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There are sailors who rack up victories. And then there?s Norbert Sedlacek. For the past eight years, the Austrian has been collecting?above all?new starts. In 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023, his ambitious ANT ARCTIC LAB challenge ended prematurely, always due to a technical problem. This year, he?s setting out for the sixth time. After a while, you start to wonder if his real record isn?t the number of checklists he?s completed before leaving the dock.
Sixth start, same course, same determination
The route is now well known. Departure from Les Sables-d?Olonne, sailing north toward Svalbard as far as 80° North, a long descent down the Atlantic, circumnavigating Antarctica, rounding Cape Horn, and returning to the Vendée after about six months at sea. On paper, the route already seems daunting. In reality, it?s even more so. And yet, Sedlacek continues to believe in his project with an almost disconcerting steadfastness.
The first five attempts alone tell a story.
- In 2018, several pieces of equipment stopped working in southern Ireland. Back to the port.
- In 2019, a headsail was lost following a series of technical problems in the middle of a storm.
- In 2021, it was the power generation systems that forced the sailor to turn back off the coast of Iceland.
- In 2022, problems with the rudder brought the adventure to an end.
- Finally, in 2023, the tilting keel and its electronics decided it was time to head home. It?s as if his boat is determined to return to Les Sables d?Olonne every summer.
Behind the abandoned ships lies a veritable floating laboratory
To reduce Sedlacek to his failures, however, would be to miss the point.
His 60-foot yacht was never intended to be just a record-breaking sailboat. Built at his Innovation Yachts shipyard, it serves as a test platform for more sustainable construction. The hull is made from volcanic rock fibers combined with bio-based resins. The boat also incorporates recyclability features rarely seen on a sailboat of this size.
The Open60AAL also features an all-electric propulsion system, hydrogenerators, reinforced watertight compartments, and a design engineered to withstand ice and floating debris. Its purpose goes far beyond mere sporting performance.
The sailor who refuses to give up on his idea
There is no shortage of criticism. Some believe Sedlacek is giving up too soon. Others consider his project unrealistic. But there is one detail that?s hard to ignore. After every setback, the sailor returns to his workshop, takes things apart, analyzes them, makes adjustments, reinforces them, and then sets out again?without proclaiming a revolution or promising a historic feat at every press conference.
That perseverance commands respect. In an era when many projects fall by the wayside at the first financial or technical hurdle, Sedlacek continues to pursue his own with an almost disarming consistency.
This sixth attempt might finally be the one. Or maybe not.
But if a seventh start were ever announced, it?s a safe bet that no one would really be surprised. Norbert Sedlacek belongs to that very special category of sailors who view a withdrawal not as the end, but merely as a stopover that?s a little longer than expected.
