Chuan’s Ocean: And So It Begins

Published on September 6th, 2015

CHUANS OCEAN 4 from Big Ape Media on Vimeo.

An incredible sailing record attempt two years in the making, is officially underway.

Chinese skipper Guo Chuan, leading an international crew of four top sailors and one media crew, set sail to attempt the first non-stop sailing world record along the Arctic Ocean’s Northeast Passage over the weekend.

The super trimaran “Qingdao China”, named after the port city in China, crossed the start line late on Thursday afternoon (Sept 3) in Murmansk, Russia and has already traveled over 1000 nautical miles in the first few days at sea.

A departure ceremony was held in front of the pontoon shared by the famous Lenin Icebreaker and Qingdao China. Officials from Murmansk including Grigory Stratiy, Vice Governor of the Murmansk region, representatives from Qingdao and all crew attended the ceremony.

The World Sailing Speed Record Council officially declared the start of Qingdao China’s Arctic Ocean Northeast Passage world record challenge as 16:41 local time (13:41 UTC) Thursday. The crew plans to sail the entire Northeast Passage non-stop from Murmansk to the Bering Strait between Alaska (U.S.A) and Russia, the quickest route from Europe to the Pacific, while expecting to set the first non-stop sailing world record for the passage in the process. The voyage is about 3300 nautical miles and expected to be completed within two weeks.

Along with skipper Guo Chuan, Qingdao China’s crew includes Frenchmen Jochen Krauth (Baie de Quiberon) and Quentin Monegier (La Trinité-sur-Mer), Germans Boris Herrmann (Kiel) and media crew Tim Bastian Frank (Hamburg), and Sergei Nizovtsev from Russia.

A weekly video series produced by award-winning director Stewart Binns will follow along. Here is the series timeline:

August 18: Departure footage from Brittany, France
August 25: Arrival into Kirkenes, Norway
August 31: The Challenge Awaits: Arrival into Murmansk
September 4: Departure from Murmansk, Russia
September 10: Arctic Ocean halfway update
September 17/18: Northeast Passage finish

Guo Chuan Racing – Additional details