Vuelta Vertical completes its Antarctic stage and reaches Valdivia after 22,117 nautical miles
by Vuelta Vertical 8 May 05:45 UTC
Vuelta Vertical completes its Antarctic stage © Vuelta Vertical
Since departing from Castellón, Spain, on 15 November 2025, the expedition has logged 169 days and 22,117 nautical miles sailed.
Vuelta Vertical is a south-to-north sailing circumnavigation linking Antarctica and the Arctic in a single year of navigation. The route includes the Antarctic stage now completed, and will continue with a planned departure on 11 May toward Alaska, crossing the Pacific from south to north with two people on board, Paula Gonzalvo and Pedro Jiménez, before the future transit of the Northwest Passage.
The second stage linked some of the harshest waters on the planet: the South Atlantic, the Antarctic region, the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, in a passage shaped by heavy seas, long isolation, continuous onboard management and extreme weather. During this leg, the expedition sailed through the Roaring Forties and the Furious Fifties, navigated between icebergs, crossed Point Nemo, the 0° meridian and the 180° meridian, and faced waves above 6 metres and winds above 60 knots.
Two of the most critical moments of the expedition so far occurred during this first half of the voyage. In the South Atlantic, a rogue wave nearly seriously compromised the project. Later, in the Indian Ocean, another wave caused a 90-degree knockdown, in one of the most dangerous moments experienced on board so far.
The Antarctic stage was sailed with seven people on board, unlike the intertropical Atlantic and Pacific sections, which are sailed by two. The team highlights the excellent onboard coexistence maintained throughout the hardest phase of the project, under intense physical, emotional and operational demands. As the leg extended, onboard life also changed: after fresh supplies ran out, the crew entered a phase of food rationing, a familiar reality in major passages, but especially meaningful on a stage of this length and severity.
One of the project's most distinctive features is that the whole expedition is being shared through a live YouTube channel running 24 hours a day, offering real-time access to the voyage. At the same time, scientific sampling continues throughout the route.
The arrival in Valdivia will serve as a technical stop before the next major leg: the planned departure on 11 May toward Alaska, crossing the Pacific from south to north with two people on board.
With this arrival in Chile, Vuelta Vertical closes its Antarctic stage and opens the second half of a circumnavigation that has already linked the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the Antarctic region, the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.
Paula Gonzalvo: "Reaching Valdivia means much more than finishing a leg. It means having sustained a very serious passage over months and leaving behind one of the hardest parts of the entire circumnavigation."