White Whale

Orson Welles and Moby Dick inspire an Arctic voyage

The Arctic tern or Sterna paradisaea is a seabird that migrates the length of the world from its breeding grounds in the Arctic Circle to winter in the Antarctic. In 2014, Barcelona-born skipper Albert Bargués decided to emulate the birds’ annual journey and spend a year captaining his aptly named boat The Sterna, with the (ultimately unrealized) goal to spend 365 days in total daylight. The indefatigable travel filmmaker Guille Cascante accompanied his close friend Bargués on the unique voyage, with a second trip planned for Antarctic in 2017 to complete the migratory cycle of its avian namesake.

White Whale in numbers (and words)
Most remote islands visited:
Bear Island, Barents Sea—a research station with a population of nine—and Pyamiden Svalbard archipelago, a Soviet mining town abandoned in 1991 with a population of 13.

The boat
A 27-meter aluminium sailing boat bought in Falmouth, England and sailed back to Barcelona. Built for speed and racing and suitable for the Arctic over fibreglass boats due to the icebergs.

Voyage casualties:
A broken arm (Albert Bargués), an iceberg collision (The Sterna).

Adventurer inspirations:
Tintin, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herman Melville, Joseph Conrad, Patrick O’Brian.

The voiceover:
White Whale features an excerpt of Orson Welles’ unfinished film from 1971,Moby Dick.

Duration of footage shot:
26 hours.