Lisa Blair - Facing Fear: The First Woman to Sail Solo around Antarctica

The story of Lisas Antarctic circumnavigation is a dramatic one. Lisa is the epitome of determination when faced with devastating setbacks in the worlds most isolated and dangerous oceans. The Southern Ocean is a place of mystery and fascination, and Lisas experience sailing this mighty ocean is a testament to just how tough female sailors are!

Jessica Watson OAM

Lisa is a great example of how to achieve your dreams with planning, preparation and dedication.

Kay Cottee AO

Lisa Blairs Southern Ocean voyage was one of the great adventures of our lifetime.

Dick Smith AC

An incredible story of adventure and endurance that shows what the human spirit can achieve when pushed to its limits.

Sir Richard Branson

This book is dedicated to my grandpa,

Frank Edward Mitchell

23 July 1930 5 April 2018.

For always being my biggest fan, I love you dearly.

And to

Stephen De Pinna

7 August 1961 10 October 2017.

Thank you for welcoming me into your home, and into your family, when I arrived broken in South Africa. I will miss your laughter.

Published in 2020 by Australian Geographic

Level 7, 54 Park Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Telephone 02 9136 7214 Email editorial@ausgeo.com.au

Website australiangeographic.com.au

Copyright Australian Geographic

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication can be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form and by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

Editor Julian Welch

Cover concept, route track and post-it note graphic Shelley Blair

Creative director Mike Ellott

Project manager Katrina OBrien

Cartography Will Pringle

Boat diagrams Robert Hick, modified by Shelley Blair

Front cover photo of Lisa Blair Nathaniel C. T. Jackson; Back cover photos Dean Koopman; All other photos Lisa Blair unless otherwise credited.

Australian Geographic Editor-in-Chief Chrissie Goldrick

Australian Geographic Managing Director Jo Runciman

ISBN 978-1-922388-06-3 (print edition)

ISBN 978-1-922388-09-4 (e-book)

This book is proudly printed and bound in Australia from responsibly sourced and sustainable papers by Ligare Book Printers

The Australian Geographic Society was established to encourage the spirit of discovery and adventure, and to foster love for our natural heritage. The Society and the Australian Geographic journal sponsor scientific research and conservation, and a portion of the profits from our published products goes back into the Society. Become a member today by subscribing to the Australian Geographic journal.

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Going to sea has a siren call to some of us. We hear it as youngsters, stirred by the romance of stories of adventurous voyages of discovery and great Clippers being manhandled around the world. We imagine ourselves bravely hanging onto a yardarm a hundred feet above the deck, reefing a sail in a sleet-driven storm as we round the great Cape Horn, but at that early age we are tough and immortal, and ignorant.

When we eventually succumb and join our first vessel, be it a yacht or Merchantman, the reality is very different. For Lisa Blair, the discovery that a 68-foot Clipper yacht is actually smaller than the great waves that sweep across the Roaring Forties which span the world south of all the great continents except Antarctica was a revelation. How can a yacht, dwarfed by the waves, survive in these extreme watery Himalayan conditions? The Sydney to Hobart yacht race experiences them for a day or two as the competitors cross the Bass Strait, but on long passages, such as Cape Town to Sydney, the boats and crews have to deal with the same conditions for weeks on end.

Fewer people have sailed the Roaring Forties than have climbed Mount Everest. It is a baptism of facing nature in the raw. There is no escape. You cannot change channels on the TV because you dont like it, you have to face it and deal with it. If you get things right, youll come out of it relatively unscathed. But you will be a changed person when you reach your destination. The experience of sailing those awesome seas gives a confidence, not just for sailing, but for life. You now know that you can take on challenges you had previously thought impossible.

Lisa experienced all this when she took part in the Clipper Race, sharing the adventure, the fear and the developing confidence that all Clipper crews find with experience. That confidence encouraged her to look for further adventures. This story is about a remarkable voyage by someone who developed her skills through experience and growing confidence to attempt and achieve something very special. It is a record that can never be taken from her. Yes, she was fearful at times. Only a liar claims they they were not frightened in the Roaring Forties and the Southern Ocean, but it is all about how you overcome that fear that really matters.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston

Founder of The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world.

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