May 2026 Newsletter

Cape Town Refit - University of Alaska Project - Recent Press Coverage - 2026/2027 Programme and Opportunities - RYA Yachtmaster Ocean 2026 Student Testimonial

Back to our usual routine, annual service of everything in Cape Town, based from the East Quay Boatyard with our old friend Manuel Mendez. See below for the brief photo gallery here of the first two weeks work.

 

Vinson arrives first into Cape Town with RYA Yachtmaster Ocean students trainees aboard.

Vinson was first in to the V&A Waterfront at 0800 on April 17th. Amundsen followed at 0800 on the 18th – both in from Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, with a day stop on the island of Tristan da Cunha. Vinson had eight mature Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Ocean Yacht Master students navigating with sextants across the South Atlantic (GPS’s masked up) and Amundsen had eight young Chilean cadets from the sailing school Cedena (www.cedenapw.cl) in Puerto Williams, a project my visionary colleague Nicolas Ibanez supports. One of our aims is to build up a knowledge base within this group of these young sailors aspiring to crew for us on the Pelagic 77’s.

The Chilean cadets arrive on Amundsen

See below for a slide show of the first 2 weeks of the refit

 

OTHER NEWS

Here is the recap on the CTBTO web site of our February/March project on Amundsen working for the US Department of War. https://www.ctbto.org/news-and-events/news/us-nears-ims-completion-antarctic-infrasound-station

Click on https://www.pelagic.co.uk/news_press&ads.asp for more articles in various publications on our Shackleton Traverse in September and also an excellent article by Pete Goss in the May issue of Yachting Monthly about his experience on his expedition cruise to South Georgia in October/November.

TRIPS ON OFFER

See https://www.pelagic.co.uk/programme.asp for links to details on these trips.

Antarctic Peninsula Ski Randonee 20 Nov - 18 Dec 2026 An expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula to enjoy skiing, sea-kayaking and wildlife-watching, led by Stephen Venables. 3 places available

Antarctic Peninsula - 20 November to 18 December 2026 - due to a group possibly cancelling, I am offering this to a set group of six to eight at a substantial discount. Contact Skip for details on +44 7379541936

Antarctic Peninsula 28 day "Ice with Everything" Tour. 1 January to 28 January 2027. Priority given to watching the abundant wildlife and visiting the scenic hot spots of the Antarctic Peninsula. 4 places available

Antarctic Peninsula – 7 February to 7 March 2027- due to a group possibly cancelling, I am offering this to a set group of six to eight at a substantial discount. Contact Skip for details on +44 7379541936

March 20 - April 20 2027 - Pelagic Adventure Sailing RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Course followed by Southern Ocean Delivery Passage from Port Stanley in the Falklands to Cape Town on board the Pelagic 77 Vinson of Antarctica. Build sea time, miles and practice ocean navigation and seamanship for RYA Yachtmaster Ocean qualifications. 5 places available

CUSTOMER COMMENT ON 2026 RYA YACHTMASTER OCEAN PROGRAMME

“And lastly, here is a thank you from one of our students on the RYA Ocean Yachtmaster Programmes.”

"Hello Skip and Kenneth,

I hope you are both well.
I’m very happy to share that I have passed the Ocean Oral exam here in Cape Town and have now officially qualified as an RYA Yachtmaster Ocean.

Skip, thank you so much for organizing such an extraordinary expedition — it was truly a rare opportunity to experience the Southern Ocean in such an authentic way.

Kenneth, I am deeply grateful for your systematic and rigorous teaching of celestial navigation — from sun sights to star navigation, and learning how to properly use the star finder plate. Through your guidance, I feel that I have finally developed a structured and intuitive understanding of celestial navigation — not just as a technique, but as a coherent body of knowledge.

It was a true honour to have our paths cross in this way, and to be part of the team on Vinson of Antarctica.

I’ve attached a photo I took during the visit to Tristan Da Cunha, along with some of my navigation calculation notes — I hope you might enjoy them.

With my sincere thanks,
Huai-Pu"

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING BOOKINGS
Due to cyber security issues that we have had recently, I am requiring that everyone who expresses interest in a charter spot to contact me first of all by phone/Whatsap on +44 7379541936. Subsequently we can work on email but every time you receive an email from me, check the address that it is skipnovak@pelagic.co.uk and not something similar. For any payments after invoicing or subsequent payments, we also need to have a phone/Whatsap call to verify the bank details.

Cheers Skip

RYA Ocean Yachtmaster training on passage Falklands to Cape Town

Vinson of Antarctica in Antarctica