About the World Circumnavigation

About the project “World Circumnavigation through the Great Capes and Antarctica with children”

Why with the family

Expeditions on a difficult route are usually for those who do not yet have children, or for men leaving their wife and children at home. There are women who leave their children with their husbands, but those are few. Regional and local expeditions usually take several months; it takes more than a year to circumnavigate the world. The question is: what to do with the children?

Many yachts from Europe and America go around the world, including family crews with children. But among those there are none from the post-Soviet world. We never even heard about families with kids going around the world along the Southern Ocean, through Antarctica and the Great Capes.

For all the time of our trip, we only met three families (all from France) who came with their children to the high latitudes. The first family circled the South America along the Beagle Channel and returned to the trade winds, the second family bypassed the Cape Horn, descended to Antarctica, returned to the tropics and settled in Tahiti. The third crew with two daughters passed from France to Australia by the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The authors of the project are not aware of any family with children who would go around the world along the Southern Ocean, from west to east.

And just imagine that you have a choice: to fulfill a big dream and accomplish what no one did, or to stay at home. We did not want to leave our children for our relatives to look after. Our daughters wanted to join us. Therefore, the only way for us to follow the path of our favorite heroes and fulfill our dream, was to go around the world together.

The difficult task of organizing such an expedition was facilitated by the fact that we prepared for this path step by step, from simple tasks to complex. At first we trained ourselves and prepared the yacht for the passage of the Atlantic and round-the-world sailing in warm tailwinds. Then, before going to the Pacific Ocean, we equipped it with all the necessary equipment, including a desalination plant. The diesel heater was repaired, and already on Tierra del Fuego we acquired everything necessary for a trip to Antarctica.

Right now, on an unprecedented sailing expedition across the Southern Ocean, we are creating the experience of an extreme family trip around the world, testing and finding optimal solutions for maintaining harmony in the team, homeschooling children during our trip, developing safety rules, coordinated work on yacht management and effective behavior in regular and emergency situations. Other sailing crews, regardless of their composition, can take advantage of our extensive experience in long-distance family travelling such as ours.

Together with our children, we explore the world, study and repeat the routes of the famous explorers and the heroes of the adventure books. Such a difficult expedition carried out by an ordinary family, helps many people to believe in their strength and spread their wings. Hundreds of subscribers to our website, social networks and YouTube channel tell us so.

We are sure that our followers will write new heroic lines in the history of Russian cruise sailing, which is still in its infancy, but thanks to the “Expedition through the Great Capes and Antarctica with children”, it is gaining momentum.

 

Participants

Sailing yacht «Lady Mary» crew:  

            

Klochkov Andrey — captain

Marine experience — over 55,000 nautical miles, of which more than 40,000 nautical miles as captain. Experience in high latitudes — 10,000 nautical miles, including among the Antarctic  ice. Member and winner of the prestigious yacht racing Rolex Middle Sea Race, Fastnet Race. Member of the extreme mountain hiking and high-speed climbing Kinabalu Peak.

Klochkova Marina — 1st mate

Marine experience — 50,000 nautical miles. Experience in high latitudes — 10,000 nautical miles, including among the Antarctic ice. Member of the Russian Geographical Society, travel journalist, teacher, environmental enthusiast. A participant in extreme mountain hiking, including in the Himalayas. In the past — a volunteer to WWF-Russia.

Klochkova Anastasia, 19 years old — sailor

Marine experience — 50,000 nautical miles. Experience in high latitudes is 10,000 nautical miles, including among the Antarctic ice. 11th grade student of the St Andrew the First Called Geographical School. Travel blogger. Student of the sailing school Cape Town Sailing Academy (RYA).

Klochkova Lada, 10 years old, shipboy (not a boy, girl 😀)

Marine experience — 50,000 nautical miles. Experience in high latitudes is 10,000 miles, including among the Antarctic ice. 5nd grade student of the St Andrew the First Called Geographical School.

 

Means of Travelling

Sailing yacht “Lady Mary” (Port of registry Moscow, Russia).

Yacht Model Nauticat 40

Year Built: 1988

Sailing: Bermuda cache

Sail Area: 108 sq. meters

Displacement: 14 tons

Main dimensions: length 12 m, width 4 m, height from the waterline 20 m, draft 1.8 m.

Engine: SP-90, Ford Lehman

Vessel speed: 6/7 knots (under engine / sail)

Number of berth: 6

The Description of the Travely-Family World Circumnavigation

The first Russian family circumnavigation in high latitudes is known on the Internet as the Travely-Family project. It is carried out by the efforts of one family — four members of the crew of the sailing yacht «Lady Mary». Organizational and technical preparation, expedition equipment for the extreme sailing, exploring the options and deciding which route to take, organization of educational events and cultural exchanges in ports of call, informing the audience about the news of our expedition, and other online and offline activities – all of these we do ourselves.

A circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean goes from west to east through 3 great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Louin, also a visit to Antarctica.

Most of the way passes through the «roaring» forties latitudes of the southern hemisphere. Sailing in the area of Cape Horn — in the «frantic» fifties latitudes.

Sailing trip to Antarctica through the Drake Passage — 50th and 60th latitudes. The route includes 5 completely autonomous crossings lasting from 25 to 55 days.

During the expedition, the junior ship crew is trained in naval affairs and studying the secondary school curriculum.

«Expedition through the three Great Capes and Antarctica with children» began in November 2018 on the island Tahiti. We came to Tahiti from Montenegro. And in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the initial voyage was suspended for the sake of a grandiose task — to make a unique circumnavigation of the world by a family with minor children, without having any extra crew.

Expedition stages

The circumnavigation consists of five large stages, three of which have been successfully implemented today. Lady Mary sailed through the South Pacific, Cape Horn and Antarctica, overcame violent storms in the South Atlantic, reached the Cape of Good Hope, and stopped in Cape Town for repairs.

 

Stage 1

Tahiti — Cape Horn. November 2018 — January 2019

This is the most iconic and the longest stage of our journey. 6365 nautical miles’ track.

Key points:

1. Applied research of the region of the ghost islands of the South Pacific Ocean and the elimination of «blank spots» on the map. From the Society Islands, through the Australis archipelago, the yacht headed for the 30th latitude and went to the 37th parallel. The team made a series of geographical «closings», practically proving that the ghost islands of the 30s latitudes Vacuset, Ernest Leguve, 1957 and the legendary island of Maria Teresa (Tabor Island) described by Jules Verne in the novel «The Children of Captain Grant» does not exist.

 

2. The Pole of Oceanic Inaccessibility — point Nemo (48 ° 52’6 S and 123 ° 23’6 W). In 1992, Croatian scientist Hrvoje Lukatela calculated the farthest point on our planet from any land. It is located at 48 latitude in the southern hemisphere of the Pacific Ocean. This point was named after Captain Nemo, the hero of the Jules Verne trilogy.

The ISS orbit passes over the Pole of Inaccessibility. Space agencies are using the ocean’s pole of inaccessibility as a graveyard for spaceships.

 

3. Everest of sailors — Cape Horn, is considered the stormiest place on the planet. Completed on January 19th with 8-9 Beaufort winds. 01/21/2019 the yacht arrived in Puerto Williams, Chile.

 

The entire trip was carried out in 62 days with a short stop at an island Rimatara on the ninth day of the voyage to restock fresh food. Fully autonomous passage from island Rimatara (French Polynesia) to Puerto Williams (Chile) took 54 days.

Stage 2

Antarctica. February 21 — March 16, 2019.

1742 NM

Ushuaia — Drake Passage — Russian polar station Bellingshausen (King George Island, South Shetland Islands) — Melchior Islands — Antarctic Peninsula — Port Lockroy — Lemaire Strait — Bellingshausen Sea — Drake Passage — Ushuaia (Argentina).

In May 2019, «Lady Mary» joined the flotilla meeting Fedor Konyukhov’s rowing boat «Akros» at Cape Horn, and was the only yacht flying the Russian flag. On May 9, the crew passed Cape Horn for the second time.

 

 

Stage 3

Cape Horn to the Cape of Good Hope. Completed October 21, 2019.

5500 NM

During the winter on Tierra del Fuego, the team passed the Patagonian fjords with glaciers and entered the Strait of Magellan, which is extremely difficult for navigation.

On September 30, 2019, the yacht entered the Atlantic Ocean. A severe 11-point storm did not allow us to approach the Falkland Islands and the crew headed for the island of Tristan da Cunha, the most remote from the inhabited land. We ventured to anchor for 3 days in a zone with unmarked depths. In 19 days «Lady Mary» reached Cape Town (South Africa). The entire autonomous passage was 55 days, of which 33 days from the exit from the Strait of Magellan to Tristan da Cunha island in the 50th and 40th latitudes of the Southern Ocean.

 

Stage 4

Cape of Good Hope — Cape Leeuwin (Cape Town — Perth (Australia)

4800 NM at the general course.

Completed March 19,  2020.

 

Stage 5

Perth — Tasmania — Sydney — Tahiti island (Fr. Polynesia);

8750 nautical miles at the general course.

The length of the entire route is 26,000 nautical miles (48,150 km).

The average speed of the Lady Mary yacht is 100 NM per day.

 

Expedition goals

1. The first in the history of the former Soviet Union to sail around the world with a children crew —  from west to east in areas considered unsuitable for families cruise sailing.

Pass the two poles — the pole of yachtsmen, Cape Horn, and the Ocean Pole of Inaccessibility, point Nemo, with a crew with minor children.

We were the first in the history of the former Soviet Union to make an independent sailing trip to Antarctica in honor of the 200th anniversary of the discovery of the sixth continent by the expedition of F. Bellingshausen and Lazarev.

2. Explore 33-37 latitudes of the South Pacific Ocean. Practically confirm or deny the existence of reef-ghosts Ernest-Leguve, Vacuset, 1957 and Maria-Teresa, plotted on Russian and foreign modern maps. Reflect accurate geographic information about the Pacific Ghost Islands region.
3. To bring the Russian cruise shipping to the world level.
4. Raise ecological problems of the environment, form a responsible attitude to the resources of the planet among the audience, including through the example of specific actions and findings of the team (in terms of recycling and storing waste in a long autonomous transition, economical use of resources from purchase to use, etc.)
5. Develop a strategy for teamwork in a long autonomous voyage, including in high latitudes (relationships, yacht management, safety, training children in maritime affairs and general education) – to set an example of a family with minors.
6. To create a base for the implementation of larger-scale research and educational projects, the organization of expeditions to train young cadets of maritime schools, sailing clubs to study not only the art of navigation, but also the historical and cultural heritage.
7. Motivate the audience to look beyond the horizon and explore the world; follow your calling, seek answers to questions, and achieve great goals.

Tasks solved during the expedition

1. To publish materials of field research of the expedition in the form of reports and popular science articles, films and radio broadcasts. Reflect in them their own experience and observations, as well as the unique cultural and historical features of different peoples.
2. Combine the theory and practice of studying the Earth at the intersection of disciplines — biology, ecology, geography, history and literature by observing the state of the ocean and coastline and comparing the data with the descriptions of researchers of past years; in terms of history, geography and literature — by repeating the routes of the great Russian navigators and famous foreign explorers.
3. To prepare and conduct for the Russian-speaking community living abroad the events dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica — an event that plays a huge role in establishing the prestige of Russia as a maritime power. Conduct the cultural exchange events along the route, acquaint the foreign public with our cultural and historical heritage.
4. To hold meetings with the general public and students of children’s sailing clubs in Russia about the circumnavigation and the trip to Antarctica within the framework of the Year of Antarctica in the Russian Federation. Continue activities upon completion of the project and return home.

 

Implementation results

The progress and the intermediate results of the expedition are highlighted on the website

 

1. Twice passed Cape Horn, for the first time in the history of the former USSR by a family crew with children. The sailing trip to Antarctica has been successfully completed. 7-year-old cabin girl Lada Klochkova became the youngest sailor in the post-Soviet world, and the only child under the age of 16 who passed Cape Horn and reached Antarctica under the sail. The southern latitudinal record of the expedition is 65 degrees. 6.41 ‘S (reached at longitude 63 deg. 59, 72’ W).

 

2. During the expedition, rules were developed for the crew with children, allowing them to survive, develop and feel good in long extreme voyages in a confined space (including a policy of relationships, an effective educational process, safety on board). The experience can be applied not only by yachtsmen, but also by a wide range of expeditions of various difficulty levels.

 

3. Repeated part of the route of the sloops «Vostok» and «Mirny» in 1821 (near the South Shetland Islands and in the Bellingshausen Sea). Part of the route of the First Russian round-the-world voyage on the sloops «Neva» and «Nadezhda» under the direction of I. Kruzenshtern and Yu. Lisyansky and part of the route of Kotsebue island on the ship «Rurik» in 1815-1818.

 

4. As part of the applied education of young researchers in the field of history, geography and literature, most of the planned route was covered in the footsteps of the heroes of the novel by J. Verne «The Children of Captain Grant» along 37 parallel, with a detailed study of the route points and their history.

The diaries were studied and parts of the routes of Charles Darwin aboard the ship «Beagle», Tour Heyerdahl, James Cook and Jack London (Easter Island, Fatu Hiva Island, Pitcairn Island, Mangareva Island and the Gambier Archipelago, Australis Islands, Beagle Channel, Strait of Magellan, Drake Passage).

5. Meetings took place:

— with polar explorers of the 63rd Russian Antarctic Expedition of the Antarctic station «Bellingshausen».

— During the visit to Russia, open meetings were held in Novosibirsk and in the Republic of Altai.

— As part of the cultural exchange on Pitcairn Island, a folklore lesson was held at a local school and a master class on making a traditional Slavic protective doll for schoolchildren, teachers and guests from Great Britain and Sweden.

— With the support of the Consulate General of Russia in Cape Town, a meeting was held with the Russian speaking community. Particular attention was paid to the trip to Antarctica in honor of the 200th anniversary of the last great geographical discovery by F. Bellingshausen and M. Lazarev.

6. Films and video clips shot:

— About the educational process on board the round-the-world expedition for the children’s sailing club «Flagman» (Yekaterinburg) and for the large distance educational project interneturok.ru;

— A documentary series about an expedition to the Pacific ghost islands.

— A documentary film about the passage of Cape Horn. The film was included in the short-list of the festival «Man and the Sea», Vladivostok.

These films are shown on the Ocean-TV channel.

Apprentice Lada has already released the first film on the trail of travel:

— The southernmost museum in the world. Guided tour from the cabin girl.

A documentary film is being prepared about the sailing trip to Antarctica and the meeting with the polar explorers of the Russian Antarctic station Bellingshausen.

 

7. At the end of the 4th stage of the voyage, the meetings are planned and prepared with the general public and students of children’s sailing schools in Russia (we have already agreed with representatives of Novosibirsk, Omsk, the Republic of Altai, Chelyabinsk region, Moscow and St. Petersburg).
8. A popular science book about the expedition is being written for publication. The results of the preparatory and main stages of the round-the-world expedition are reflected in the media: the Yacht-Russia magazine and the website of the My Planet TV channel.
9. This year the expedition was nominated for the second time for the National Award “Yachtsman of the Year”.

 

In addition to chronicles, our website contains a lot of technical and organizational information, curious and funny incidents, storms and difficult moments. You can find the information you need by entering a word in the search box, for example, “Cape Horn” or “safety”, etc.

Live films about sailing and discovery are waiting for you on our YouTube Channel.

 

We wish you all the interesting goals and the strength for their implementation, our friends!