The expedition yacht

ARION is prepared to stay manoeuvrable south of 60°S.

In the Sixties, speed doesn't protect. What does: a boat you can repair in the cold, read without power, and sail again after weeks of hard sea.

ARION is prepared with that in mind. Not as a performance yacht adapted to the cold, but as an endurance boat: repairable aluminium hull, swing keel, readable systems, distributed energy, independent heating and seamanship built to last.

47 ft · 17 t · Strongall aluminium · swing keel · ballast 5.2 t
Platform 47 ft Strongall aluminium
Architecture Swing keel · ballast 5.2 t
Objective Antarctic circumnavigation south of 60°S
Departure Marseille · 25 July 2026
ARION
Boat choice Structure Navigation Communications Energy Captain's note Operations Refit
PLATFORM · PROGRAMME · COMPROMISE

Choosing a swing-keel aluminium yacht for the Sixties

ARION was not chosen for its image or an abstract notion of a "polar boat". The choice rests on a set of trade-offs that favour a long, cold and exposed route: aluminium hull, heavy scantlings, swing keel, tolerant handling, realistic repairability and volume compatible with two people over an extended period.

In this programme, the right boat is not the fastest in a good weather window. It is the one that remains workable when the cold sets in, manoeuvres repeat, fatigue accumulates and an incident allows neither yard nor assistance.

What matters here

  • Repairable hull and tolerant structure
  • Control at low speed and readable handling
  • Maintenance access compatible with remoteness
  • Liveable aboard in hard sea for two
  • Comprehensible, non-invasive systems

What matters less

  • Pure speed in good weather windows
  • Sophistication that adds technical debt
  • Comfort for show at the dock
  • Dependence on a single energy source
  • Choices that complicate manoeuvres under fatigue
STRUCTURE · APPENDAGES · CONTROL

Structure and appendages: what actually serves the route

The 47 feet, displacement, ballast, heavy aluminium, swing-keel principle and hull scantlings shape a platform that prioritises endurance over responsiveness. For this programme, this is not a detail: the longer the route, the more critical the boat's capacity to absorb without coming apart.

Technical base

  • LOA: 47 ft · LWL: 12.30 m
  • Displacement: 17 t · Total ballast: 5.2 t
  • Swing keel + ballasted fin + retractable keel
  • Strongall aluminium hull 10 mm · topsides reinforced up to 25 mm
  • Keel stub: 60 mm → 30 mm → 10 mm return
  • Aluminium deck 6 mm

In real sailing

  • More acceptable ageing over the long term
  • Tolerance to repeated loads and hard sequences
  • Repair conceivable far from a shipyard
  • Less punishing platform when the route degrades
  • Useful margin over flattering responsiveness

Low-speed control

In drifting ice, near a shoreline, in a cross-sea or when the boat needs nursing, a yacht must remain readable and controllable at low speed. All of ARION's preparation aims to preserve this quality: simple manoeuvres, understood inertia, predictable responses and contained mental load.

Ongoing refit

The refit does not aim to transform ARION into something else. It aims to make more coherent what the boat already does well: better protection on watch, consolidating the seamanship architecture, clarifying maintenance access, improving cold tolerance and removing everything that unnecessarily complicates the route.

See the refit in detail

COMMUNICATIONS · SATELLITES · VHF

Never depend on a single link

In the Sixties, communications are not a comfort. They are a safety and continuity requirement: weather, routing, shore contact, scientific data, emergencies. The logic is the same as for energy: multiple sources, clear hierarchy, immediate switchover.

Primary link

  • Starlink Ocean — dedicated yacht antenna (partnership)
  • Unlimited broadband — continuous at-sea use
  • GRIB weather, routing, data sync, remote logbook
  • Real-time instrument and data monitoring via Starlink

Satellite backup

  • Iridium GO! — global coverage including below 60°S
  • Messaging, compressed weather, emergency position
  • Operational if Starlink unavailable (deep polar zones)

Onboard VHF

  • Primary fixed VHF: Navicom RT550 — integrated AIS
  • Secondary fixed VHF: Navicom (model confirmed on receipt)
  • Handheld VHF: Navicom — deck backup / dinghy / MOB
  • AIS receive/transmit via primary VHF

Switchover protocol

  • Starlink → normal at-sea use
  • Iridium → switchover if Starlink unavailable
  • VHF → local communications, distress, coastal traffic
  • EPIRB Ocean Signal 3Pro 406 MHz → last resort
CAPTAIN'S NOTE

The captain's note

Rather than a statement of intent, here are some direct answers to the questions sailors most often ask when they discover ARION and its programme.

Why a swing keel rather than a simpler fixed keel?

Because I want a boat that keeps options open. In this programme, being able to adjust draught, handle certain passages differently and maintain the logic of a tolerant boat interests me more than a more rigid solution, even if simpler on paper.

Why does aluminium remain central for you?

Because in a cold, isolated and potentially abrasive environment, I prefer a material that forgives better, reads well, and remains repairable. Aluminium doesn't solve everything, but it provides a structural margin and a repair logic compatible with this type of route.

Is this boat prepared for speed?

No. It is prepared to continue. Occasional speed is secondary if it increases fatigue, complicates manoeuvres or reduces margins when the boat starts accumulating wear.

Captain portrait aboard ARION

Why keep such a developed engine and energy architecture?

Because an expedition of this type is not prepared against the engine, but with a clear hierarchy of uses. The engine, charging, rapid bank restoration or occasional tool are there to restore margin, not to make the boat platform-dependent.

What matters most in the rig and seamanship?

The priority is not to have the most seductive sail plan. The priority is to have manoeuvres that hold under fatigue, clear reefing, repeatable gestures and a boat that remains readable when the crew is worn down.

What is your real criterion for judging ARION ready?

The day the boat is simpler to operate under constraint than it is today, clearer in maintenance, more coherent in the cold, and capable of maintaining its vital functions without defaulting on itself. That level of coherence is what I am looking for.

ARION being prepared for an Antarctic circumnavigation
ARION, 47-foot Strongall aluminium yacht, being prepared for an Antarctic circumnavigation maintained south of 60°S.
ENERGY · AUTONOMY · RESERVE

Energy: never depend on a single source

On a route this long, the question is not how much you can produce on paper. The question is what remains when one source fails, a bank must be isolated, cold extends consumption or several overcast days erode the margin.

ARION's energy architecture is designed to remain usable in degraded mode: two separate banks, distributed production, independent primary heating, limited 220V, and the capacity to quickly restore reserve without immobilising the boat.

Guiding principle

  • Two separate 12V LiFePO4 banks — 1,800 Ah total, 1,440 Ah usable
  • One bank must be able to sustain vital systems alone
  • Immediate switchover and isolation possible
  • Reserves planned for load peaks and incidents

Distributed production

  • Solar: realistic useful output around 600 W
  • Two wind generators up to 500 W each
  • Hydrogenerator: 500 W
  • Engine alternator: around 500 W

The principle is not to optimise one source, but to never be captive to a single one.

Backup and restoration

  • 3,000 W diesel generator as backup
  • Two chargers, one per bank
  • 220V remains reserved for occasional use and tools
  • Primary heating independent from the electrical system

Here, power only makes sense if it quickly restores margin without complicating the route.

OPERATIONS · FATIGUE · DURATION

Preserve the boat, preserve the crew

In the Sixties, a boat rarely degrades on a single big event. More often it wears by accumulation: impacts, spray, moisture, broken watches, minor failures, repeated manoeuvres and fatigue. Good preparation therefore consists not only in reinforcing, but in slowing this consumption of boat and crew.

This implies simple routines, comprehensible systems, a clear hierarchy of uses, autonomous heating, and manoeuvres that remain feasible when lucidity fades.

Contact, impacts, wear

  • Contact in polar conditions is not a theoretical scenario
  • The subject is not "zero risk" but acceptable damage
  • Integrity matters as much as the capacity to continue
  • Aluminium serves robustness as much as repairability

Manoeuvring while fatigued

  • Fine control at low speed
  • Short gestures, simple routines, repeatable sequences
  • Readable systems and vital functions clearly identified
  • Objective: endure without losing lucidity

What this preparation seeks

A boat neither spectacular nor fragile: a boat that can still be operated cleanly after several hard days, in the cold, with fatigue, partially degraded systems and a margin that must remain readable.

EXPLORE

The Captain

Command, method, background: who sails ARION into the Sixties and how decisions are made.

Captain's profile

AION Data Hub

Data collected by ARION underway: weather, ice, oceanography, onboard energy — access for researchers.

Access Data Hub

Support the expedition

Technical partnerships, targeted support or sponsorship: how to concretely join the project.

Become a partner

NEXT

Refit and scientific mission

The next section goes into the yard and the mission: ongoing modifications, protections, access, decision logic, and the onboard scientific programme — collection instruments, observation protocols, institutional partnerships (IPEV, Ifremer, TAAF) and data collected throughout the route.

Refit & scientific mission

  • Ongoing refit and logic of modifications
  • Yard and harbour photos
  • Deck, hull and protection details
  • Onboard scientific mission — instruments and protocols
  • Institutional scientific partnerships

Continue

This first page sets out the platform, trade-offs, systems and general logic. The second goes into the substance of the yard work and the scientific dimension of the expedition.

Refit & scientific mission