First Chinese to sail across Artic Ocean

The first Chinese to complete a solo nonstop circumnavigation will set sail on Thursday for a shorter but more challenging voyage across the Arctic along a route never conquered before.

Chinese skipper Guo Chuan, who became the first man worldwide to finish a 138-day global voyage on a class-40 boat in April 2013, will set sail with an international crew from Russian port city Murmansk on Thursday, aiming to set a new world record of nonstop sailing along the Northeast Passage in the Arctic Ocean on a 29.7-meter trimaran named Qingdao China.

Guo has built up an international crew for the Arctic voyage, including Jochen Krauth and Quentin Monegier from France, Boris Herrmann and Tim Frank (media crew) from Germany and Sergei Nizovtsev from Russia.

Starting from Murmansk, Guo’s crew is expected to finish the Arctic sail in the easternmost Russian port of Provideniya within 20 days across the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea and the Chukchi Sea as well as the Bering Strait over a 3,300 nautical-mile (6,112km) voyage.

Should the venture succeed, Guo’s crew will set a new world record of the fastest nonstop across-the-Arctic navigation along a route which is shorter than the current shipping line but has never been sailed by civilian and commercial vessels before.

However, this is not only a voyage for the record but more a journey to spread peace through sport, said Guo.

"Our six crew members are from different nations. If it were 70 years ago, we would fight against each other on a battlefield. But now we sail together for the same purpose: peace and sport," Guo said at a press conference held on the famous Icebreaker, Lenin, in Murmansk on Tuesday.

“We have different skin colors and we look different, but in our hearts we have many things in common. We are devoted to sailing and our profession. And in the bigger picture, I do hope we can do something more meaningful. Apart from promoting sailing sport, we can do something even greater by promoting peace using sport."

Taken from China Daily