Unit 9 Outdoor and Adventurous Expeditions The main reasons for anybody planning and carrying out an expedition

is for a personal achievement, to develop their map and navigation skills, to be the first person to be somewhere, however many places in the world have been reached by other explorers. The four most common types of expedition are an individual expedition, which the explorer travels to their destination by themselves, by doing this the explorer can get a great sense of achievement from succeeding in the task that they have set themselves, however they will get very lonely as they will have nobody accompanying them on their expedition. Another type of expedition is a group or team expedition, this type of expedition is very beneficial for a team as they have each other for support, usually a group carries out an expedition for a good cause. For example, a charitable purpose. All participants of this type of expedition usually will have a shared interest in the target of the expedition. The third type of most common expedition is an educational expedition. This expedition most commonly involves students from schools and colleges who are working towards a Duke of Edinburgh award. When D of E award is achieved the public services will recognise this award which will give a CV a great boost. The final expedition is a Military expedition. The public services use these expeditions to train their personnel in outdoor and adventurous activities which can lead to learning valuable skills that will be needed in a service life. The services also

use this expedition to allow their personnel to wind down after completing a tour in Afghanistan. The benefits of going on an expedition especially in a group, team work and leadership skills will develop during the expedition as the participants will become physically and mentally week which to stronger explorers can support their team members when they are feeling low. Another benefit for anyone who is on an expedition, their map reading and navigation skills will improve dramatically in a situation where the individual or group lose where they are in relation to the map. Other skills such as the experience of completing an expedition with will build on great self confidence which will result in inspiration when an employer reads about the expedition in the persons Curriculum Vitae. The most famous person of inspiration is Dame Ellen Macarthur; she was born on the 8th of July 1976 in Matlock Derbyshire. Her individual expedition that she set out to achieve was sailing all the way around the world single handily in a record breaking time. Dame Ellen started the expedition on 24th of November 2004 and completed the expedition on 7th of February in 71 days 14 hours 18 minutes and 33 seconds in 2005, this was a great personal achievement for herself and for her country which resulted in her being knighted as Dame Ellen Macarthur on the following day of breaking the record. The challenging aspects to this expedition is the lack of company as she sailed solo, another factor is the sudden change in weather conditions that would occur which would have made navigation difficult for her, it will have been cold so necessary equipment would have been prepared for the whole journey in advance . However she would have gained many benefits from this such as, personal achievement and

experience for beating the record for fastest solo sailor around the world, and there many have been times that she may have felt she couldnt carry on and self discovery, belief and confidence would have motivated her to keep pushing her to meet her target. Another example of an inspiring expedition is the Royal Marines polar quest. This expedition is a great example of team effort within a military expedition. The royal Marines and Navy planned and achieved a 2600Km ski and kiting trek to the South Pole and also a return journey; this took place in November of 2006. The services planned this expedition to break the following records, to be the first public service to reach the South Pole since Captain Robert Scott 1912. Also to be the first British military expedition that includes a return journey to the South Pole and to be the first Marines to achieve their goals unaided by any other personnel; the military explorers successfully completed the expedition by January 2007 making it the longest in the distance of 2600Km British expedition on record. The challenging factors to this expedition is how cold it would have been and the chances of whats called a white-out, where visibility is limited to whats inside your goggles, also the time scale which the team must travel to the South Pole and back to Patriot hills on the return journey. However the Marines had months of training which enabled them to progress efficiently to their goal and supporting each other as a good team should to achieve the title of the longest Antarctic expedition in British military history.

The obvious difference between Dame Ellen MacArthurs expedition and the Marines polar expedition is, Dame Ellen was travelling alone for a personal achievement where as the Marines were conducting the quest in a group of trained personnel setting out to set a Military record. A fundamental similarity between all of the four mentioned expedition types all contribute to a great sense of achievement for the participants. For example the group and educational expeditions have purpose for different things such as the group expedition could be for charitable reasons and the educational expedition for the Duke of Edinburgh award; for those who participate, they will all receive many benefits whether it be a qualification, raising money for a good cause, breaking world records or for personal value.