Thursday 23rd September 2021. The Boréal 47 Sir Ernst has set off on another expedition to the Antarctic. Having left on 15th September, she is now on route to Tenerife in the Canaries from where she will begin the long descent to Ushuaia. “The idea is to leave for the Antarctic on 5th January 2022. By then we will have done five stages during which there will be crew changeovers,” explains François Miribel, the boat’s new owner. On board is Yacht Club de Monaco member Fabrice Papazian who joins a crew of sailors all passionate about adventure and the White Continent.

 

Passions afloat 

After following in the footsteps of Sir Ernest Shackleton to Antarctica for her first voyage, Sir Ernst is again heading to that remote region. Named in honour of the Anglo-Irish Shackleton, one of the most famous and iconic of the Antarctic explorers, the Boréal 47 regularly takes on sailors who love this region.  This time she will be sailing in the wake of Commander Charcot, who was often supported by Prince Albert I for his expeditions. “I wanted this boat to continue sailing to the ends of the earth,” says François Miribel. The “Marguerite Bay” project is named after this bay on the west of the Antarctic Peninsula which is named in honour of the Commander’s wife.

The crew is even planning to place a plaque at Cap Albert-de-Monaco on the southwestern tip of Antwerp Island in the Antarctic’s Palmer archipelago as a tribute to Prince Albert I. The Principality is celebrating the centenary of his death in 2022.