David Lewis has achieved many things in his remarkable life – he has been a navigator, anthropologist, scientist, doctor, leper colony worker, academic, author and father. But it is his exploits on the sea that have gained his most fame. Until David Lewis’s attempt, no one had ever sailed a yacht single-handed to Antarctica. For Lewis, trying to reach the frozen southern continent, relying entirely on his own resources, was to accept the ultimate challenge of the sea. He set sail from Sydney on 19 October 1972. With the exception of a brief stop at Stewart Island, he would not make land again for fourteen and a half weeks. Mountainous seas, constant gales, snow storms and freezing temperatures plagued the trip. And then, 2500 miles from Antarctica, “IceBird” capsized and was dismasted. What had started as high adventure became a struggle for survival. Further disasters were to follow.

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