American Sailing · video

What this video covers

Skip Novak, expedition sailor and author of *Skip Novak on Sailing*, describes 50 years of high-latitude sailing in an interview with Peter Eisler.▶ 0:49 Novak operates the Pelagic 77 schooners as a charter business in the Southern Ocean while also sailing his original 54-foot Pelagic, built in 1986, on personal expeditions — most recently a three-month circuit of Greenland's west coast from Cape Farval to 78° north, then down the Baffin Coast to Newfoundland and Maine.▶ 2:38 He argues small boats are superior for cruising: simpler, lower-maintenance, and more manageable.▶ 3:09 Recent scientific work includes camping eight days on Zavodovsky Island to count 2.5 million chinstrap penguins and GPS-tag birds for South Georgia fisheries management, and a six-week census of Great Wandering Albatross on South Georgia's restricted south coast for the British Antarctic Survey — the first full count since 2015, with results showing the population has stabilized or recovered, largely due to improved long-line fishing techniques.▶ 4:02 Novak describes South Georgia as requiring a minimum 28-day stay, with no airstrip and no formal medevac system, making self-sufficiency and careful seamanship non-negotiable.▶ 9:38 He has crossed the Shackleton mountain route six times, taking four to five days with tented camps.▶ 11:23

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