BY AIR AND SEA

THIS YEAR HARRY ANDERSON BECAME THE FIRST PERSON TO FLY AND SAIL SOLO TO ALL SEVEN CONTINENTS. ELAINE BUNTING TALKED TO HIM ABOUT THIS INCREDIBLE DOUBLE ODYSSEY

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When ocean sailors are quizzed about their voyages, the most common question they are asked is: “Were you ever scared?” Harry Anderson insists he was not, but when he had to crawl forward and fix a broken genoa furling line alone in the Drake Passage amid storm force winds and seas, he realised he was chillingly vulnerable.

“Going south had been easy, but going north was a disaster,” he recalls. “There was a lot of fog. A huge storm came between Cape Horn and 60°S so I put in a bit of westing and heaved to, to wait out the storm. But I lost out the westing and I just had to start to cross.

“It was the most challenging time, trying to fix the broken line and furl the sail back in with frigid water crashing over me, up at the bow. I felt I earned my chops. But I said to myself, this is what this is about. This is reality.”

Harry Anderson has been a man on a mission for 15 years. In 2011 he flew his light aircraft solo around the world eastabout and in 2019 carried out the same feat westabout. In between, he made a lone flight to Antarctica and back, becoming only one of five aviators ever to do so, as well as a daring and lengthy transpolar flight over the North Pole.

Satisfied with the record flights he'd done, he began to consider an around the world sailing voyage, and the possibility of setting a new record as the first person to both fly alone and to sail alone to all seven continents.