‘”Polar expeditions make up a huge number of our inquiries and the best way to explore polar regions that have little to no infrastructure is undoubtedly on a yacht,” the expedition company Pelorus says. The poles, if you’ll pardon the pun, have never been cooler. And there’s no sign the desire to journey to the absolute extremes of our planet is dwindling.

But it’s not a case of pointing your boat south and off you go. Intense preparation is required because no one is coming to save you if something goes wrong in the Ross Sea, warn Jimmy Carroll and Geordie Mackay-Lewis, the founders of Pelorus. The former British Army officers use “military planning models to ensure we have a detailed emergency plan should anything happen”.’