Late last Tuesday, 17 July, Adrian Flanagan slipped his moorings from the Port of Nome and set sail for Chukotka, Russia. It is there, in the north-eastern settlement town of Provideniya that his yacht Barrabas will be inspected prior to completing his attempt to sail the first ever single-handed vertical circumnavigation of the globe via the Russian Arctic.

In May last year, Adrian contacted Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football team and governor of the Russian Far East region of Chukotka where the Northern Sea Route (NSR) begins, to ask for much needed assistance in receiving the required permits for Adrian to travel along the NSR. Abramovich agreed, and his representatives were in the process of trying to obtain those permits when circumstances required that the Expedition be put on hold last winter.

Over the past few months, in preparation for the restart, those efforts were renewed and the necessary documents from the Transport Ministry’s Northern Sea Route Administration as well as the national and local divisions of the Federal Security Service. Flanagan now hopes to commence his voyage shortly.