Podcast Maré Sonora ® video
Forel sailboat series: Forel Heritage Association
July 25, 2026 · 49 min · 50 views
What this video covers
The Forel Heritage Association operates a 30-meter, two-masted research sailboat named Forel — formerly Paraty 2, owned by Brazilian sailor Amir Klink — as a scientific platform in polar and subpolar regions.2:03 Stefan Eibischer, co-founder and general manager of the association, describes how the Swiss Polar Foundation purchased the vessel in Paraty, Brazil in 2022 and transferred ownership to the association, which then renamed her in honor of François Alphonse Forel, the Swiss founder of limnology.1:48 A nine-month refit at Lorient, France — the boat's home port — replaced the engines and converted the hull to carry three onboard laboratories: a wet lab, a dry lab, and a clean lab.20:52 A 1,500-meter electric winch handles oceanographic instrument deployments, with a real-time data upgrade planned for 2027.31:28 The association's scientific focus is the land-ocean-atmosphere continuum, with particular emphasis on understudied coastal zones.0:51 Operations in 2024 and 2025 covered Greenland's west coast; the 2025 season targets the east coast of Greenland, where multi-year Arctic ice creates a narrow one-to-three-week operational window.24:43 Community outreach includes bringing local Inuit schoolchildren aboard and distributing bilingual scientific comics translated into French, English, and Greenlandic.45:23 Eibischer identifies crew cohesion — integrating scientists, sailors, and outreach personnel on a small vessel — as the project's central operational challenge.42:42
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