The fact that Yvan Bourgnon succeeded in crossing the Northwest Passage in a sports catamaran in 2017 is still being celebrated today. on the website of its main sponsor as a record: "travelling solo from Alaska to Greenland, via the Northwest Passage, in a sport catamaran, without a cabin or any assistance." As far as the last part of the sentence "without assistance" was concerned, however, the first doubts quickly arose.
According to concurring media reports from "Le Figaro" and "Der Spiegel", the 51-year-old Swiss man will stand trial today. The film director Pierre Guyot, who wanted to make a film about the trip, accuses the sailor of fraud. He was disappointed with the footage from the cameras he had attached to the catamaran, and there were also gaps in the tracking. According to Bourgnon, however, this was solely due to technical reasons.
Bourgnon now has to answer in court for "lying by omission", but he himself denies this. Guyot wants to portray him as a fraud: "The court will decide on questions of copyright and the utilisation of images taken during the Northwest Passage challenge, which I filmed myself. So the proceedings are in no way about the conditions of this crossing."
No dangerous polar bears, Bourgnon in the hotel instead
It is not yet known when a judgement can be expected. The trial centres on the question of whether Yvan Bourgnon covered the distance under his own steam or not. The accusation is that he was dragged and assisted in other ways along the way.
There are also doubts about the adventurous stories told by the sailor. Bourgnon has since admitted the allegations himself, at least in part. He probably took breaks during the 70 days of his crossing. He said: "I spent the night in a hotel, so what? Should I give up because of that?" The spectacular encounter with a polar bear he described is also said to be a lie.
Trans-Ocean prizewinner Susanne Huber-Curphey, who sailed through the Northwest Passage at the same time, made serious accusations against Bourgnon for the first time shortly after the adventure voyage. She reported that the adventurer had repeatedly accepted help from others, including her. He had also been towed around 90 miles by a Dutch sailor on whose ship he had spent six days. Bourgnon had asked him and her to keep their help secret. He himself maintained for a long time that he had spent the entire crossing on the open sports catamaran without assistance. He also emphasised this when asked explicitly in 2018 in an interview with YACHT.
From celebrated hero to fraudster
When Yvan Bourgnon managed to sail around the world with an open sports cat in 2015, he amazed the sailing world. "A Swiss man achieves the impossible" was the headline in YACHT at the time. Two years later, he embarked on his next adventure, the Northwest Passage, which he is now working on. After 70 days at sea, on 22 September 2017, he reached his destination and was celebrated for his achievement.
However, following doubts about his performance, he has since been removed from the official list of transits through the Northwest Passage, which is maintained by the Scott Polar Research Institute at the renowned Cambridge University. The reason for this is that Bourgnon was supported by other ships. The name Clark Stede is also missing from the list for the same reason. The man from Augsburg only made it through the passage in 1990 thanks to icebreaker assistance.
