Fierce Antarctic storms force adventurer to head home

ADVENTURER Hannah McKeand (pictured), who was raised in Watchet, where her mother still lives, has told how she was forced to abandon her most recent Antarctic exploits.
Hannah, aged 33, who now lives in Newbury, was attempting to sail from Hobart, Tasmania, to Commonwealth Bay and Cape Denison, an isolated spot on the coast of King George V Land, which is known as the windiest place in the world.
On the way, she would have passed the Magnetic South Pole, currently located on the ocean.
The journey was being made on a 20-metre, schooner-rigged, aluminium, expedition sailing yacht Blizzard owned by Hannah and partner David Pryce, who is a master mariner. They had a crew of 10.
But almost from the start of the five-week adventure they were hit by terrific storms peaking with 100-knot waves smashing into their yacht.
One of the crew was knocked overboard after the force of the storm broke the three steel lifelines.
He was quickly rescued from the sea, the temperature of which was just 2.6 degrees C, but suffered hypothermia.
Then, the prop shaft pulled out of the hull, damage which could only be repaired by taking the boat out of the water.
Without the ability to manoeuvre through pack ice and into and out of anchorage, Hannah was forced to turn the boat around and head back to Tasmania just 24 days into the adventure.
“We have had some rotten luck on this trip,” said Hannah in her log. “We know and accept that this is an incredibly hard journey to be trying to make.
“Strangely however, since we turned for home the weather has become calm and benign.”
Hannah and David have founded a new high latitude sailing company called Blizzard Expeditions which up to 10 people can join as an integral member of the team, sleeping in shared cabins and sharing responsibility for all aspects of sailing and logistics, and being rewarded with a truly intimate experience with the landscape and wildlife of the deep south.
More information is available from the website www.blizzardexpeditions.com.

In December, Hannah became the fastest person to walk alone and unsupported to the geographic South Pole, making the 690-mile trek in 39 days, nine hours, and 33 minutes - almost two days faster than the previous record, also held by a British woman.

• Photos of Hannah McKeand (top) and her aborted sailing expedition to the Antarctic courtesy of her websites.

Patagonia expedition finds 1741 shipwreck

WEST Somerset adventurer Major Chris Holt (pictured) has successfully helped to lead an expedition to Patagonia to find the wreck of a sunken English warship after 265 years.
The team discovered what is believed to be part of the hull of HMS Wager, a warship which sank off the coast of Chile in 1741.
The story of the Wager shipwreck remains important in the modern world, because it was influential in the formation of what is now the Royal Marines.
Major Holt is the son of Tim and Eileen Holt, who live in Tivington. He retired from the Army in 2005 after serving 10 years in the Royal Engineers, mostly in bomb disposal, which saw him awarded the Military MBE.
During his Army career, Major Holt saw operational service in the Balkans and Iraq, and he was also an Army diver.
It was his diving skills which were required for the Patagonia expedition, which was mounted by Scientific Exploration Society (SES), headed by world-famous explorer Col John Blashford-Snell.
They travelled to the remote and uninhabited Wager Island, off the coast of South America, with a team of 10 divers to try to locate and survey the wreck.
The last British attempt to find the Wager was in 1829 by the Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, which was unsuccessful.
Working in severe weather the diving team under Major Holt found wreckage in a river bed, and not, as expected, under the sea.
Major Holt said it was probably the result of a huge earthquake in the 1960s which raised the coastline by about 23 feet in one event and caused a tidal wave which struck Japan.
He said: “The island turned out to be exactly what we were expecting, which was a fascinating place and pretty weather-torn.
“All in all, it definitely felt like an expedition as we were completely isolated for a month and battered by the weather.
“We were hit by two phenomenal storms. You could barely stand up for three-and-a-half days and it was some of the worst weather conditions I have ever experienced and we were nearly washed away.”
The extreme weather conditions in the area made the operation dangerous and at one time the camp was flooded after three days of continuous of rain, and food was almost exhausted as the re-supply boat was unable to reach them.
A British archaeologist on the expedition, Andy Torbet, said: “Subject to scientific confirmation, a five-metre square wooden section of the hull of an 18th century ship appears to be part of the Wager.”
He said a musket ball found in the hull could indicate the ship had been in conflict.
The expedition was supported by the Chillean Navy, and Chilean marine archaeologist Diego Carabias also examined the discovery and said he believed it was part of the ill-fated Wager.
The story of the HMS Wager wreck and the incredible survival of some of its crew, who took five years to reach England, was recorded by survivor Midshipman John Byron, later Admiral Lord Byron and grandfather of the legendary poet John Byron.

Photo submitted.

Antarctic walk record for Watchet-raised woman

WATCHET-raised Hannah McKeand (pictured) has become the fastest person to walk alone and unsupported to the geographic South Pole.
She made the 690-mile trek in 39 days, nine hours, and 33 minutes – almost two days faster than the previous record, also held by a British woman.
Hannah, aged 33, who now lives in Newbury, hauled a 100kg sledge from Hercules Inlet, on the edge of Antarctica, to the Amundsen-Scott Research Station, which marks the Pole.
She said: “I have been here before and loved the place - I wanted to visit and spend more time here.
“The record was never my primary goal for the expedition, but to have set it is incredible - the icing on the cake.”
During the expedition, Hannah lost three stone in weight on a diet of chocolate, dried fruit and nuts, salami, Kendal mint cake, and pork scratchings – and fudge cake as her only luxury.
Hannah became a full-time adventurer two years ago after working as a theatre marketing manager, and she dedicated her South Pole expedition to a close friend, Jill Fraser, who died of breast cancer earlier in 2006.
Donations to her expedition charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer can be made by logging onto the website www.justgiving.com/southpole.
She hoped her exploits would also help to encourage and inspire other people to achieve their own dreams.
Hannah has previously explored deserts in North Africa, visited villages in the remote Hindu Kush mountain range of Afghanistan, and competed in the 2005 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.
Within the next month she will embark on a sailing challenge from Tasmania to the South Magnetic Pole, accompanied by her partner David Pryce, a master mariner.
Photo submitted.