ODYSSEY OF AION
Logbook
Preparation, sailing techniques, difficult passages — the expedition from the inside, from the Marseille shipyard to the Southern Ocean.
What sailboat for Antarctica?
It's the question I get most often since announcing the expedition. It implies another, more honest question: could my boat do this? The answer, in most cases, is no. Not because s…
Read articleThe Drake Passage by sailboat — weather windows, duration, preparation
The Drake Passage is the most feared stretch on the route to Antarctica. Between the southern tip of Patagonia and the South Shetland Islands: 800 miles of nothing. No shelter, no …
ReadSailing in Antarctica — what it actually means
Marseille, April 2026. Four months to departure. I've spent the last few weeks answering the same question, phrased differently each time: how do you actually sail in Antarctica? H…
ReadArion, four months from departure — where things stand
Marseille, early April 2026. Departure is set for August 16th. Four months and ten days left. Four months to turn a yacht into a machine capable of holding its own south of 60°S — …
ReadSea trials — ARION's first test offshore
December 2025. First proper sea trial offshore from Marseille. Wind 18–22 knots, short chop in the Gulf of Lion. The kind of conditions that are uncomfortable enough to be useful b…
ReadFollow the expedition
Departure Marseille — August 16, 2026. Regular updates all the way to 60°S.