World-Class Polar Explorer

Constantly squeezing every drop out of life, Geoff Wilson is a family man and veterinary surgeon as well as a world-class polar explorer and expeditionist. He boasts an awe-inspiring, exhaustive list of World Records, including: 

• The fastest unsupported crossing of Greenland south to north in 18 days.
• The fastest solo unsupported coast-to-coast crossing to antarctica in 53 days.
• The first summit of Dome Argus, the highest point of the polar plateau in the coldest naturally occurring place on earth.
• The longest solo unsupported polar journey in human history, covering 5,306 km kite skiing in Antarctica. The first man to cross the Simoson desert solo using wind power. When the wind didn’t blow, he dragged his kite-powered buggy by a rope and pulled it over more than 350 sand dunes.

Follow Geoff’s expeditions on his Instagram, website, and YouTube.

You hold many world records, as we have seen above. Which one is your most memorable and why?  
They are all special journeys; the records were never something I was chasing - other than breaking the Longest Solo journey - breaking that in 2020 at 5316 km in 58 days all through novel unexplored Antarctic terrain was simply a dream come true.  

Your next expedition is Project Zero. Can you tell us a bit about it?  
Project Zero is a legacy project - it’s using all I know about polar environments and their sensitivity to climate change to get people to consider making their own lives carbon neutral even before we have scientific or politically driven solutions. We aim to explore carbon neutral: literally getting from Australia to Patagonia, Antarctica and the remote Arctic all via sail, solar, wind and hydro power - planting trees to offset any plane, vehicle or fuel use… 
We aim to create a community of carbon neutral humans all over the planet. 
Read more about the Project Zero expedition here. 

In preparation for your next expedition you have installed a variety of Dometic Marine and Outdoor products on your yacht. Can you tell us about the products you installed and why?  
We love Dometic products; they are robust and practical and will survive the rigors of polar travel. 
From toilet systems and ovens to cups and plates and everything in between - we are the crag test dummy ship for all things Dometic.  
Some of our favourites include: The Dometic Portable C6408x.  This robust 12v/240 v fridge freezer allows us to have an overflow from our free standing wired in Dometic galley fridge. It handles everything the sea throws at us and is energy efficient, ensuring we can keep it running 24/7 on solar and wind power alone. 
Another favourite on board is the Dometic cooktop cs102. We have a regular galley stove and microwave running off the inverter at 240 v, the Dometic cooktop is a backup robust system running off gas that gives us the ability to cook if the battery bank is low or we don’t want to fire up the more energy draining systems.   
The main thing for us has been servicing and upgrading the existing Dometic sanitation systems. This allows us to get efficient use from the original Dometic toilets and systems.  

 

It’s obvious you have a love for the harsher wilderness of the world. Can you tell us about your passion for the arctic and where it came from?   
My passion for the wilderness was passed on to me by my wild parents, but the passion for the fragile white spaces came with my first training in the Arctic in 2013 and then my first Antarctic solo crossing of the continent and longest Australian solo in 2013. They feel the climate change more than anywhere and that is why I am passionate about urging positive climate action now.   

Sustainability and climate change are frequent topics you have been addressing. Can you tell us how this became a passion of yours?   
I am an animal lover; my entire career has been spent devoted to making animals' lives better through our veterinary company Vetlove. The extension of this love is making sure that we can slow, halt then reverse climate change. Without this we will see huge animal kingdom death and loss, starting with the King of all Bears - Nanøøk- the Polar Bear (the name of our expedition vessel). The Polar Bear is the canary in the coal mine of time, if he is happy then all ecosystems are happy - if we ignore him, we do so at our peril. 

You have several Dometic Enerdrive products on board. Can you tell us a bit about your choice of product and what you look for when looking for power solutions?   
We chose Dometic due to the robustness and proven ability to deal with the harsh marine and polar environments. Everything from our sanitation system to refrigeration (and everything in between) is all Dometic. I expect them to do well with all we throw at them in the coming months…   

Can you tell us how you chose this to help you meet your net-zero goals?   
Our net zero goals rely on choosing energy-frugal hardware, lithium storage solutions and sensible onboard usage so we rarely need diesel-based power top-ups. 

Do you have a daily ritual or routine that you do in preparation for an expedition like this? 
Not really - honestly, it’s just frantic and it gets calm once the mooring lines are cast and we are underway! 

And what is one thing that you believe prepares you most mentally for a long expedition like this?  
Faith; faith in prior performance, faith in the process, faith in people around you, the team, and faith you are in the right place at the right time.  

Dometic partners with Project Zero: A net-zero docuseries documenting the voyage of father and son’s 2 year journey to Antarctica.