‘What can possibly go wrong?’ Global headwinds stall Australian couple’s epic round-the-world voyage

Peter and Jennifer Bernard in Indonesia in October 2018, three months after the couple set off from Sydney Harbour on their journey to circumnavigate the world. Photograph: Supplied Peter Bernard

It was around the end of August when Peter and Jennifer Bernard moored their 50ft cutter-rigged ketch, Steel Sapphire, at the marina below London’s Tower Bridge.

Their journey to circumnavigate the globe was supposed to have taken them back to Sydney within five years, but after four, they had only reached the British capital. They were halfway round and years late.