A BRITISH yachtsman sailed home yesterday after circumnavigating the globe solo through the icebound Arctic.
Adrian Flanagan, 47, set out on 28 October, 2005 in his quest to become the first yachtsman to sail a 30,000-mile vertical circumnavigation westwards via Cape Horn and the Russian Arctic.
The father of two from Ludgershall, in Buckinghamshire, ca
me alongside for the last time at Hamble, Hampshire, at about 11am after 405 days at sea in his 38ft stainless steel sloop Barrabas. But he will not go down in official record books because he had to stop twice and hitched a lift from a Russian icebreaker.
Last night a spokeswoman for the World Sailing Speed Record Council told The Scotsman: "I can confirm that this is not a record, as Mr Flanagan stopped twice."
His ex-wife Louise, who has managed the challenge, and the couple's two children, Benjamin, nine, and Gabriel, six, plus family, friends and supporters were at the Royal Southern Yacht Club on the Hamble River to help celebrate with the traditional champagne.
Moments after finishing, Mr Flanagan said he felt a "tremendous relief" to finish. "I am pleased to be here, It's great," he said. "Doing what I did was something I had to do and I had pursued it since childhood."
He said the dangers of the voyage had been acute, and he told reporters that because of his family there was "not a prayer" he would do it again.
It had been an incident-packed voyage for the former business development manager and qualified osteopath.
During the voyage he made the first recorded non-stop solo UK to Hawaii sail, and survived being swept overboard off Cornwall on just the fifth day.
In the Atlantic he was tracked by pirates off Brazil and he rounded Cape Horn the "wrong" way – travelling west – and became one of only a few sailors to do so in modern times.
The key to the voyage was permission to sail through the Russian Arctic, and with the help of Roman Abramovich, the billionaire Chelsea owner, he was given the green light. To return the favour the family promised to support Chelsea in last night's Champions League final.
Mr Flanagan has completed the voyage without a major sponsor and his boat is now up for sale.
The yachtsman said: "I feel huge pride in my yacht Barrabas. She has seen me through fair weather and foul. As the first British flagged yacht to enter Russia's Arctic territorial waters, her place in sailing history is assured."
The sailor said he owed a debt of thanks to Sir Francis Chichester, whose own solo circumnavigation in the 1960s was an inspiration.
A true circumnavigation of the world happens when a vessel's track passes over two points "antipodal" to each other – diametrically opposite across the Earth. Mr Flanagan set out to do it via the polar regions.
The first known circumnavigation was recorded in 1522, by members of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition to find a route to the Spice Islands by sailing west. In modern times, sailing adventurers such as Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Sir Francis have completed circumnavigations.
"It was Sir Francis who inspired me to make this voyage after I read Gipsy Moth Circles the World as a 15-year-old schoolboy," explained Mr Flanagan.
"The voyage has been long and it has been hard, at times filled with moments of joy and at others of terror. Facing down the challenge of rounding the notorious Cape Horn against wind and currents from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean presented the greatest physical peril.
"Together, Barrabas and I now belong to a small elite who have accomplished this feat, fewer in number than astronauts who have walked on the Moon.
"I owe much also to Louise, my ex-wife, who managed the Alpha Global Expedition. My dream became her dream and without her I would not have succeeded. To live and not to dream is pointless, but to dream and not to live it is worse.
"I hope the legacy of the Alpha Global Expedition will be an inspiration to my two sons, Benjamin and Gabriel, and to anyone else to chase their own dreams, just as Chichester inspired me."
On two occasions Mr Flanagan had to stop sailing. Once when he was waiting for permission from the Russian government to sail through the Arctic and once when conditions were too treacherous off the Norwegian coast and he wintered there. He also hitched a ride with a ship in the Russian Arctic because the sea was still icebound.
The sailor has also written a book describing his challenge, Over The Top, which will be published later this year.
He said he would now take time to finish the manuscript before embarking on other challenges.
BACKGROUND• THE first known circumnavigation was recorded in 1522, by members of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition to find a route to the Spice Islands by sailing west.
• Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was the first person to sail single-handed and non-stop around the world between 14 June, 1968, and 22 April, 1969.
• Sir Francis Chichester was knighted by the Queen for becoming the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the clipper route in 1966-67, and the fastest circumnavigator, in nine months and one day overall. He was the first person to achieve a true circumnavigation of the world solo from west to east via the great capes.
• For the ceremony, the Queen used the sword used by Queen Elizabeth I to knight Sir Francis Drake – the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. He arrived back in England on the Golden Hind in September 1580.
