History

The name of the Best Explorer refers to the project series. The original name was Bestiaccia, always with the same source. Launched in 1984, it was used for whale watching voyages in the Mediterranean until 2006.

2007 - From the Mediterranean to Norway

In 2007 she underwent a radical overhaul and renovation, with the replacement of the bow plates with stainless steel, renovation of the interior, installation of a diesel stove and replacement of all the instrumentation. The communications equipment was renewed and a roll bar was installed in the stern.
On 1 July 2007, under the command of skipper Nanni (Giovanni) Acquarone, who always remained in command in all subsequent navigations, the boat set sail from Imperia with destination Tromsø, Norway.
The route took her to Sóller in the Balearics, Cartagena in Spain, Gibraltar, Arklow and Dún Laoghaire in Ireland, Craobh Haven in Scotland, Stornoway in the Hebrides, Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands, Reykjavik,  Olafsvik and Ísafjörður in Iceland, the remote island of Jan Mayen and Harstad in Norway with a route of more than 5,000 nautical miles.

2008-2011 - The Svalbard Islands

In the following years, Best Explorer sailed along the Norwegian coast north of the Arctic Circle, but above all to the Svalbard Islands, where the crew became familiar with the far north, touching the latitude of 80° 47' north and with ice both of terrestrial origin (glaciers) and marine (sea ice).

2012 - The Northwest Passage

After the replacement of the original engine which had become less reliable and the renewal of the A100 class certification, the boat undertook the challenging navigation of the Northwest Passage, with a journey of 8,181 nautical miles in 140 days.
It left Tromsø on 1 June 2012 and reached the fishing port of King Cove, Alaska, in 8 legs on 19 October 2012 with a total crew of 21 different people overall members of this Association created for the occasion, name Arctic Sail Expeditions – Italy.
The stops happened in Reykjavik (Iceland), Nuuk and Upernavik (Greenland), Pond Inlet and Gjoa Haven (Nunavut Canada), Tuktoyaktuk (North West Territories – Canada) and Nome (Alaska).
It was the first navigation of an Italian boat and an Italian skipper and crew on this route.

2013-2014 – The American coast

The long-planned schedule after making the move to the Pacific, which unexpectedly had taken the Northwest Passage route instead of the Panama Canal route,  was to visit Alaska, British Columbia and Baja California.
The "descent" along America took place over two years, with an intermediate winter stop in Canoe Cove, Vancouver Island and ending in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

2015 - From Mexico to Tahiti

The route of approximately 8,000 nautical miles touched the Galapagos Islands, the Marquesas Islands and the Tuamotus.

2016 - From Tahiti to Australia

In this voyage of comparable length, Rarotonga, the Cook Islands, the island state of Niue, the Tonga Islands, the Vanuatu Islands and New Caledonia were touched upon, with arrival and winter stop in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia.

2017-2018 – From Australia to Japan

After an extensive overhaul in Australia, mainly involving replacement of the rigging and centerboard piston, the boat touched at Sorong in Papua Barat, where she remained for the winter, Ternate in Muluku and Bitung in Sulawesi (Indonesia), then Cebu and Subic Bay (Philippines), finally Naha, Okinawa, Kagoshima, Kyushu, Nagoya and Osaka, Honsu (Japan), where the boat survived the passage of typhoon Jebi without damage.

2019 – From Japan to Tromsø via Northern Sea Route and completion of the circumnavigation

The winter and spring were dedicated to a complete overhaul of the boat and obtaining Russian passage permits.
The departure from Osaka took place on 1 June 2019, exactly seven years since the departure from Tromsø. After some stops in Japan (Hiroshima, Ine, Kushiro), the boat headed to Petropavlovsk (Kamchatka) passing along the Kurile Islands to the west into the Sea of Okotsk.
In Petropavlovsk, with the substantial help of the director of the local Nautical Club, the additional permits necessary to travel the route along Siberia, defined in detail in advance, were obtained with some difficulty.
The route was divided into four stages: Providenija, Pevek, Tiksi and Murmansk and the departure took place on 6 August 2019, with the subsequent passage of the Bering Strait between the Diomede islands, stitching the route exactly with that of 2012. The members of the crew were Nanni Acquarone (Skipper), Salvatore Magri, Romolo Becchetti, Danilo and Gianfranco Riccioni.
The arrival in Tromsø took place on 5 October 2019 after more than 8,000 nautical miles from departure from Osaka. And more than 60,000 miles since leaving Italy in 2007.
During this trip, approximately four hundred water samples were taken to detect the organic substance content on behalf of ENEA.
With this navigation the boat, the skipper Nanni Acquarone and his crewmate Salvatore Magri became the first Italians to complete the North East Passage or Northern Sea Route and the circumnavigation of the Arctic Ocean and the second in the world to have done it clockwise .

2021 - Science in Svalbard

After a long stop due to the impossibility of sailing during the COVID pandemic, the boat set sail again in 2021.
The Polarquest Association with President Paola Catapano used Best Explorer, with Nanni Acquarone as Expedition Leader, to carry out four different scientific research programs in the Arctic north of the Svalbard Islands.
The French CNRS subsequently did the same to carry out research in another remote area of Svalbard.

2022-2023 Norway Denmark Sweden Finland

With the intention of exploring the rest of Scandinavia, the boat sailed in 2022 along the coasts of Norway and Sweden and in 2023 along Sweden and the Aland Islands to return to Denmark in Copenhagen, where it remains today.

2024 Return

In 2024, if a buyer is not found on site, it is planned to leave Denmark to find a final destination with an Association or Institution that can take care of the boat.