A British woman is preparing to set sail on a solo loop of the Arctic Circle to break a record made potentially possible by melting sea ice.
However, Ella Hibbert, 28, said the prospect of making history is 'exciting', it goes hand-in-hand with the disturbing reality that the journey should not be feasible.
The Yachtmaster sailing instructor based in the Solent will leave the Haslar Marine in Gosport on Saturday afternoon, travelling towards Iceland and Norway, where she will officially begin the 10,000-mile journey alone on her boat Yeva.
The route, expected to take five months, passes over the north of Iceland, down around southern Greenland, up through Canada and across the north of Alaska before a long leg through Russian waters back to Norway.
Ms Hibbert is thought to be the first ever person to attempt a solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle, completing both the northwest and northeast passages in a single trip.
