Lisa Blair is the first woman to sail solo around Antarctica with one stop.
Benchmark Time:
103 Days, 7 Hours, 21 Minutes, 38 Seconds.
Total Elasped time:
183 Days, 7 Hours, 21 Minutes, 38 Seconds.
Benchmark time is the elasped time of the journey solo below 45 South discounting the time from demasting, Cape Town repairs and restarting the clock when Lisa sailed accross track again at the position of demasting.
Total Elasped time is the time between departing Albany and returning to Albany including all the time for repairs in Cape Town.
On July 25th, Lisa Blair made history becoming the first women to sail solo around Antarctica with one stop. Lisa departed Albany in Western Australia on January 22nd, 2017 with the intention of becoming the first woman to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around Antarctica. Lisa also held a secondary goal of becoming the fastest with the intention of breaking the existing record set by Russian sailor Fedor Konyukhov in 2008.
Lisa faced many challenges on her journey battling waves the size of houses, freezing conditions, snow and hail storms, extreme isolation and fatigue but her greatest challenge occurred on April 4th. Lisa had so far successfully sailed three quarters around the world solo, non-stop and unassisted, she had been at sea for seventy-two days and had yet to see another boat or human being when in the night during storm conditions her mast came crashing down due to rigging failure. Lisa's thoughts quickly changed from thoughts of home to will I survive the night and after a four hour battle in freezing conditions she was able to save her yacht 'Climate Action Now' and her life.
Lisa then self-treated for hyperthermia and limped her way north to Cape Town under an active Pan Pan. Lisa was rendered fuel from a container ship however during the dramatic ordeal of the fuel transfer a collision between the 80,000 Tonne container ship and Lisa's little 11 Tonne yacht occurred. Lisa again was able to save her yacht and continue north to Cape Town. She built a jury rig using her boom and safely arrived into port after 81 days solo at sea.
'Climate Action Now' underwent repairs and after a further 2 months on land Lisa was able to re-commence her voyage south again. Lisa crossed her position of demasting and sailed the last leg of the journey home during the Southern Ocean winter safely arriving home to a hero’s welcome.
Lisa completed her circumnavigaiton between the latitudes of 45 Degrees South and 60 Degrees South in the Southern Ocean and crossed all trackes below 45 Degrees South.
Thank you to my amazing sponsors who are making this project a reality.
