TORTURED by exotic food fantasies, the Irish Antarctic Expedition sailed into Tierra del Fuego in Argentina at the weekend after 60 days at sea. The team is due to fly into Dublin Airport tomorrow morning.
Haircuts, shaves and laundry were also priorities on the shore leave list as the crew sailed up the Beagle Channel in their rescue yacht, Pelagic. The 54 foot vessel berthed in the "world's end" town of Ushuaia on Saturday morning, and set a compass course for the bar in the port's small sailing club.
The team leaders, Paddy Barry and Frank Nugent from Dublin, Mike Barry from Tralee, Co Kerry, Jarlath Cunnane from Mayo, and support crew, John Bourke and Mick O'Rourke, from Dublin, felt "very weary after the two month ordeal. The team's seventh member, Jamie Young from Galway, travelled home for business reasons a fortnight ago. The Pelagic has a crew of three, and is, skippered by US round the world yachtsman, Skip Novak.
There were no serious injuries during the adventure, which was marked by three capsizes in 24 hours in a 23 foot boat. The vessel, the Tom Crean, was scuttled about halfway between Elephant Island and South Georgia, the route taken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five others in 1916 in a bid to raise help for their stranded colleagues on the British Transantarctic Expedition.
The five Irish on board the replica lifeboat were forced to complete the journey on the Pelagic, as they felt the vessel could not weather another low forecast for the unpredictable southern latitudes.
But spirits were raised when four of the five completed the Shackleton snow and ice traverse of South Georgia. A further attempt on the island's unclimbed Mount Roots was abandoned due to bad weather.
The expedition members were very touched by the support expressed for their efforts back home, particularly from school, groups who had written letters.
