So long old friend
Published on 19.08.2008 - General Info
We were just informed of the death of Willy De Roos on the 4th of August 2008. Willy was a famous Belgian navigator and a true lover of the Polar Regions. The International Polar Foundation expresses its most sincere condolences to his family and relatives.
Mysterious, solitary, daring, trustworthy and involved ... we could use so many adjectives to qualify the famous explorer. The best way to honour his memory is to come back on the milestones of his life as a mariner, adventurer and explorer.
Between 1972 and 1975, aboard his ketch the williwaw (the name of a cold wind coming down from the mountains in Alaska, Patagonia and Siberia), Willy went for a journey around the world via the Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. Alone for the most part, he was accompanied by Michel Barbry for a short period.
In 1977, he sailed through the North-West passage, from Greenland to the Bering Straight and arrived in Vancouver, Canada. He described this expedition in his book: "Le passage du Nord-Ouest".
One year later, he carried on to Antarctica with his friend Jean Bourgeois and came back to Nieuport (Belgium) from where he had started. He was thus the first one to sail around the American continent (counter clockwise) in history.
In 1982, De Roos returned to Antarctica with his friend Alphy Van Brande in order to take footage for a movie on the state of the continent, while following in the footsteps of the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot. He tells the story of this journey in his book "Inaccessible Horizon".
In 1986, he filmed a documentary about the maritime discovery of Argentina and Chili. This original sailing trip was done solo and is portrayed in his book "Alone, in the footsteps of the caravels".
These various sailing trips, carried out before climate change, enabled him to acquire great sailing experience and, most particularly, in extreme polar conditions.
27 years after Louis and Annie Van De Wiele, he is the second Belgian to receive the "Blue Water Medal" awarded by the American Cruising Club.
Willy de Roos has been honoured by a number of countries worldwide, for having crossed the most difficult mythical maritime route between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and for having circumnavigated the Americas. Born in Belgium, de Roos' father was Dutch. Never was he recognised by his adoptive country for having succeeded in this exceptional feat.
His ketch Williwaw was bought by the friends of the Marine Masuem in Antwerp in September 1996. They gave it as a present to the city of Antwerp. This boat is now part of Belgium's national heritage. Let us remind you that this was the first and only sailing ship to have circumnavigated the American continent counter clockwise.
