The wait was necessary because spring was late in the Arctic. In his 8th expedition on a catamaran without a cabin, the objective is to discuss climate change and its socio-environmental impacts. The Polar Route project will result in the production of a documentary, the writing of articles and the publication of a book that will describe the environmental, social, economic and cultural impact of the rapid melting of the Arctic.
Beto Pandiani, with Frenchman Igor Bely
Baptized the Igloo, the small catamaran will be completed by a pedaling system in order to create another form of propulsion besides wind to overcome the ice. “From my experience on a previous voyage, I know that in the seas of Arctic, we will have little wind for several days”explains Beto Pandiani about this alternative.
Closed by the ice for several centuries, the mythical Northwest Passage becomes more and more navigable with global warming reaching the polar ice cap. The result is increased traffic and the movement of the council of powers whose coast is washed by the Arctic Ocean, the acceleration of geopolitical conflicts. What will be the consequences ? Is it a cyclical phenomenon or is it linked to the emission of fossil fuels? How and if we can mitigate this phenomenon?
About Beto Pandiani
Born in Santos, he is 64 years old and has been sailing for 40 years. Entertainment entrepreneur and former partner of restaurants and bars in São Paulo (AEROANTA, Singapore Sling, Olivia, Mr. Fish, Clube Base, Lounge and U Turn) Beto Pandiani started taking his hobby – sailing – more seriously from 1983. In 1989 he won the North American Hobiecat 16 Championship title in Chicago, USA. Over time, he began to experience a dilemma, as he no longer wanted to work at night.
It was in 1993 that he decided to change jobs. Thus, in 1994, his first and longest expedition, “Between the Tropics”, took place from Miami (USA) to Ilhabela (Brazil), which lasted 289 days and took four sailors in two 21-foot cabinless catamarans.
In 2000, Beto Pandiani embarked on his second long expedition, the “Route des Australes”, still aboard two 21-foot Hobiecats.
The “Austral Route” began in Puerto Montt, Chile, circumnavigating the entire southern coast of the South American continent, crossing Cape Horn – the highest point of the expedition – Then they continued their journey for another four months along the Argentine coast and the entire southern region of Brazil, until reaching its final destination, Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, in April 2001.
The “Drake Crossing”, carried out in 2003, was Beto Pandiani’s third expedition. The sailors left Ushuaia and crossed the passage between South America and Antarctica, known to have more than 80 shipwrecks at the bottom of its waters. The expedition lasted 45 days and with it Beto Pandiani and Duncan Ross were the first sailors to reach the Antarctic Peninsula in a boat without a cabin.
After the expeditions, Beto embarked on the “Atlantic 1000” race in 2004. The race is known to be the longest and toughest race in the world for cabinless catamarans. It stretches for thousands of miles along the US coast from Florida to North Carolina. After 12 days in the water, Beto and Duncan took second place.
On the “Boreal Route” in 2005, Beto Pandiani spent three months sailing from New York to Sisimiut, Greenland. On this trip, the sailors had the support of a motor home that accompanied them overland from New York to the end of the roads of northern Canada. From Labrador, off the coast of Canada, the duo was accompanied by the Kotic II, a boat commanded by Oleg Bely, father of Igor Bely, Pandiani’s companion on the “Pacific Crossing”. The support was necessary because the climatic conditions in the polar region are not only unstable but also violent.
The travelogues written by Pandiani and the photographic recordings of the route, made by Maristela Colucci, have been collected in the book “Rota Boreal, Expedição ao Polar Circle Arctic”.
The greatest of all trips was made between 2007 and 2008. Along with Igor Bely, Beto crossed the Pacific Ocean from Chile to Australia. It took months of travel counting the stops and after 17,000 kilometers traveled in a boat without a cabin, they were the first sailors in the world to cross the South Pacific in a small open boat.
In 2013, Beto and Igor returned to the sea and crossed the Atlantic Ocean departing from Capetown and arriving in Ilhabela nonstop. It was the first voyage without land en route and for this they sailed 37 days.
It should be remembered that all trips were unprecedented and unique.
The other trips also resulted in the books “Rota Austral” and “Travessia do Drake”, “Rota Boreal” and “Entre Trópicos”, in addition to the double DVD “Travessia do Pacífico”.
At the end of these seven voyages, Beto Pandiani became the first sailor to connect Antarctica to the Arctic in a small boat without a cabin. As he himself likes to point out, the feat was absolutely collective: Beto always surrounded himself with excellent professionals, whether they were his sailing companions (Marcus Sulzbacher, Gui Von Schmidt, Santiago Iza, Felipe Tommazzi, Duncan Ross, Felipe Whitaker and Igor Bely), be the companions of the support and documentation teams, which transform the Brazilian expeditions into products (coffee table books and DVDs) of the highest quality.
In July/2009, the storybook O mar é minha terra was released, a work whose common thread is the logbook of the Pacific Crossing – his most recent and also his longest voyage – in which the sailor Beto Pandiani recalls key passages from his five previous trips and finds a good part of his personal trajectory, passing through moments of his childhood, his youth and his maturity.
The experience acquired by Beto throughout these expeditions made him a distinguished speaker. In his lectures he talks about logistics, decision making, risk management, emotional and physical preparation, overcoming limits and teamwork, relating in an unfavorable environment and other aspects relevant to the projects.
About Igor Bély
The Adventure Partner Born in La Réunion in the Indian Ocean, he was born 37 years ago on a sailboat and has never left the sea. He has already been on board several ships and has sailed 300,000 miles . There are more than 20 polar expeditions in Antarctica, in the subantarctic regions and in Greenland, in scientific and sports projects. With Beto, he crossed the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic.
“Pop culture fan. Coffee expert. Bacon nerd. Infuriatingly humble communicator. Friendly gamer.”
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