Expedition Around North America

Around North America Newsletter

Newsletter 18/ MAY 2009

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May 28, 2009.
The expedition drew to a close on Saturday, May 16 at 10:00 a.m., just as we’d planned. As of that date, the navigation campaign is officially over, but that doesn’t mean that we’re stopping here. Our schedule for the several upcoming months is actually packed.
But, first of all, let’s come back briefly on the arrival in Tromsø with an excerpt from Olivier’s logbook dated May 16:

“We’re wrapped in a cocoon of thick cotton mist. All is quiet. We’re headed for Tromsø on the last stretch of the expedition. Just as we’re getting closer to our destination, the sky is clearing up to bright blue. At 10:00 a.m., we enter the harbor, just as planned. The loch reads 21,687 nautical miles (40,164 km) traveled over the past year. Part of the crew and a good number of crewmembers are here to welcome us. At this happy and solemn moment, I am thinking about the entire crew and all the crewmembers, without whom this adventure would not have taken place.
One thing falling upon the next, we are quickly sucked up into the day’s busy program. The atmosphere is cheerful. Laurent and I share in the comfortable feeling of having succeeded in leading Southern Star from one stopover to the next for one whole year without the slightest delay.”

Around North America Newsletter

Beyond the audacious challenge, which we ued to communicate about the environment, the expedition has already fulfilled its mission with field investigation and sensibilization.. Numerous classes followed the journey, thanks to the educational programs. The conferences and the interviews set up during the expedition reached an adult public. We brought back 110 interviews of experts on climate change.

Other news

- Southern Star is currently undergoing repairs. The technical crew is tending to its wound and is painting the boat. All this has to be done by June 23 so as to have the boat ready for a polar campaign in the Spitzberg.

- Olivier Pitras will be in France from June 1 to 15, so as answer media questions and to set up production of the book of the expedition.

- A preview evening organized by one of our partners (Cinéaqua) will take place on June 8.at the Trocadéro in Paris. This evening is reserved for the media, production and distribution companies, who will get to see the first two parts of the documentary series “Southern Star’s climatic odyssey”. These two episodes will air on June 17 and 24 on Planète Thalassa.

- Bruno Philippe’s class, which served as testing ground during the development of the expedition’s pedagogical programs, will host Olivier Pitras on Friday, June 12, from 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Castillones. We are thinking about gathering the enormous amount of work undertaken by Bruno Philippe and his class into a pedagogical tool, such as a book that will run long the topics we dealt with in the course of the expedition.


- Lydia Devèze’s class in Montélimar has produced « Le climat d’à bord ». Like a logbook, this pedagogical booklet goes through the journey’s great moments and the students’ reactions towad the expedition and the environment.. Produced by Christine Maurin, this little book has been published thanks to the financial support of the educational programs of the City of Montélimar (conception: Christine Maurin, Lydia Devèze, Marie-Ange Collu-Gaudy).

What’s to come

Work doen’t stop here. We’d like to say it is merely beginning, so large is the endeavor and urgent the mission. We’ve learned a lot over this past year of investigation, and we intend to share the experience with as many of you as possible.

The newsletter, however, will no longer come out monthly. We’ll decide at the end of the summer just how frequently we’ll publish it. For now, all energies must be focused on the writing and editing of all the material we have gathered (texts, videos, photos) that we have gathered tirelessly of the past 12 months.

A good summer to all from the entire 69 Nord /Around North America crew !

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