Hey Seabreezers,
For those of you who like a good kiting adventure, a screening of '47 Below' is on at Heath Ledger Theatre next Thursday to raise money for the McGrath Foundation for breast cancer research.
It's a one-hour doco on Geoff Wilson's world-record crossing of Antarctica by kite, followed by a Q&A session with Geoff afterwards. He smashed the record for the solo crossing of Antarctica by 20+ days, previously held by the Norwegians, all while towing a giant sled shaped like a pair of boobs - not bad for an Aussie from Brisbane (and the only bloke I know to have done a nude run in Antarctica).
Geoff was also the first to cross the Sahara desert by kite buggy and the Torres Strait by kite - definitely an interesting guy to have a beer with.
Tickets are 25 bucks with all proceeds going to McGrath Foundation, link below for booking.http://www.inspireperthevents.com
can you ask geoff what happened to the group crossing of antartica he was organising. it was all gun ho but i never heard a word since the training dates were ment to take place in new zealand 2014 we got to the south island for it and it just seemed to disappear. being bums we were never expecting to go due to the costs and they said they had all the assistants they needed
I watched the doco on Nat Geo People the other night and really enjoyed it. A true adventure and even better by using a kite. Very worth watching.
I didn't know he did other crossings as well. Very impressive.
Select to expand quoteKozzie said..
can you ask geoff what happened to the group crossing of antartica he was organising. it was all gun ho but i never heard a word since the training dates were ment to take place in new zealand 2014 we got to the south island for it and it just seemed to disappear. being bums we were never expecting to go due to the costs and they said they had all the assistants they needed
Hey Kozzie,
He's still very keen to get a group together to go from South Pole to Vincent Glacier - as you noted there is a significant cost which makes it difficult for the average punter. So the goal is to work on getting suitable sponsors and a core group of people large enough to make it cost-effective, and of course there is a political element involved in making these things happen. It is looking likely that access to the Australian Antarctic Division areas will become possible in the next few years, which will make kite expeditions to the region a lot more economical, and open up some pioneering territory that hasn't been explored.
I'm also mad keen on it - if you or anyone else is interested drop me a message. Geoff has a lot of crazy ideas, and he seems to overcome most of the hurdles eventually, he doesn't take no for an answer.
