Podcast Maré Sonora ® video
Forel sailboat series: the three captains
August 1, 2026 · 1h 3m · 24 views
What this video covers
Three captains of the sailing research vessel Forel — Baptiste, Benedicte (Bené), and Jean-François Levasseur (Jeff) — describe their roles and routes in a multi-leg Arctic science expedition. Baptiste, maritime coordinator since 2019 and formerly a sailor on Tara, organized the departure from Lorient on May 27 and handled logistics for the Greenland crossing.3:24 Benedicte captained the leg to Greenland, disembarking at Kangaluswak Fjord on the west coast; Jeff joined there for subsequent legs.3:01 All three trained at Les Glenans or in the British Channel and cite polar science — inspired by Cousteau and Jean-Louis Etienne — as their motivation.5:27 Jeff describes Forel's balestron rig, clear deck, and single-handed maneuverability, and notes the missing centerboard (dérive) limits upwind performance; he sailed Atlantic watches with only two crew per watch.18:44 Weather routing uses GFS and European models cross-checked by a shore-based router named Maxime, supplemented aboard by Starlink for additional model access.57:37 The planned route continues to Guadeloupe, Panama, the Pacific, Alaska, the Bering Strait, and northern Canada for a project called PAP 27.1:00:29 Host Marina Guedes recorded all three interviews aboard Forel; the series runs ten episodes total.1:45
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