Seven Irish sailors have completed the penultimate leg in their 6,000-mile circumnavigation of the North Pole.
The crew of the Mayo-built yacht, Northabout, arrived in the northern Russian port of Murmansk yesterday. When Northabout reaches the port of Westport, Co Mayo, later this month, it will become the first small yacht to complete a westward Arctic polar circumnavigation.
Mayo skipper Jarlath Cunnane said he and his colleagues - expedition leader Paddy Barry, Dr Mick Brogan, Colm Brogan, Rory Casey, Kevin Cronin and Garry Finnegan - were also delighted to be on the crew of the first non-Russian boat to navigate the Northeast Passage westwards. The Russian authorities were "mighty throughout", Mr Barry said.
"Once we had completed all the paperwork, they couldn't have been more helpful. We were even able to follow two nuclear ice-breakers, and were forced to drink vodka at gunpoint on arriving in here early this morning!"
Northabout first left Westport in 2001 to sail the Northwest Passage, and reached Alaska via Greenland and Arctic Canada in one season.
The Northeast Passage expedition began in Alaska in July 2004, when the crew sailed across the top of Siberia. The seven men returned last month to try to finish the route.
Full progress reports are available on the website: www.northabout.com
