Blue water: Cruise to the North Pole: Long-distance family sails around Spitsbergen
Kristina Müller
· 09.09.2020
It was almost exactly 20 years ago that Dario and Sabine Schwörer left Switzerland to embark on an adventure. They wanted to sail around the world, climbing the highest mountains on the continents along the way and raising awareness of climate change in the process. The mountain guide and geographer Dario's aim was to raise awareness.
The young couple's journey on their aluminium yacht "Pachamama" was supposed to last four years. But the temporary adventure turned into a life at sea. Two decades have passed since they set sail in the Mediterranean, and six children have joined them, who are now aged between two and 14.
Life on board has become part of everyday life for the globetrotters from Switzerland. But Dario Schwörer has not lost sight of his goal: to draw attention to environmental problems and, above all, to sensitise children to climate change. Since starting their journey, the family has visited hundreds of schools around the world to work with school classes on solutions to environmental problems and to report on their experiences in the most remote places in the world.
The sailing family only returned to European waters in 2019 after more than one and a half circumnavigations, including a Northwest Passage - only to face a new challenge straight away: From Norway, they sailed towards the North Pole to 81 degrees north and circumnavigated Spitsbergen.
Scientists from the Western Norwegian University of Applied Sciences were on board the cruise to analyse water samples for microplastic particles and at the same time take so-called eDNA samples, which provide information about the animals and organisms in the respective habitat.
One of their excursions on the Svalbard archipelago took the small expedition up to the glaciers. Experiencing the melting with his own eyes shocked Dario Schwörer. "We have to stop this catastrophe," he says.
Sailing at 81 degrees north - the Schwörer family circumnavigates Spitsbergen
The cruise around Spitsbergen is now over and the "Pachamama" is back in Tromsø in northern Norway - ready for new adventures.
The whole story of the Schwörer family and the journey of their lives is told in YACHT 13/2020, which can be ordered here.
