What happens next?

Fear and silenceWhen I started this blog, I said it was about fear. My fears around mast climbing and seasickness and writing honestly.So why have I been so quiet recently? Why not write about the wide horizons and storms and excitements? Has life just got in the way? What’s wrong … Continue reading

Stamps in my passport: marking territories and staking claims

Antarctica has no borders. It is a shared space, a place of peace and science. Those institutions which impose borders shelved them in 1957, and the first three articles of the Antarctic Treaty commit all signatories to peace, science and collaboration. It was fitting therefore that the artists Lucy and … Continue reading

#AntarcticAlphabet: H is for home

Home is where the heart is, where we hope and plan, even dream. Not-home, elsewhere, is transition, a coming or a going, a place whose future is not our business. Almost every building we’ve seen since Puerto Williams has been ugly, bases and settlements of corrugated metal, old machinery and … Continue reading

Heeling, hoses and hauling

Anyone who thinks square riggers don’t sail upwind should have seen us as Europa, heeling to some 25 degrees, took the bit in her teeth and attacked the north-westerly wind yesterday afternoon. Gradually we brought in sails, gradually she heeled over, slowly the wind built, and the faster we all … Continue reading