Aboard her beloved yacht 'Climate Action Now', Southern Cross University's 2021 Alumnus of the Year, Lisa Blair, is navigating an environmental mission beneath the reassuring presence of the Southern Cross itself.
Since setting sail on her ocean-going career, the record-breaking circumnavigator and dedicated climate action advocate has come to regard the University's namesake constellation as a stellar signpost.
To some, reconciling Lisa's adventurous life with her secondary education and visual arts degree might seem incongruous. But as she explains, her degree helped unlock qualities and skills that would manifest in her embrace of the sea and, more significantly, her environmental endeavours.
"I have always been fascinated by the sea, by storms, by no two days being the same," says Lisa. "When I am sailing into rough weather, when the wind is whipping up sheets of spray that make it almost impossible to breathe and see, I feel at home on a 15m boat in a 15m swell, existing fully, and that feeling is powerful and glorious.
"Of course, that kind of scenario and an arts and education degree might seem an unlikely combination. I do not agree because my degree instilled in me the ability to deliver on projects, problems and challenges, and to apply critical and creative thinking and technical troubleshooting.
"These are always in play when I am sailing, when I am teaching others to sail, and when I am communicating my message around climate action."
Lisa was not always so confident and driven. Growing up in the rural inland behind Queensland's Sunshine Coast, bullying so impacted her high school years that she would hide in the art department. Fortunately, a particular teacher – Miss Wright – provided care and counsel. It was also Miss Wright who recommended Southern Cross University.
"I learn a bit differently because I am a bit dyslexic and knew I needed some flexibility of learning styles; to not be just a number in the room. At Southern Cross, I was immediately at ease," says Lisa.
"University is a big investment in your future and that can be daunting. At Southern Cross, I always felt my teachers were invested in me. While my goals were still taking shape, my university experience helped me believe in myself and what I could achieve."
Post-degree, Lisa enjoyed a teaching stint in Africa before returning to Australia where she pondered next steps while engaged as a cook/cleaner aboard a sailboat in Queensland's Whitsunday Islands.
It was this role that launched Lisa's love of sailing and has culminated in the person she has become, her incredible achievements as a sailor, and the campaign of climate action she is taking to the world from the deck of Climate Action Now.
In 2017, Lisa became the first woman to sail solo around Antarctica, a voyage that included just one stop and a dramatic de-masting. That same year she led the first all-female team in 16 years to compete in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
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A year later, she set two more world records when she sailed solo, non-stop and unassisted around Australia, spending 58 days at sea. Then in 2019, Lisa and co-skipper Jackie Parry raced Climate Action Now in the Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race, becoming the first double-handed female team to finish in the history of the race.
In 2022, Lisa became the fastest person to sail solo, non-stop, and unassisted around Antarctica.
Admirable as such exploits may be, they are really a by-product of Lisa's greater goals around environmental action for a sustainable future.
For example, her 2022 Antarctic voyage included a partnership with Ocean Ops – a global network of ocean observers – and collaborations with Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Seabed 2030 project.
During that 92-day voyage on the world's most treacherous ocean, Lisa deployed eight weather drifter buoys and an ARGO research float, collected round-the-clock ocean health readings, and gathered more than 180 microplastic samples. The impact of microplastics on ocean health was also a priority for her 2024 voyage to, and around, New Zealand.
A vital factor in her work is Climate Action Now, the yacht now internationally known for its colourful Post-it note livery that displays people's individual expressions of climate action intent and inspiration from around the world.
"Their messages inspire me," says Lisa. "You do not have to sail around a continent. Every day, the small, individual actions that people take in life can make a positive difference on land and sea. These actions educate your choices and influence demand.
"Every action we take, every dollar we spend, is a vote on the future. As consumers in a throwaway world, we can influence that world. We have that power in our hands."
