Antarctic adventure

23/1/13

6 men have set off in a 6.9 metre whaling boat to cross the Southern Ocean to South Georgia, where they'll get out and try and cross from one side to the other on foot, all because a girl asked them to.

They will be dodging waves, rocks and ice in their raft using shipping equipment from 1914 and will be wearing clothes from the same era. Expedition leader Tim Jervis admits this adventure isn't everyone's cup of tea.

"Sailing 800 nautical miles in a wooden lifeboat, then traversing unpredictable glaciers on one of the driest, windiest and coldest places on earth may not be a palatable prospect to some"

The expedition sounds more like a dare than a well thought out plan, but there were logical reasons behind the illogical sounding venture. The girl that asked them to do it was Alexandra Shackleton, granddaughter of explorer Ernest Shackleton, who became a hero when he saved his entire crew after their ship was crushed in pack ice near Antarctica. When Tim Jervis accepted Alexandra’s proposal, he enlisted a crew of British and Australian adventurers to join him on Shackleton Epic, an authentic recreation of Ernest Shackleton’s historic survival story. 

Shackleton is famous for his leadership, his thirst for adventure, and his view that "difficulties are just things to overcome," and the crew of Shackleton epic share similar traits. Under the leadership of Tim Jervis, himself having made a film about his recreation of Sir Douglas Mawson’s 1912 trek across Antarctica, leads a team boasting the former cold weather expert for the HMS Endurance, the UK’s Antarctic patrol vessel, an offshore sailor with 100,000+ miles and seven world records, a member of the Lynx Helicopter Force in the Royal Navy, a high altitude mountaineer and Arctic explorer and a marine environmental scientist.

The team have the qualifications and experience, they have the emergency support, they are prepared, and they have plenty of bullion flavored lard, nougat and caster oil to eat, but as they set off on a boat that’s not big enough to sleep all 6 people, dressed in 1914 style clothes, the only thing left to do, is to ask:

why the hell are they doing this?

Jervis’ answer is quite admirable in this cosy, convenient world where challenges are rare:

"I’m able to access a more resourceful side of myself that is difficult to locate in ordinary, day to day life."

Shackleton Epic expect their voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia to take 16 days. Follow their progress at http://shackletonepic.com/