A polar Bear on the way to the ice and frozen wastes of Greenland has been spotted in Southampton docks.
Intrepid adventurer Bear Grylls - his first name is really Rupert - who originally comes from the Isle of Wight, is making tracks towards the North Pole and the unpredictable waters of the Atlantic for his latest challenge.
He is no stranger to danger, as in 1998, at the age of 23, he became the youngest Briton to successfully climb Mount Everest.
This feat was even more remarkable as only two years before he broke his back in a parachuting accident when his canopy failed to open.
An ex-member of Britain's special forces, where he served for three years as a combat survival instructor and patrol medic, Bear aims to win a place in the record books by becoming one of the first to sail in an open boat along the Arctic Circle from Canada to Greenland and Iceland and finally come ashore at John O'Groats in Scotland.
During the month long attempt the crew and the rigid inflatable boat could face mountainous seas, dangerous ice floes and bergs as well as hypothermia and exposure from freezing temperatures.
Bear and his four crew were in Southampton promoting the voyage at the commercial maritime exhibition, Seawork2003, staged at the city's Western Docks.
"It has taken two and a half years to put this expedition together,'' said Bear, who once lived at Bembridge.
"Everything has to be geared to minimising the risk out there. Our aim is to complete the journey safely.
"We will be vulnerable to ice, especially at night as some does not show up on the radar and we will be up to 1,000 miles away from the nearest land.
"The boat will be crossing an area of sea off Labrador notorious as the place where the 'Perfect Storm', which was made into a film, took place.
"Our biggest challenge is that we will be in an open boat which leaves us facing the wet, cold and being exposed to all the elements.''
Bear hopes the Transatlantic Arctic Expedition, due to take place in August, will raise about £50,000 through sponsorship for the Prince's Trust charity.
Soon the £250,000 craft, capable of speeds of more than 30 knots, will be shipped out of Southampton to Canada for the start of the expedition.
This Arctic crossing has only ever been attempted once before in a rigid inflatable boat, in 1997. The assistance of an ice-breaker was needed to bring the team out of the crushing pack-ice to safety after they had been found alive but perilously close to hypothermia.
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