his 38ft yacht Barrabas.

He moored at the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble, Hampshire, after more than 29,700 miles (47,797 km).

During his voyage, he has been washed overboard and dislocated both wrists.

He also suffered two knock-downs at Cape Horn and was tracked by pirates off Brazil.

Mr Flanagan, from Ludgershall, near Bicester, hopes to enter the record books as the first person to sail "over the top" of the world having sailed westwards around Cape Horn and across the Russian Arctic coast.