Mahe, Seychelles

It took 17 days of navigation for our laboratory vessel to reach the Seychelles archipelago. This crossing did not go easy on our crew, who had to face unstable weather conditions.

This navigation was marked by the passage of the Doldrums, also known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone. This location is known by all sailors for its meteorological instability.

Conditions that made it difficult for our captain to anticipate the different navigation scenarios, even though, in the end, our laboratory vessel and crew arrived safe and sound at their destination!

For security reasons, our crew and our vessel must wait until the end of the cyclone season to sail again toward Tanzania, Madagascar, and South Africa!

2022 has been a trying year for all of our onboard systems, which have suffered from high temperatures, turbulent crossings, and weather less conducive to performance. The 76th stopover of our odyssey, therefore, represents an essential technical stopover.

It is an opportunity for our engineers to work on optimizing the cooling circuits for technologies that have severely been solicited in recent months due to the high temperatures.

We were also able to welcome the Nova Swiss engineering teams who came for the first time since 2017 to perform important maintenance on the onboard hydrogen compressors.

Lili, currently in training at the Lycée professionnel maritime et aquacole d'Étel, was able to join the crew to help them optimize our technologies. Lili is the very first student from the maritime field to officially validate an internship onboard our hydrogen vessel!

Thanks to her for her smile and productivity, which showed real support for our busy crew!

Margaux and Chloé, members of our shore team, joined our laboratory vessel to lend a hand to the crew. They welcomed more than 250 people, including students from primary school to university, onboard our catamaran to raise their awareness of the energy transition and sustainable development.

It was also an opportunity to meet the local actors of the ecological transition here in Seychelles!