Circumnavigation of New Zealand:

Departing on the 6th of May 2024, Lisa Blair is setting off to sailing Auckland to Auckland, non-stop, solo and unassisted over 2200 nm around NZ. This record has never been established so Lisa is aiming to set a new record. Lisa will be getting both records ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council.

Lisa Blair is a driving force for change and uses her world records to create positive education and participation around the Climate Action Now message. On the Antarctic voyage, Lisa worked in partnership with the Australian Institute of Marine Science to complete the largest microplastic survey of the Southern Ocean. The sad news was that every sample had plastic and 64.8% of the microplastics found on her voyage were classed as microfibre, generated from the textile industry. Her new world record trips enable her to share an amplify the key findings.

Key voyage findings:

• The highest concentration of microplastics sampled was found in the waters below Australia and is equivalent to 357,500 particles of plastic in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

• An average of 58 000 particles of Microplastics in an Olympic-sized swimming pool volume of water was sampled around Antarctica.

• Fibres were more abundant than fragments, comprising 64.8% of all microplastics found.

• Lisa sampled a micro-bead from the middle of the Southern Ocean.  Commonly found in skin care products.

• Supplied seafloor depth data to the Seabed 2030 Program

  “I simply couldn’t sit by with the data from Antarctica and not take action so for me this project is all about inspiring change and sharing the shocking results of the Microplastic samples from Antarctica.”

“I want to see a happy and healthy planet and people won’t protect what they can’t understand so I try to share my love of the ocean and this planet with my records. I think adventurers have a responsibility to become storytellers and communicators,”