HMS Endurance Kayak Team Blog

26th February
It’s difficult to put into words the journey we have all experienced. It hasn’t just been a journey of miles but of determination and trials of personal qualities.They say a picture can paint a thousand words, but it can’t give a 360o view. There isn’t a photographer on earth that could capture the outstanding beauty that was with us for a great percentage of the time and will remain in my heart for the rest of my life.

The contrast in the weather has been our greatest challenge, the crossing from Vega Island to our intended camp at the Naze on James Ross Island was challenging with severe winds and snow, which was compounded by the fact that my Skeg (device used to assist in maintaining a straight direction) was not working. After landing in very testing conditions, we had to erect tents in the horrible conditions. The team worked together and we were all soon in our sleeping bags for almost 30 hours.

The highlight for me has to be the crossing from Cape Lachman to the Antarctic Pennisula which was breathtaking; Minkie whales breaching less than 20 metres away from our kayaks, we had a little ‘stuck in the ice’ scenario that without our individual areas of expertise would have been life threatening and we paddled through a maze of beautiful ice bergs in peace and tranquility.

I have found my place in kayaking, it is a million miles away from all the doom and gloom of everyday life; I believe that if everybody kayaked the world would be a better place. My only regret is that my wife Sara and two boys Luke and Joshua were not there to share my amazing journey; they would have felt the same way as I did. Each time I thought of them I had a tear in my eye as I so wanted them to feel the same way I did.

Endurance Kayak