THE TIMARU HERALD 21 JULY 2014 - NORWEGIAN VIKING WON'T PAY ANTARCTICA FINE

A self-proclaimed viking who sailed a yacht from Auckland to Antarctica without permission has been fined but refuses to pay. Norwegian authorities fined Jarle Andhoy 45,000 Norwegian kroner (NZ$8360) for violating environmental protection protocols in the Antarctic Treaty. If he doesn't pay he will be given a 50-day suspended jail sentence. Andhoy entered New Zealand illegally in 2012 and was ordered out. He left from Auckland on a 16-metre steel yacht, Nilaya, and sailed to McMurdo Sound. Among his crew was Mana Party activist Busby Noble. New Zealand authorities tried to halt the yacht but Andhoy made it to McMurdo where he tried to find traces of his previous yacht, Berserk, which had disappeared in a storm with the loss of three men in 2011. Nothing was found and Andhoy took Nilaya to Chile where he and Noble and another young crew member were briefly arrested. Andhoy and Noble became celebrities in Norway. Andhoy, who described himself as a "wild Viking" at the time, said he was regarded as a sex god for his adventures. "Norwegian women are turned on by men who smell of sweat, [who] can put up a wall and drain an outdoor toilet," he said. Norway's state media NRK reported that Judge Unni Sandbukt of the Nord-Troms District Court had convicted Andhoy of sailing into Antarctica without permission of the Norwegian Polar Institute. He was found to have lacked permission and failed to meet strict demands for insurance and preparedness for environmental consequences when he set sail from New Zealand. Andhoy argued that an international treaty governing Antarctica applies only on land, not at open sea. The court found him guilty of violating the treaty, though, fining him. Norwegian news outlet Dagbladet quoted Andhoy's lawyer, Brynjar Ostgard, saying an appeal would be filed on the grounds that the site, McMurdo Sound, is open sea and not covered by the treaty rules which apply to land. Andhoy believed there was no obligation to report to sail on the open sea. He would not pay the fine, he said. LINK: http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/world/10291142/Norwegian-viking-won-t-pay-Antarctica-fine