Pangea Expedition: Sailing the South China Sea

by: Justin Gural

Pangaea Expedition, led by renown explorer Mike Horn, is a four-year round-the-world adventure that has served as a powerful platform from which young adults can experience and explore the natural world, learn about its challenges, find possible solutions, and above all, act swiftly to help change things for the better.

 

Horn chose the name Pangaea for his this project as it represents 'the untouched world as it once was.' Pangaea is defined as a "hypothetical super-continent that included all the landmasses of the earth before the Triassic Period." Then Pangaea broke apart during the Triassic and Jurassic Periods and formed what we now know as the Earth's separate continents.

 

Now in its third year, Horn, his crew and selected members of the Young Explorers Program have visited all seven continents thanks to key support from Mercedes-Benz and Panerai Watches. At the time of this post, they're currently sailing in the South China Sea aboard a 105-foot all-terrain sailboat.

 

This gallery was provided by photographer Chase Jarvis, who's onboard documenting this segment of the expedition. Here's a moment from the deck, from Jarvis who said it was hard to put the camera down because everything was happening so fast.

 

3:30am: "'GRAB THE HOOK!'" Mike Horn yells at Tristan. The mizzen sail on the back mast is jammed. The wind is blowing at 40+ mph and we can’t steer. We’ve got to get a hook in that sail and pull it down. We’re surfing down the face of waves, only narrowly keeping the boat pointed in the right direction so we don’t blow over in the nearly 4 meter breaking seas."

 

After the gallery, watch this video of what the Pangea Expedition has accomplished thus far. It's a profound multi-purpose goodwill mission, and the invitation to include up-and-coming adventurers and activists could very well be setting the stage for the future of impactful and daring exploration.