Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Irish Sailing Explorers Return from Arctic Circle Voyage

26th August 2013
Irish Sailing Explorers Return from Arctic Circle Voyage

#arcticcircle – The Irish 'North of Disko' expedition, organised by Killary Adventure Company, returned last week from its ten-week voyage to the Arctic Circle and the west coast of Greenland. Stunning images of ice and film footage from the adventure are currently being collated for exhibition and a feature length documentary. The crew sailed from Galway on the 14th June and battled some wild weather on their Atlantic crossing, before reaching their destination and exploring Greenland's spectacular coastline, ice fjords and glaciers.

The crew sailed over 2000nm to Upernavik in Greenland, well inside the Arctic Circle, from where a team of four kayakers set out on a 300km unsupported sea kayak south, navigating through fjords and ice fields, while the team of three climbers tackled a series of first ascents, as they followed the kayakers south, on board the 49ft, ex admirals cup racing yacht the 'Killary Flyer'.

Adding a further dimension to the expedition, photographer Daragh Muldowney has captured some spectacular images of the disappearing ice and will be hosting an exhibition in the coming months.

The expedition was led by Jamie Young, MD of Killary Adventure Company, whose previous expeditions include the successful Irish Cape Horn Sea Kayak Expedition in 1989, the Guinea Bissau Sea Kayak Expedition in 1992, and the 'South Aris' expedition, which attempted to re-enact Shackleton's epic boat trip from Elephant Island to South Georgia, in 1997.

The crew arrived into Killary Harbour on the morning of Thursday 15th August and are currently readjusting to life ashore. 

Published in Cruising
Afloat.ie Team

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

Direct Donation to Afloat button