MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS Correspondent Viktoria Melnikova/. Dozens fans of sea and the North in Russia join voyages around the world onboard boats, yachts and even catamarans. They are moved by the mystery of sailing, by the interest to the Arctic and Antarctic ice. Only few can manage such a voyage to become known all over the world. The Elizaveta's crew was successful. The travelers experienced major failures, the harsh climate, the pandemic and even hunger. Yet, the expedition was successful and the travelers now are dreaming of new journeys.

Departure - from Yenisei River

In summer, 2017, a berth on the Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk was full of cheerful people - they were laughing, singing, and the harmonica player happily pick up every melody. Bewildered passers-by stopped to watch, and then joined that holiday, not even realizing what it was all about. That was quite an event for the Siberian river station. First sounds of the Farewell of Slavianka march prompted the people were seeing off sailors. The Elizaveta yacht, blue and slender (exactly the impression she made) was berthed. The crew gathered on the deck to say goodbye - this was how one of the longest round-the-globe voyages in the Russian history began.

Igor Spiridenko, Chairman of the Russian Geographical Society's Krasnoyarsk Branch said that expedition was dubbed Routes of Great Expeditions and was supported by the Association of Polar Explorers and the Russian Geographical Society's Krasnoyarsk Branch. "Throughout the expedition, we watched the yacht, kept in touch with the crew and were confident the Elizaveta would go around the world to return to Krasnoyarsk," he said.

Another person to share the confidence was the expedition's leader and the main inspirer - Alexey Loginov, who is 61 years old. He is a successful financier, the vice-president of a leading Russian bank, who chose to quit the job to - literally - go to the open sea.

"The idea of a round-the-world expedition under sail had been in the air for a long time. The thing is - my friends and I have graduated from the Arctic faculty of the St. Petersburg Makarov Seafarer (the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping - TASS). The faculty mainly trained meteorologists, hydrographers, and ocean studies experts. Back in the Soviet time, we worked for about 10 years practicing the received skills. Later on, after the perestroika, when everything collapsed, each of us had to survive somehow. Some went into business, and I went into financial management. For a long time we did not contact each other, but everyone was missing the sea. With time, we began to meet, we chartered boats in different parts of the globe, took flights there to sail between islands," Loginov said.

But anyway, sailing from the Mediterranean to Polynesia is one thing, and trying to circumnavigate the world, and even to reach the Arctic - is quite a different story. The Makarov graduates decided to sail around Cape Horn, through the Drake Strait - the globe's southernmost continental point, and through the Vilkitsky Strait - the planet's northernmost continental point.

They planned the extreme expedition would continue for a year or two. The most pessimistic plans were for three years. The reality, however, turned out to be more complicated than the plans. The Elizaveta faced first challenges in just a couple of months, when the yacht reached St. Petersburg.

Elizaveta, an experimental yacht

The expedition sailed down the Yenisei River to Dudinka. There, they put up a mast, sails and headed through the Kara, Barents and White Seas, the White Sea Canal for St. Petersburg. During that voyage, many people wondered where the yacht had started the journey. To answer the question, Loginov took out his phone, opened a map and showed a point on it - "the city of Krasnoyarsk". "No one could believe. They would say: "Come on, be serious! This is the center of the continent." Then I would zoom in to show the great Yenisei River," the traveler laughed.

When they reached St. Petersburg, it became clear the ship was not ready for the ocean crossing. "The experience of passing the Kara Sea has revealed a number of significant design flaws in the rigging. In St. Petersburg, the yacht underwent a radical upgrade. We have put tanks (vertical non-pressure storage tanks - TASS) for fuel and water for long journeys. We also have changed the entire rigging - sails, steering, navigation system, another engine, solar panels on the stern. Generally speaking, we have upgraded everything but the hull. The process took two years," Loginov said.

He talked about the Elizaveta with special love, despite all the difficulties and improvements that hindered the circumnavigation. It was a few years before the expedition that he saw the yacht in the Krasnoyarsk reservoir. It had been designed at a St. Petersburg research institute. Specialists in Krasnoyarsk finalized the project and made the boat in metal at the local experimental workshop. "Here, once again, happened that perestroika, the plant went bankrupt. The boat remained in the hangar. Then, the Krasnoyarsk Sailing Federation found it, bought it or exchanged for something. They made a sailing cruiser out of it, and took it to the reservoir. By that time, she had sailed quite a lot, was pretty shabby. In fact, there was a hull and a mast. I bought it. We took it down the river over the dam. Then, had it slightly upgraded in Krasnoyarsk. The boat was interesting. It is a narrow, long cruiser. None of the kind is being built now. Today, they produce more flat and wide cruisers. But this old construction turned out to be very convenient for sailing through the ice," he continued.

Everything is simple: the narrow hull fits in between narrow passages in the ice, and the thick metal on board - 10 mm - means it is an ice class vessel. Such a yacht may break through not very thick ice in the Arctic and can moor to stone walls without fearing kicks in the keel.

Besides, he enjoyed the yacht's name. The first owner gave the name in honor of his little daughter. Her portrait still hangs in the mess hall. Loginov liked the story, and decided to leave the name as it was. That was how a yacht with a difficult fate, but such a warm name, finally found its owner.

"No chicken, go eat tuna!"

Two idle years in St. Petersburg in waiting for the upgrade to be completed, could destruct anyone. But not Loginov or his team. Surely, over that time, a part of the original crew has retreated - people have to address their concerns and affairs.

The new crew, formed back then, deserves a special attention. Loginov invited those whom friends could recommend, and searched social networks. "We do not have a permanent crew. We recruit new people for each stage. Every time it's a personal casting, negotiations. Some have been with us for a few stages. Others stayed for only a part of the route. In fact, more than 50 people of all ages have been on the boat: from a 17-year-old student to a 70-year-old veteran. We've seen yachtsmen and rock climbers, musicians and directors, bloggers. The main aspects are motivation, interest and physical skills," Loginov said adding crew members must be able to work in a team, must be ready to help others, and must have a sense of humor. It's impossible to do without it.

Pavel Pavlov, the yacht's senior assistant, has all these qualities, as well as the education - he was trained as a small vessels sailor. He is the only one who has been with Loginov for the entire six years. Pavel is not a fan of talking to the media, but the expedition leader speaks about him with respect and even admiration.

"Pavel is the son of my old friend from the Makarov [University]. He sailed once from Dudinka to St. Pete, and that's it, got all into it. And has followed me all the way. A good guy, physically strong, a smart person. He's a hero. Whenever there's a crisis situation, he is rushing to solve it. Like Baron Munchausen: in the morning - a due feat. I worry about him all the time, because in a storm he climbs on the mast if something has come off, or in an ice trap he rushes between the boat and the ice risking his life. Thus, I have to keep an eye on him and often make him refuse most radical steps," Loginov said describing the assistant.

On the Elizaveta, Pavel was in charge of everything. Loginov recalls an interesting episode: "At the peak of the pandemic, we had nowhere to re-supply the stock, and we ate mostly caught fish and something we could get on the uninhabited Polynesian islands. The crew is fed up with tuna as it has been on our daily menu for too long. So, the guys beg the first mate for a chicken, which (everyone knew for sure) he keeps in the freezer. However, Pavel was adamant. He said: "N! Chicken is scheduled for next Thursday's noodle soup, so eat tuna for now!"

Antarctic ice traps

In 2019, having fully equipped the Elizaveta, the travelers headed from St. Petersburg for the Baltic. The yacht's crew hurried - they were to cross the Atlantic, sail from the Baltic to the North Sea, go around Europe to the Canary Islands, from there to Brazil and then towards the Antarctic. They hurried not just to gain the lost time. They wanted to reach the Antarctic by the 200th anniversary of its discovery by Russian navigators Bellingshausen and Lazarev, which was celebrated in 2020.

At first, everything went well. They reached Brazil successfully, in Rio de Janeiro the crew saw in the 2020 New Year, and by February they got to the Bellingshausen station.

Here is how Loginov describes the way to Antarctic: "It is a very difficult navigation area with stormy winds, high waves, strong currents. It wasn't easy over there. Well, every place has its problems. When the team works fine, overcoming difficulties is a technical task."

At the beginning of 2020, the Elizaveta crossed the Drake Strait and reached Chile. The crew hoped they had managed the most difficult route. The Antarctica is behind, and things will go faster. But the pandemic broke out, disrupting all the plans. It extended the trip for another year.

Pandemic ocean

During the quarantine, they had to pull the Elizaveta ashore in Chile, and the crew had to fly home to Russia. Nowadays the expedition members recall that step was not easy, but everyone treated it with understanding. They hoped it was a temporary measure - everything will end very soon. In less than a year, the navigators returned to the Elizaveta hoping the expedition would continue in the usual rhythm, without any surprises. Nobody could know back then that only the first stage of the epidemic had ended and all the difficulties were still ahead of them.

"In January, 2021, we launched the Elizaveta again. We went to the Pacific Ocean with the intention to cross it and return to our native shores from the east. But then we were trapped by the second wave of COVID. It was tough. We had nowhere to replenish our food, water, and fuel supplies. All the island states were locked down, they would not allow anyone, even those from the sea," Loginov said.

That was the time when the story about tuna and chicken happened. Over the pandemic, the crew members lost about 10 kg each. From time to time they managed to resupply the stock. For example, in French Polynesia and on the Easter Island. But that was barely enough. They chose not to use the engine all the time to save fuel - they were sailing on tailwinds. The crew learned how to extract fresh water from the sail in rains. In one downpour they managed to collect up to 50 liters of water. This was how they reached the Fiji, and from there they sailed straight north to the Kamchatka. The native land seemed very close.

Surprisingly, the pandemic, the locked countries and the refusal, albeit for objective reasons, to help travelers with food could not change Loginov's attitude to people the Elizaveta met on the way. In fact, those meetings are among Alexey Loginov's strongest impressions.

"We often met people who were happy to help selflessly. For example, two geologists worked with us all night in Chukotka. Our steering cables got broken. They found cables somewhere and helped us to rewind them. When I tried to give them money, they were terribly offended. Similar stories happened in Argentina and Chile. In the Drake Strait, Argentine soldiers helped us with fuel in a storm when we ran out of our own. Wonderful people, willing to help without expecting anything in return. This builds up the faith in humanity," Loginov said.

Harsh Northern Sea Route

In the autumn of 2021, the Elizaveta, having passed the pandemic, at first reached the Kuril Islands and then Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. When the team seemed to be almost at home, they did not dare to sail along the Northern Sea Route. "The people were worn out after the Pacific crossing. We needed a break. Besides, the boat needed to be repaired. Therefore, the decision was to leave the yacht for the winter, and everyone went home," Loginov said.

The crew attempted to pass the Northern Sea Route in 2022. The Elizaveta sailed through the Bering Strait around the Chukotka, but ran into very solid ice near the Wrangel Island. "We didn't manage to break through. We did what not, but the ice wouldn't let us pass. Back then, nobody could manage. There were only a couple vessels escorted by nuclear icebreakers of the Sibir type. They could convoy two or three vessels at a time. It didn't seem quite right to us to sail led by a nuclear icebreaker, so we returned to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and spent another winter there," he said.

The yacht's crew, Igor Spiridenko said, was engaged in a comprehensive survey of the Arctic under the state program for development of the Russian Arctic zone: "It is difficult to overestimate the courage of the expedition participants. Like in the times of great expeditions, seas and oceans remain a huge risk to humans. It is very important that we have preserved that great spirit. Scientific research results of this long-distance campaign are still to come, but already now we can say about the great experience for Russia and Russian sciences, as well as about new stages in the Arctic development."

When in the Arctic, the Elizaveta crew sampled soils so that experts could test them for heavy metals contamination. For biologists, they photographed birds and animals, indicating the habitat. This work has brought many surprises.

"In the Arctic, the animal world is represented very unevenly. Its high density is concentrated in the eastern and western sectors. The central sector is quite empty, because of the solid ice there, and animals have nowhere to swim to. There are only polar bears and seals there. In the east, we have seen many whales, belugas, walruses, killer whales. Surprisingly, we've met a flock of dolphins right near the Bering Strait. Normally they don't go there, it's too cold for them. Apparently, the climate on the planet is changing, and animals are migrating to habitats that are new to them," Loginov said.

The crew also did work for Russian cartographers and hydrographers - to combine various navigation systems and positions on maps. "In the locations where the shipping lanes are intensive, everything has been verified for quite a time. But, whenever you step aside a little, and we went to different places, it turns out that there are discrepancies between the coordinates and the map. We have seen this often. We verified the coordinates and sent this information to them," the expedition leader said.

Only this summer, the voyage was completed. South-eastern winds have helped the Elizaveta. They pushed ice slightly off the coast and the yacht rushed to the Vilkitsky Strait, bypassed Cape Chelyuskin, and then sailed down south to Dixon and Dudinka. The destination was Krasnoyarsk.

Training vessel for young navigators

When the Elizaveta approached Krasnoyarsk, there were no orchestras, or crowds of people, or musicians. That was the choice of the expedition participants. The yacht was exhausted, she was no longer that pretty, and even seemed to have lost a little weight - like the crew did.

What it needs now it to have repaired the screw and shaft, to have coats of priming and paint, to be cleaned: the salt and the 100% humidity at sea make everything unusable very quickly. The captain says the Elizaveta's future would not be in long voyages.

"The plans were to leave the yacht in Krasnoyarsk. Half as a museum, half as a training vessel for kids who want to connect their lives with the sea, for the river navigation school students. It seems to me that could drop sparks of dreams into their souls. If a few boys and girls get inspired with a dream of far-away trips, with dreams of the sea, then noting is in vain. We will light a spark of dream. This is what matters, since without dreams life is useless," Loginov said.

His dream is to make sure the Elizaveta has a good owner, to find people who will help to make this educational project in Krasnoyarsk and who will plan new voyages: he would love to sail the yacht to Severnaya Zemlya, to Novaya Zemlya, to Franz Josef Land and to bypass Cape of Good Hope from the south.