Poupon + Messner = Martin Frey, the man of the Seven Seas and Seven Summits

Take a sailing legend like Philippe Poupon and combine him with a mountaineering holy monster like Reinhold Messner-you get Martin Frey. The only man in the world to have sailed the seven seas and climbed the seven peaks (Seven Summits).

AN 11-YEAR ADVENTURE
The 5,768-mile Pacific leg from Qingdao (China) to Seattle (USA) of the Clipper Round the World Race (the round-the-world race in stages, 40,000 miles in 9 long legs with 14 destinations touched, 1 year or so of sailing conceived by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston) concluded by Frey aboard the Clipper 70 Visit Seattle consigned the 56-year-old U.S. man to history: the end of an 11-year adventure that started in 2005 and saw him sail over 35,000 miles across the seven seas (North Atlantic, South Pacific, Indian, South Atlantic, Antarctic, Arctic and North Pacific) and climb over 14.500 vertical miles to reach the highest peaks on each continent: Kilimanjaro in Africa, Denali in North America, Aconcagua in South America, Everest in Asia, Elbrus in Europe, the Carstensz Pyramid in Oceania-as well as Mount Kosciuszko in Australia, which many consider part of the seven peaks at the expense of Carstensz-and Mount Vinson in Antarctica.

“THE PACIFIC? WORSE THAN EVEREST!”
The last step completed, that of the North Pacific crossing at Clipper, was the hardest of all, given the weather conditions that caused breakage, damage, and even the death of one sailor (Britain’s Sarah Young): “As soon as we rounded the southern corner of Japan, we were hit by a storm,” says Martin, “with huge waves in the bow-even I got seasick. From there on the gale continued, relentless. Never have I seen such rough seas! It was harder than climbing Everest.”. Now Frey will devote himself to his wife Kym and children: he has a background as a successful manager and businessman, and is now a so-called “angel investor” (provides funds to invest in a company, often in exchange for bonds or equity).