The hunt for records, the quest for performance and the race for oceanic victories; as well as the conquest of emerging or submerged maritime territories; and the research for oceanographic successes, should not make us forget that when a commander, whether he is an admiral, captain, skipper or solo sailor, casts off, he is embarking on an adventure on the immensity of the Ocean. From then on, the rules of the Earth give way to those laid down by Nature. It is another dimension. Man comes closer to his original status, which made him an animal like any other at Creation. He is no longer the biped dressed with super powers of oversized urban cities, over-equipped, so computerized that they connect him to everything and anything.

Once at sea, the essential values that make a human being a sailor, or even a great sailor, are actually quite simple, including four essential values in no particular hierarchical order: Courage, Willpower, Humility and Humanity. To which we can add: Audacity, Combativeness and Resilience. And it is better to be smart, vigilant and reactive, than nincompoop, indecisive and passive. Besides, it is not only at sea that this is useful, because it is better to be an actor of your life than a spectator...

Then, in addition to the military objectives that we will not mention here for lack of knowledge of the subject, the result of the navigation: record attempt, competition, exploration, research, ... it will only be a consequence partially disconnected from the quality of the sailor's work, the finesse of the navigation. "How many regattas have I finished with the satisfaction of having "sailed clean" in terms of navigation options, maneuvers and tactical choices, without being at the top of the ranking", explains Yvan Griboval, President of the philanthropic association OceanoScientific and former professional ocean racing skipper, "and more than once I have gone for the cup without feeling that I have accomplished a performance worthy of the result obtained and the honors received". 

Ernest Shackleton had the peculiarity, as generally all explorers - often considered as "conquerors of the useless" - of always running after the financing to assume the debts of a previous expedition even before financing the next one. But, at the same time, he generously distributed the proceeds of his conferences to charities. This illustrates the paradox of a state of mind that is definitely difficult to understand by the common people of Earth!

This great navigator is a source of inspiration more than a century after his extraordinary campaign of 1914-17. Moreover, several friends of the OceanoScientific association have set out on his tracks.

Let's first mention the expedition initiated and led by Luc Hardy, a Franco-American member of The Explorers Club: "À la poursuite de l'Endurance", carried out on board the sailing boat AUSTRALIS during the fall of 2014 with eight people from various backgrounds. It resulted in a book and a film directed by Bertrand Delapierre.

On board the AUSTRALIS, in addition to Luc Hardy, were embarked François "Ben" Bernard, polar guide and extreme skipper, David Hempleman-Adams, experienced explorer, Justin Packshaw, former officer, Ben Wallis, skipper of AUSTRALIS, Zoé Koenig, scientist and two young soldiers: Ollie Baindbridge & Keith Harbridge, not to mention Swiss snowboarding champion, wingsuiter and speaker Geraldine Fasnacht, whose images of crazy snow slides on the side of a volcano with a 50° slope leave you speechless. ..

Although made almost a hundred years later, with a group of skilled explorers equipped with modern equipment and the assurance of having potential assistance at short notice in case of serious problems, the film highlights the complexity of the journey made under Dantean conditions between Elephant Island and South Georgia Island. This is the route that Ernest Shackleton and five of his crew, including Frank Worsley, Captain of the ENDURANCE, took on board the lifeboat CAIRD to seek help for the 21 sailors abandoned to their sad fate on Elephant Island, condemned to the worst without the heroic determination of their leader.

Less extreme but not less remarkable is the expedition carried out under sail on SIR ERNST, a Boréal 47 monohull, designed and built by Jean-François Delevoye, who spent nine years in the Patagonian canals. Initiated by François Miribel & Fabrice Papazian, accompanied by Hervé Perrin and Philippe Gredat, the SIR ERNST drew a small line in the Mediterranean and a very large one in the Atlantic: from the Yacht Club de Monaco to Marguerite Bay, on the Antarctic peninsula (South of Cape Horn), discovered on the 15 January 1909 by Jean-Baptiste Charcot and named after Marguerite Cléry, the second wife of the great French Antarctic and Arctic explorer.

These two recent adventures of 21st century sailors have something in common with each other and with their illustrious inspirer. These three extreme navigations have allowed to carry out unprecedented scientific missions. Physical and chemical data collection on board the ENDURANCE, snow sampling and deployment by Zoé Koenig of floats for meteorological and oceanographic purposes, in particular Argo floats, on board the AUSTRALIS. As for the crew of the SIR ERNST, they collected bathymetric data for the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) in Antarctic zones that have been little or not mapped.  

We recommend reading the book: "Ernest Shackleton - Endurance" published by Libretto, translated by Marie-Louise Landel, with a preface by Paul-Émile Victor, illustrated with the exceptional photos of Frank Hurley, photographer on board the ENDURANCE, witness of this incredible human adventure.

As well as the books: "The Pursuit of Endurance" by Luc Hardy and "Sir Ernst - Plus qu'un voilier en Antarctique" by the crew of François Miribel and Fabrice Papazian.