The Explorer School

The Wind of Change Expedition 2013 - 2017

The World’s first Oceans and Rivers Circumnavigation.

Many people have sailed around the world. But no one has ever made a continuous circumnavigation via the ‘land route’, travelling the two greatest rivers on the planet – the Amazon and the Nile, and the two greatest oceans, the Pacific and the Atlantic.

In the same boat. Made of air, mainly.

Using a new kind of catamaran with inflatable hulls we aim to be the first to circumnavigate the globe by crossing the Atlantic, ascending the Amazon to its source, crossing the Andes, crossing the Pacific and Indian oceans, arriving at the Blue Nile, then descending the Blue and white Nile to the sea.

Aims

A primary object of the expedition is to raise awareness about renewable and sustainable energy: principally wind power. The catamaran uses only wind, human and, perhaps, animal power- in a boat with no engine we aim to show the immense possibilities of this incredible free resource: the wind. We will be linking up with schools worldwide using the internet to provide resources for children interested in our project. There will also be a program of visiting schools, already started by Robert Twigger who has spoken many times in schools and at businesses around the world.

A charitable aim of the expedition is to raise money for Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Mines Advisory Group who clear unexploded mines worldwide. We will set up an easy method of sponsorship to enable this to happen.

Our boat- though engineless – is, due to its construction, faster than most motorsailers over a big ocean crossing. We can average 200 nm a day on a trade wind route. It is constructed from new but recyclable materials.

The ethos of the expedition is sustainability, low cost, appropriate technology, simplicity.

Schedule

Year 1: Using an ultralight 28 foot Sibcat Catamaran with inflatable hulls we will sail from Cairo to Casablanca. Teething troubles and other problems will be sorted in this phase.

Year 2: We will sail from Casablanca across the Atlantic to the mouth of the Amazon. Proceeding upriver the catamaran will be progressively lightened to allow its transportation across the Andes using only human and animal power.

Year 3: We will then set off across the Pacific towards Sumatra.

Year 4: From Sumatra we will proceed via the Andamans and Sri Lanka towards east Africa- ending in Djibouti.

Year 5: In Djibouti we will shorten the Catamaran to 22 feet and cross using human and animal transport to Dire Dawa in Ethiopia and from there head towards the Blue Nile during the rainy season, to join the river at the Shafartak bridge. There we will be below the difficult rapids but it will still not be easy- however we will then descend the river and join the White Nile at Khartoum. This route has previously been canoed in nine days. We will then continue the descent of the Nile, traverse Lake Nasser to arrive back in Cairo.

Sponsorship - how you can help

We do not need massive sponsorship. Indeed we hope that wind energy and renewable energy companies will see us as willing allies. However a partnership with a company operating in the wind energy field would be great synergy.

Sponsorship opportunities

We are looking for 1000 donations of $100USD.
Each donor will have their name written on the hull of the boat. As well as receiving a limited edition, signed, beautifully bound version of the expedition book (which will also be published with a normal publisher) the donors will literally get a part of the expedition - we will cut up the boat and either frame this historic piece of material or mount it on the cover of the expedition book. Donors will also receive the limited edition cut of the expedition film. The donor list will also appear on this site unless you tell us otherwise.

For people who wish to donate more:

For $2000 you get the limited edition book, film and boat signature together with a day spent with Robert Twigger at your school/company/organisation talking about expeditions/exploration/motivating change.
For $10,000 a team of your choice gets to spend five days on a mini-expedition with Robert Twigger on the Wind of Change boat.

For more information about sponsorship and how to contribute please contact us using the Contact form (top menu bar).

'Internships'

Also, we aim to offer ‘internships’ to people who want to help learn about this stripped down way of travelling and the possibilities of the wind replacing fossil fuels. For a $2,000 dollar contribution you may travel as part of the crew of any section of the journey for up to a month.

Expedition Leader

Robert Twigger is an experienced expedition leader who has been sailing since his childhood. He has lead several major expeditions, some lasting over years – and, so far, completed every single one. From 2002-2004 he lead a three year, summer season crossing of the Rockies in Northern Canada in a birchbark canoe and in 2010 became the first person to cross the 700 km Egyptian Great Sand Sea on foot, an expedition featured in the forthcoming Thames and Hudson book Modern Explorers. There is more about these expeditions on this website and also wikipedia.