Adventurers of the Year 2015

By AG STAFF October 27, 2015
Reading Time: < 1 Print this page
Team paddlers John Jacoby, Chris Porter, Andrew Maffett and Jim Bucirde are the 2015 Adventurers of the Year.

THESE MEN WERE all experienced sea kayakers, but their previous expeditions were nothing compared with their circumnavigation of the subantarctic island of South Georgia in January. Their 500km paddle around this wilderness oasis, which lies 1500km north-east of the Antarctic peninsula, saw them encounter massive icebergs, powerful ocean swells and ferocious storms.

They were fortunate to experience some clear weather, however, and completed their journey faster than the three teams who had circled South Georgia previously. Having made such good time, they then traversed the island – following in the footsteps of Sir Ernest Shackleton, who’d landed there in 1916 – and are the first team to have completed both a crossing and circumnavigation of the island.