WHO’S HUGH?

It is inevitable that the focus of attention is on the six-man Ice Group, especially as we near the coast of Antarctica and approach the daunting task ahead. They are the obvious heroes of our story and they have the toughest role to play. If they succeed, it is very likely that books will be written and films made about them. Indeed, a documentary is being filmed as I write, and Ran is preparing…

When the Ice Team gets to Antarctica in just a few days’ time, they will spend about a week offloading the ship before the SA Agulhas and her crew wave goodbye to them for the best part of a year. Once alone, the team will be doing preparatory walks to bring their fitness levels up, provide polar experience for Spencer Smirl and Richmond Dykes (who have not been to the Antarctic before) and carry…

Well it’s a week since we left Cape Town and the oven baked sides of Table Mountain seem a world away as we plod south at somewhere between 8 and 11 knots, buffeted by strong winds and swells of 5m+. At the current latitude of around 53o South, our target of 70o still seems a very long way off, with the next 17 degrees (approx. 1000 nautical miles) expected to take us another week. In addition,…

Geoff Long reports from aboard the SA Agulhas about his multi-faceted role within the expedition about leaving home, helping Ran find his kit and selling our story to the South Africans… It seems incredible that it is only 12 days since I left the UK, shortly after the hectic run-up to Christmas and the associated mad rush around the country to visit relatives. So much has happened sinc…

(by Brian Newham) You might like the latest ice image – it’s changed quite a lot since we lasted posted in mid-Dec. Ice still extends about 150 miles off the coast but it looks quite broken and there appears to be an obvious breach in our area of interest – we are aiming to make landfall at approx S70 E023. Currently, we are still up at around S48 so we aren’t quite on this map yet but I’v…

Jill Bowring (Anton’s wife and expedition education liaison officer) wrote the following message to her friends and family. When we spotted it at Operations HQ we convinced her to allow us to use it on here, albeit in a slightly censored version! It gives an alternative, and very funnty, take of life on board SA Agulhas. Hope you enjoy… “Good Evening All, After a day and half of flat calm…

Dr Rob Lambert reveals more about some of the scientific studies he will be undertaking. Or, as he rather puts it, this is his iBlog (get it?!): “A major aim of our expedition is to raise funds for Seeing is Believing, which aims to tackle avoidable blindness all over the planet. So perhaps appropriately, besides the small matter of crossing Antarctica in winter, another of the expedition’s aims…