THE EMPTY OCEAN

SOPHIE O’NEILL AND CHRIS KOBUSCH TOOK ON A 4,300-MILE DOUBLE-HANDED CROSSING OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC IN WINTER

There was a crunching sound underfoot as we loaded Pelagic Australis with provisions for the voyage ahead. Snow flurries had covered the deck with a layer of white, reminding us that we were setting out in deep winter. Monitoring the weather closely over the past week we had tracked a train of deep depressions that were wrapped around Cape Horn and funnelling across the furthest southern boundaries of the South Atlantic. A shiver of adrenaline ran through my body.

We were days away from casting off our lines from the Falkland Islands. We’d be taking the expedition yacht Pelagic Australis across a wintry ocean, during a time of year we knew few sailing boats would venture out. Where hours of darkness would preside over light. What’s more, it would be just the two of us on board, my partner Chris and I. For the first time ever, I had a taste of fear mixed with a rush of excitement for the unknown.

This hadn’t been the intended plan. After 11 months in the high latitudes we were supposed to fly home in April after a busy season. Covid thwarted our plans, and worldwide travel restrictions left both us and Pelagic Australis sitting tight in the Falkland Islands four months after our last Antarctic expedition. But we couldn’t leave Pelagic Australis there: moorings are few and far between, and besides, she had become a part of us. So it was time to take her home, to Cape Town, South Africa.