Hugo and Ross Turner, known as the Turner Twins, are professional adventurers on a mission to help people learn about our world through their own purposeful adventure and use of technology.
What does that mean? It means they’ve done some pretty epic things - while using different forms of technology - and then shared stories about their discoveries. And the basis for taking on any project is that it helps people learn about our world and fosters a more sustainable future. That’s what purposeful adventure means to both Hugo and Ross.
To date they’ve rowed and sailed across the Atlantic, attempted to cross Greenland, summited Mt Elbrus and reached the Australian, North American, South American and Iberian Poles of Inaccessibility. For those of you wondering, a Pole of Inaccessibility is the geographic location furthest from a coast. They’re often featureless, hostile and remote environments.
As two Devon-born brothers, Hugo and Ross are vocal ambassadors for the health of our oceans and the planet. They carry the Devon flag everywhere they go and proudly plant it at the end of every mission.
The world’s oceans, specifically the Atlantic, are the reason for Hugo and Ross’s next adventure in June 2022. They’re aiming to sail around the Atlantic conducting a plastic survey. Powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, they’re sailing from the UK via the Canary Islands and the Azores archipelago. The project aims to reach the Atlantic Pole of Inaccessibility while conducting a plastic survey for Plymouth University’s International Marine Litter Research Unit.
While at sea, the team will collect data for a research study aiming to identify macro plastics in the ocean. The results of the study will help build a long-term clean up strategy for ocean plastics. The twins are planning to bring their findings back to the UK on a tour of schools amongst other places. The yacht will also be used as a mobile base in several major UK coastal cities, to promote ocean advocacy and hydrogen fuel technology.
Now, not many of us find ourselves exploring hostile environments too often but if the kit works for the Turner Twins, it’s fair to say it’ll be up to the job during your summer camping trip to Cornwall. So, without further ado, here are the six items that find their way into most of the guys’ packing lists.
And to learn more about their latest project, head to their website or follow the Turner Twins on social for live updates.
1. Iridium satellite phone
More often than not, we’re in environments where phone reception is non-existent. To stay connected and be able to share live data, we can’t go on a trip without a satellite phone and Iridium make the best ones out there in our opinion.
2. Go Pro
This one doesn’t really need explaining. It’s a robust and portable piece of kit that delivers high quality video footage we can use to document our trips whether that’s for scientific, educational or brand content (or even our own personal memoirs!).
3. Hilleberg tent
In the tent world, Hilleberg is the authority. They’re a Swedish company who have been making tents for 50 years. This is a 2-person tent and, like all their tents, it’s strong, spacious and built for even the harshest environments. The fact it’s lightweight is an added bonus. We’ve put this tent up hundreds of times all over the world - each location being unique.
4. Sigg water bottle
This is our go-to water bottle, mainly because it doesn’t give the water that plastic taste some other bottles do. It also looks beautiful and is really well made. It’s Swiss, of course!
5. Primus Stove
When we’re camping in the middle of nowhere, a stove is a really important piece of equipment. The Primus stoves are powerful, robust, reliable and have never let us down. The one we use is ‘omnifuel’ meaning we can use any fuel type including gas, petrol, diesel, kerosene/paraffin and even aviation fuel apparently. No matter where we are in the world, we back ourselves to be able to find something that can get our stove up and running.
6. Realfoods
Ration packs and freeze dried food are pretty bad across the board. We’ve tried everything. But we came across this Norwegian brand and it does exactly what it says on the tin because it really does taste like real food. Their chicken curry option is as close as you can get to any takeaway!
