Tromso to Svalbard on a Clipper 60 - the trip of a lifetime!

Published 14:25 on 2 Feb 2022

Thursday 3rd February at 1900, club member Phil Horton will be holding a talk at Hamble River Sailing Club, entitled:

"Tromso to Svalbard on a Clipper 60 - the trip of a lifetime!"

The story starts with a day's training in polar bear defence at the National Rifle Association. After joining the boat in Tromso, Hummingbird, her skipper, first mate and 8 crew headed North across the Barents sea, then up the West coast of Spitsbergen. We spent three weeks above the Arctic Circle in 24-hour daylight reaching almost 80 degrees North. We visited Russian mining towns with statues of Lenin looking on, scientific research stations, the jumping-off point for the 1897 attempt to cross the North Pole by balloon. We saw walruses, arctic terns, whales and reindeer, and absorbed the history of this remote outpost of humanity while coming to understand the hardships that early explorers, sealers and whalers must have endured.

Please book your seat in advance here.

Last updated 10:20 on 9 April 2025