>>35056803Sea ice will be a source of problems, but not really something that will shut down the route since it's open sea where sea ice can't congregate into ice sheets easily. The aforementioned strong current should also help disperse the sea ice (helpful in some cases). The main issue for going from north to south on that route would be that you're sailing against the prevailing wind, so the route might need to be more creative in some cases to be faster (especially if you don't want to get stuck in the doldrums). Then again, hugging the coast of (reasonably) friendly countries should help when it comes to supply. The main enemy in this case would be time of travel and the associated cost.
>>35057015I mean, if you sail west from Anya-Petra, then /kr/ is practically next door, so it will logically play a role regardless. If you are the kind to take risk, though, sailing even further south into the polar easterlies would allow you to ride a similarly strong wind and current towards the west. However, the environment would be even more severe than in the Shrieking Sixties. It is not really done in real life since there is nowhere (valuable) to sail to in that latitude, and usually the eastward route is fast enough that it is easier to just go around the globe to get to your destination to the west.
