Into the Wild: Canada is often referred to as the Great White North, and St. John’s, Newfoundland is no exception. What better place to study the effects of extreme weather on ships and structures?

After graduating from Webb we’ve both started postgraduate studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland while working for Oceanic Consulting Corporation as test engineers. This translates to many, many hours of model experiments. From testing semi-submersibles in 10,000 year storms to using propeller wake as an ice clearing technique, we’ve seen our share of extreme environment testing. William even ripped a model off a tow post trying to examine its motions at 30+ knots in sea state six. (Yeah: extreme.)

The environment offers sights we would never have even dreamed of, coming from highly populated areas of Florida and New York. It’s not outside the realm of possibility to see a moose while walking our dog — and our bedroom window offers a view of icebergs drifting down from the Arctic.

But our next journey into the wild will be even more remote. We’ve been chosen as crew for the 13-14 Clipper Round the World race. For most participants this race is their great adventure. For us, we hope this will only be the beginning of our ocean sailing journeys.