Børge Ousland

Contrary to our hopes and expectations, we did not receive the insurance documents today – and hence cannot leave today. What we are said to require is so-called Search and Rescue Insurance, which covers the cost of such operations if something unforeseen should happen to us.

A representative of the Russian insurance company that had originally promised insurance, and then withdrawn their approval at the last minute, has been on board.

I must confess that I find the whole issue a bit curious. After all, today Russia is a signatory nation to the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue of 1979. So we’re surprised such insurance is required.

Anyways, we remain optimistic that the issue will resolve itself. Stas (Stanislav) is doing everything he can to find a solution. Let’s hope that we obtain the needed insurance tomorrow.

(Børge in Murmansk, interviewed by mobile phone)
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Meanwhile, here are some more photographs…

From our press conference on board icebreaker NS “Lenin”. (Saturday)

Also a representative of the Russian Coastguard attended our press conference.

We were deeply honoured when the captain of the “Lenin” came on board for a visit on our humble vessel. Our other visitor is the Norwegian Consul General in Murmansk.

This entry was posted on July 27th, 2010 at 7:24 PM and is filed under Northern Passage - 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.