The Blue Observer team at the Route du Rhum 2022

, -

A part of the Blue Observer team was present during the 13 days of the Route du Rhum village in Saint-Malo.

From October 25 to November 6, we were present in the pavilion of the Brittany Region. In factwe have recently integrated the exhibition “The new explorers committed to the planet” organized by the Brittany Region alongside thefondation Tara Océan, Under the pole, Energy Observer, le Nomade des Mers et Antarctique 2.0°C.

The effervescence around the sailboats

As soon as we arrived, the magic happened.

The exhibition was installed in the heart of the Route du Rhum village. The effervescence était à son maximum lorsqu’on approchait des bassins où se trouvaient tous les bateaux engagés dans la course.

All classes of sailboats could be grouped together in the Malouin basins. The opportunity to discover the different types of sailboats: the impressive Ultim, the emblematic IMOCA, the Ocean Fifty, the Class 40 and several models of Rhum Multi and Rhum Mono.

These few days of presence in the village allowed us to meet the general public as well as the skippers.

Blue Observer meets the public

We meet you

You are numerous to come to exchange with us.

It was an opportunity for us to explain you the Blue Observer project in its globality. You could also discover the details of our first expedition in the Atlantic Ocean and the route of the next scientific campaign.

In particular, we exhibited an Argo float.

Indeed, during our first expedition, we deployed 95 Argo oceanographic floats on behalf of the United States, Canada and Europe (France, Germany, Netherlands on this mission).

Thanks again to all the people who visited our stand, it was a pleasure to meet you. A big thank you also to the Brittany Region for its support since our beginnings.

A scientific intervention for Biotech Santé Bretagne

During the first weekend of the Route du Rhum, our scientific manager Claire Papot spoke this morning at the Saint-Malo Agglomeration stand during the conference “Innovating thanks to the sea: come and discover exceptional Breton inventions” organized by Biotech Santé Bretagne.

On the pontoons with the skippers

During our visit to the Route du Rhum, we took the opportunity to meet the sailors. A few days before the start of the Route du Rhum, the impatience was felt on the pontoons.

We had the opportunity to meet many skippers and to present them our project of oceanography under sail.

We met Eric Dumont, Alan Roura, William Mathelin Moreaux, Paul Meilhat, Thomas Ruyant, Antoine Cornic, Benjamin Dutreux, Maxime Sorel, Arnaud Boissières, Samantha Davies, Guirec Soudée, Nicolas Rouger and Tanguy Le Turquais.

A project that has generated a lot of excitement among them.

Especially since we are going on an expedition with a sailboat that still holds the round-the-world record upside down. A record obtained by the navigator Jean-Luc Van Den Heede -VDH- with the sailing boat Adrien, today renamed IRIS.

Discover the interview we shot with VDH during our meeting at the Route du Rhum :

Thanks to the Route du Rhum

Despite a delayed start on November 9th due to weather conditions, we left the Route du Rhum village on Sunday November 6th.

All the team is back in Brest for the continuation of the Blue Observer adventure, with unique meetings and messages of support full of head.

Stay tuned as we continue to prepare IRIS for its next expedition around Africa, which is scheduled to leave in February 2023. The boat will leave the water very soon…