Date: 29 September 2012

 

At the End Of Cruise to End All Cruises Party, hailed as The Party Of The Century, the heroes of the Mina² Great Southern Expedition were honoured at a glittering Gold Star Awards ceremony. In the presence of all those who have helped Mina² sail 33,000 miles from the Arctic to the Antarctic and most places in between, no fewer than nine of the coveted Mina² Gold Stars were awarded.

 

Mina² Gold Stars are the cruising equivalent of a combination of the Victoria Cross and an Olympic Gold medal. As rare as hens teeth, only five Gold Stars have previously been awarded. Of those honoured with this accolade today, all had endured storm force winds in excess of 50 knots in the vicious seas of the South Atlantic, Cape Horn and the dreaded Drake Passage in the Southern Ocean. The heroes were:

 

Falklands Hurricane

Linda Andrews

John Andrews

 

Cape Horn Storm

Richard Close-Smith

Venetia Kenney-Herbert (previously awarded a M²GS in 2009)

Peter Barker (previously awarded a M²GS in 2009)

Ewan Edwards

 

South Atlantic Storm

Tom Mallaburn

Lawrence Wells

 

In a surprise announcement, Tim Barker, owner and skipper of Mina² , also awarded the most coveted of all honours, a Mina² Lifetime Achievement Award to Ally Ford of Oyster, who has worked tirelessly with the Mina² Expedition Team providing technical advice; sourcing unsourceable spare parts and winging them round the world to keep Mina² surfing the waves in her record-breaking adventures. This is only the second Mina² Lifetime Achievement Award ever to have been won. Tim Barker said, "Ally has been an invaluable member of the Mina² Expedition Team for three years. Without her consummate support Mina² would probably still be in the Mediterranean, dead in the water. We all owe Ally a great debt" .

 

The Falklands Storm Troopers - John Andrews and Linda Andrews

 

 

 

 

The Antarctic Heroes - Ewan Edwards, Peter Barker, Venetia Kenney-Herbert and Richard Close-Smith

 

 

 

Lawrence Wells

 

 

 

Tom Mallaburn

 

Double M²GS winners Peter Barker and Venetia Kenney-Herbert

 

 

 

Ally Ford - winner of the prestigious Mina² Lifetime Achievement Award

 

 

 

The Wold's Most Exclusive Club

Winners of the Mina2 Gold Stars with skipper Tim Barker

from left to right: John Andrews, Tom Mallaburn, Downstairs Skipper, Upstairs Skipper, Peter Barker, Ally Ford, Linda Andrews, Ewan Edwards, Richard Close-Smith, Lawrence Wells (absent: Venetia Kenney-Herbert, Neil Thackray)

 

 

 

Other photos of the Mina² End of Cruise To End All Cruises Party: