NEW YORK NEVER SLOWS DOWN, and the Young Explorers are busy the moment they arrive. From boat cleaning, media interviews and filming, hosting guest sponsors on the boat, unpacking and provisioning, and squeezing in a little time for tourism, the first day of the Explore to Restore Program is a smashing hit.

Blog written by Lauren Morrell

Day 1: begins at 4:00 AM after a short sleep for 3 Young Explorers, Saraya D’Ath, Leonard Schölch and Lauren Morrell. Once we got off the train from Annapolis to New York City, we were lost. We knew the boat was in downtown Manhattan. But which way is south when you’re faced with skyscraper buildings in each direction? Coincidentally we noticed the sun reflecting in a high rise, shiny window and used it to determine East, where the sun rises, and therefore South below it. It’s an unusual way to navigate the city! When we finally saw the boat’s unmistakable double-mast between the skyscrapers, there was so much excitement as we ran to greet our second home.

After some press filming and boat cleaning, the YEPs had a short time to explore before we needed to be back for an event with our sponsor, Officine Panerai. So much to see in so little time! But taking Mike’s advice and living life to the fullest, we decided to take a risk being late and see it all. We managed to visit the Statue of Liberty Overlook, the 9/11 Memorial, 5th Avenue, the Plaza Hotel, Central Park and Times Square all in 1.5 hours!

Sailing with the Panerai guests was beautiful, overlooking the Statue of Liberty from the deck of our beloved sailboat. We enjoyed sharing our experiences with the curious Panerai guests.

Afterwards we met the rest of the YEPs who were arriving from other continents and spent the evening enjoying this busy island!
 

Emotions where high as 8 candidates where selected this morning to attend the Mike Horn's PANGAEA Young Explorers Expedition in November to the Gulf of Mexico and the Everglades in Florida, USA.

Theresa Kaiser, 16 Germany,  Rick Kotze, 20 South-Africa,  Jule Holland, 17 Germany,  Anne-Kathrin Geiger, 18 Germany,  Ravyna Jassani, 15 Malaysia,  Aya Anholt, 16 Canada,  Dan Cullum, 19 New Zealand and Livio Knöri, 19 Switzerland.

Congratulations!

Blog by Ravyna

The past week and a half have been some of the most intense and challenging days i've ever experienced in my life, but every second of it was so worth it! The breath-taking places we got to explore from all the morning excercises, workshops and the Raid!; the amazing things we got to learn from all the sponsors, experts , 'old' YEPs and Team; the life-long friends we made who we've experienced so much with and become so close to, that it feels impossible to believe that we've only known each other for 10 days!

Today was the last day of the camp. It was the day we had to say our goodbyes as well as find out which eight of us would be joing Mike Horn on board the Pangaea for the 10th YEP Expedition to the USA.
I didn't think that I would get selected out of all the other 14 amazing candidates, so when Martin called my name, I just couldn't believe it! It's such an incredible feeling knowing that i've been selected, as i've wanted this for so long and I never thought that I would make it this far, but I pushed through it all this time, and now i'm getting the chance to sail on board the Pangaea with Mike for the second time this year, and it's just so awesome and surreal, i'm still having a hard time believing that this is really happening!!!

At the same time, getting selected is a bittersweet feeling because it's sad knowing that there are 8 of us that won't be joining for the Expedition, but I hope that they continue to spread the Pangaea Message and know that this definitely isn't the end for you guys, it's just the beginning of your journey and adventures with Pangaea and the Young Explorers Program!

The Young Explorers Program has changed my life so much and opened up so many doors for me, from sailing around Sabah on board the Pangaea during the Borneo Project, the selection camp in Switzerland, to the Expedition in the Everglades and Gulf of Mexico in a month's time! It's just so crazy, and the experiences i've had are ones that will stay with me for a very, very long time.! So to all of you out there considering of applying or not really sure about it, my only advice to you is if you really want it, just go for it, and give it your ultimate best, you won't regret anything!

I'd like to end this blog by saying a massiveeeeeeeeeeeee THANK YOU to Mike Horn, the Team, the Sponsors and everyone who has made this Program possible and such a success!!! And I can't wait for the next adventure that comes along my way! 😀

By Theresa and Greg

Day 9 in Chateaux-d’Oex began without morning exercise for once – the legendary Pangaea Raid began today! Early in the morning, the names for the 2 teams were released. After breakfast, everyone started packing our equipment for the Raid! Nervousness and excitement filled the dining room as 12 o’clock approached.

Once it was 12 pm, each team was given our maps and coordinates for the next 2 days! Both teams started plotting out their route, and within half an hour, both teams were out on their bikes. We had to meet our mountain guide before setting off to the first point, which just needed us to pass through.

At the second point, we had to drop off our mountain bikes and start our hike up a mountain, where the third point, the Via Ferrata activity, waited for us. Many of us were doing via ferrata for the first time – it took some time before they got used to it. The view from the peak of the mountain was simply breathtaking!

After the activity was completed, both teams had to head back down to pick up our bikes. Team Supertramps was ahead of Team RADLLAG at this point. We had to carry our bikes up a narrow and very steep path. After that, we had to bike down to another team challenge – the Big Wall. Working in a team, we had to transport everyone from one wall to another using a plank.

We had short snack time after this activity, before we proceeded to the next team challenge – the Tree Bridge. This activity involves a team member moving across two mobile planks 5 metres above the ground. The other team members have to secure ropes dangling from the planks, to ensure that they would be stable enough for the team member up there to walk across. For this challenge, it was important to have good communication within the team, and for the team member up there to have trust in his teammates. The next point was one of the greatest highlights for most of us – the Flying Fox. Ziplining in complete darkness, under a blanket of stars, was simply thrilling.

After walking to where our bikes were deposited, we biked about 5km to the campsite. It was mostly uphill and was definitely challenging for some of us. By then, it was already past midnight, so some of us were also getting a little sleepy. Nevertheless, both teams managed to get to the campsite by 3am. We quickly put up our tents, and were lucky enough to have a hot meal waiting for us.

All of us fell into deep sleep for the next 3-4 hours, still thinking about what else was to come for Day 2 of the Raid…

Blog by Ann Kathrin & Livio

The raid started with a bang at 12 noon on Monday. The two teams were given the necessary maps and coordinates of the checkpoints. We then quickly went about marking the coordinates on the map and getting the bearings for each point.

Our team had a really good start, and we were well ahead of the other as we reached the Via Ferrata.  Unfortunately the other team overtook us later in the day, but we were not demoralised. We pushed and pulled our way up the next mountain as the sun started setting.  Upon reaching the peak we were grateful to find the Mike Horn team waiting for us with snacks and warm tea.

After refueling we set out to complete the rest of our tasks. These included: The wall, the tree bridge and the flying fox. All of the activities were really good fun and the team worked well together. After the flying fox we got back onto our bikes and headed towards our campsite for the night. The long ride was made much easier by a sky full of stars and a great team spirit.

We arrived to a delicious supper of noodles, soup and bread and after a fast supper we set up our tents and crawled into bed.

We woke up the next morning and our first task of the day was Kayaking on Lac Hongrin. This was followed by a steep climb up Col Sonlomont where we regained our lead and opened a gap between the two teams. We reached the bottom of the next valley and set across Lac du Vernez on a raft that we had built from oil drums, planks and rope.

Our final peak was in sight, but it would take all that we had left to climb up to Pont du Cray. On the walk down from Pont du Cray we realized that we could see our final destination. This inspired us to push ourselves to the max and after a few hours of running, rolling and sliding down the mountain we crossed the finish line.

43Km and 29 hours later with less than 3 hours sleep we all agree that it was the experience of a lifetime. We would like thank the Mike Horn team for all their time and trouble in organizing this spectacular two day mission. It truly was unforgettable.

Day 8 01.10.2011 Blog by Dan & Aya

This morning began with the infamous YEP church run, where a relay race around ‘Church Hill’ was held between the YEPs of our Selection Camp and the visiting YEPs. It was very competitive, but in the end the YEP alumni took the win.

For the rest of the day we had a really interesting workshop with Dr Roswitha Stolz from the University of Munich. We learnt about the complexity of the environmental issues facing the Gulf of Mexico and the Everglades. A point of particular interest to me (Dan) was the presence of 27,000 abandoned oil wells that have not been tested for their potential environmental hazards. We also were educated on the hurricanes in the guld region and their effects on the people and the natural environment.

Tonight we are having a video screening where each group will present their mini movie that they have been working on for the past week. The theme for our videos is the ‘Greenwave’ – where YEPs around the world on the same day, at the same time, take part in an initiative for the environment. Most groups are frantically working to finish the editing within the next few hours. We are looking forward to a really exciting evening!

Everyone is beginning to get nervous and terribly excited for the Pangaea Raid tomorrow. There is a tension in the air that is building towards finding out exactly what we will be doing and in what groups we will be in. There is such a large amount of mystery surrounding the Raid, and no past YEPs are giving away any secrets! It is sure to be the highlight of our Selection Camp, and tonight will most surely be an early one in preparation for what is in store for us tomorrow.
 

Blog written by Jermy

Today we started the day with an amazing mountainbiking tour.  We did it in a place where the 1997 downhill  biking world championships took place, it was very technical but everyone did it very well.Then we had to edit the videos that we did during this week, the goal of this videos is to promote the green wave project , it’s about doing environmental actions during one hour one day, if you want more information just have a look at the ACT projects on the pangaea website 😉

In the afternoon we did a map workshop , we learned lots of thing about  how to orientate ourselves with a map and a compass. We learned about how to use the coordinates on a map , and then did an orientation race to test what we just learned. Everything went very well , at least we didn’t get lost .
During the evening we had time to talk with young explorers from former expeditions.  It was very interesting because they did so many amazing things , it makes me  want even more to be selected and to be part of this great family.

Blog written by Ravyna

"It's already been 7 days since the camp started, time is flying by VERY quickly!

We started the day with some mountain biking, and continued with a Workshop about Map and Compass Skills, and were given time to edit our videos for the Pangaea Green Wave Project.

It's been really lively having all the Old YEPs visiting us, and in the evening they gave us a presentation about their Selection Camps and Expeditions!!! It was really interesting to hear what they had to say about their experiences and watching their videos and what they had to say about what happens after the Selection Camp.

It really makes me feel more motivated and stoked for the Expedition after hearing what they had to say and their experiences!

Everyday presents us with such amazing experiences and i can't wait what tomorrow holds for us!"

Today we woke up to a day of adventure. Breakfast was closely followed by a trip to Lusanne on Lake Geneva for a sailing-packed day. The 2 hour drive was almost as fun as the rest of the day due to the ‘built-in iPod’, AKA Dan, who kept an upbeat guitar rythm going the entire drive.

Upon arrival at the Lake, we had a briefing on boat terminology and the basics of sailing. We broke off into teams, and set out onto the water!  Everyone started off with the step 1: keeping the boat afloat.  The next step was a little challenging for some people: steering the boat in a straight line.  After perfecting this, we moved onto more complicated maneuvers, such as tacking and gybing – know as turning to the non-sailing elite.

After an awesome picnic lunch, provided by Cathy, Mike’s wife, we returned to the water to test our newly acquired skills in a regatta. The regatta proved to be more of a strategic puzzle than we originally thought, allowing each boat a chance to win. The lack of wind made the sailing escpecially difficult, but once the races were over we celebrated by jumping into the freezing cold water.

The real race of the day was between Matin and Luke on the twisting roads of the towering Swiss Alps. The five o’clock trafic made for an interesting driving course on which Javier was constantly being left behind.

From begining to end the day was a fun filled adventure for everyone.

Blog by Michal and Jule

16 really cool mountain bikes were waiting for us when we met in front of the hotel at seven o'clock this morning. The morning exercise was mountain biking today!

We were split up into two groups and started moving. There were some awesome downhills and some fair uphills. We couldn't stop admiring the fascinating and beautiful scenery: the mountains, the river, the rising sun and Martin :).

After breakfast half of us finished the Mayo clinic test, and the other half listened to a presentation about GPS and GIS. Did you know that you need at least three satellites to exactly identify a location with a GPS receiver?

After the presentation we got GPS receivers and had to find two locations in groups of two. It wasn't that easy to find a way going into the direction we wanted to go to: Mario and Jule just didn't find a bridge to get over the river, so there was no way but going through the water… well, on the way back they finally found a bridge. 🙂

The afternoon started with the rest of the mayo clinic test for the second group. Body balance and flexibility were tested, Curl ups followed by push-ups, we did the shuttle run and finally the cooper test. For the cooper test we had to run laps on a field, trying to get as many as possible within 12 minutes. After the hard-earned shower we did some group pictures and interviews.

As every day here in Chateau d'Oex we learnt many useful things, had awesome experiences and lots of fun!

We are very grateful for all the opportunities given to us on the Selection Camp!

Blog written by Sylvia

Today started with the famous churchrun: five times up the hill and around it as fast as we could. This was followed by the Mayo Clinic Test where we should run as fast and long as we could to reach our peak performance and measure the oxygen we use. It was very exhausting but as soon as I stopped it felt very good. You really feel as if you could have gone on for longer; it is amazing how fast the body can recuperate.

We also measured our heart rate and oxygen levels before and after standing up. It was stunning how stressing getting up is for the body: the heart rate went up rapidly. In addition we had to hold our breath for as long as we could. It was really interesting to see the differences.
 

After lunch we had a first aid course and we carried the little Singaporean on backpacks assuming that he was insured. This was very interesting and informative. We then went on a beautiful lime stone wall where we did abseiling and rock climbing. The weather was at our full advantage, the sun showed us its full beauty.

We also had a great introduction from the company Wenger, who gave us a Mike Horn Pocket knife – everyone was really happy about that.

After the great dinner from Debby and Line we had a presentation about GIS and how they demonstrated the impacts of the oil spill on the coast line of the US and Mexico and the impacts of the rise in sea level on the Everglades.
 
It was another fantastic day in the Selection camp in Chateaux d'Oex!

Blog written by Mario

Today we began our day with the legendary church run. Here in Château-d'Oex there is a Church on a hill. The target was to run up the stairs until we reach the church, which is about 30 to 40 meters higher, and then to run down a street again. One round is about 400 meters at all. So in the beginning we walked up there to get to know the area and where we have to run exactly for one round. Afterwards we had to run three rounds as fast as possible. And finally we did a relay.

After breakfast we were split up into two groups. Mine had firstly a presentation in first aid, then we walked up a hill and did abseiling. For some of us the first steps were quite a challenge, but finally everyone arrived safely at the bottom and we all had a lot of fun. Then we tried climbing a little bit and finally we practised what learned while the first aid presentation. Exactly said how to rescue someone who got injured.
Then we had lunch. When we finished we switched the groups and now mine group had to do the basic tests of the Mayo Clinic. Testing blood pressure, heart rate and Oxygen amount in our blood while sitting and standing up, holding breath and testing our maximum of our Oxygen intake. When you watch the videos this looks quite hard, but it isn't. Everyone who made this test will agree with me.

Afterwards, we had a really short presentation about Wenger, the company producing the Swiss army knifes. Furthermore we got our own Mike Horn Wenger knifes, called the Mike Horn Souvenir – thank you Wenger for this present.

Then we got 1.5 hours spare time to work on our projects we got to do and afterwards, it was already 7 o'clock, was time for diner. Our evening programme was a presentation about GIS held by the Saint Mary's University. It was quite interesting to get to know how intelligent maps are made and how they work. Tomorrow we will do something more on this topic, but we will also use GPS to navigate ourselves a little bit here in Château-d'Oex. Even we all are feeling our muscles a little bit now, we all really enjoy the time at our Camp.

Day3 – 27.09.2011 Blog written by Lavanya and Livio

The excitement at Château-d’oex has been building up.

Day 3 at the USA selection camp kick-started with the YEPs going for a quick run to the park. The jog was followed by a couple of fitness exercises and stretches. Some exercises were rigorous but it was fun stretching that bit of calf muscles.

This was followed by some lovely Swiss breakfast which we happily munched on. 

Then the YEPs headed for a seminar and interaction on blue efficiency with the instructors at the Mercedes Benz Company. The lucky few who had the driver’s license got to drive through the Swiss Alps in the latest eco-friendly Mercedes models. The YEPs who didn’t have a license got a motivation and an incentive to get their license in time but, nevertheless enjoyed the drive through the mountains.

The young explorers were given tips on the right techniques to keep in mind while driving a car.

But the most exciting part of the workshop was that the license holders got to drive F-cell Mercedes models which are extremely rare as there are only 500 of these cars in the world at present.

The Mike Horn team organized a fun team building activity after this to get the YEPs to work together. 

Day 3 at Château-d’oex was definitely more intense with a lot of programmes and activities but YEPs were better acclimatized as they were more in sync with the Swiss time zone.

The last activity we had here was a presentation by the Mayo Clinic. They briefed us about the different physical tests that we will be undergoing in the coming two days.

We are all now, off to sleep to conserve energy for another big, long day tomorrow.