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| Owen Clarke Design have a long history and experience associated with sailing, exploration and adventure in high latitudes. This includes our designers having rounded Cape Horn several times, as well as undertaken expedition sailing in West and East Greenland under both sail and motor. This background helps us to understand and relate to the requirements of our clients as we work with them to design their ultimate custom motor or sailing explorer yacht. Whether you are experienced professionals with a large cruising yacht project or corinthian sailors dipping your toe into blue water and/or polar sailing for the first time you will find the same welcome and enthusiasm for yachts designed to explore the oceans and/or those special places that lie above 60 North and South. as well as bringing our own team’s and that of the client’s experience to bare. While this combination of naval architects, ice piloting, superyacht captain, living and operating vessels in polar waters isn’t necessarily unique it probably is in a small motivated team, such as we are. For more information contact:To access the sub-menu of yacht designs in this category: From the main menu above select; Custom Yachts and then; Explorer Yacht Design. The Arctic is defined as the area within the Arctic Circle, approximately 66 deg. 34’ north of the Equator. While the center is a frozen sea, the Arctic basin’s coastline encompasses the northern parts of Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia and includes islands such as Jan Mayen, Bear Is. and the cruising grounds of the Svalbard Archipelago. The last vestiges of the Gulf Stream keep the waters around the West of Svalbard open for cruising for much of the year and the landscape is dominated by fjords, tundra and mountains up to 1700m. For those looking for adventure there is plenty to do using your explorer yacht as a base for expeditions ashore. For photographic expeditions there’s the aurora borealis, stunning vistas, an abundance of wildlife including of course Polar Bears. Visitors must heed advice on local requirements and two good sources for these are the and the for the Arctic. For more entertaining and informative introduction to high latitude polar cruising we recommend among others; the writing of the great W H Tilman, who explored Greenland and Svalbard in his Bristol Pilot Cutter, Mischief. Which, sadly he lost to ice in the same waters. Possibly relevant, one of his famous quotes: “any worthwhile expedition can be planned on the back of an envelope.” Not how we suggest to sail, climb and explore the area these days. While Svalbard is readily navigable and a good introduction to high latitude cruising, the east coast of Greenland is another level of challenge. Above the Arctic Circle it is only accessible for a short period of time in the Summer and is not necessarily possible every year. The cold coastal current brings ice down from the Arctic Sea and in late July sea ice often extends more than thirty miles into the Denmark Strait. One of the prime destinations is , only two days motoring from West Iceland, located halfway between Scoresby Sound and Sermilik Fjord. It is the second largest fjord in East Greenland but remains almost completely uncharted. As one crosses the strait there are almost no charted depths, a few lines on the charts where surveys, some very old have been made. It’s true adventure, you are on your own and a long way from help and civilisation. The scenery is magnificent and while the Lemon Mountains to the east have peaks that have been climbed, the entire range to the west is un-named still! Ashore there are no maps and the best information available were aerial photographs which we overlaid onto charts of the coast. With care one can attempt this with a glass fibre hull, such as Skycatcher, our old race boat. An aluminium hull might make one more daring, but yes, less cautious. South there are a vast number of fjords where there is less ice left to be explored. While the east could be said to be somewhat challenging for a glass fibre composite boat, the west of Greenland is an entirely different matter. Rounding Southern Greenland or making passage from Newfoundland needs to be done with care as even in Summer this latitude is directly in the path of Atlantic lows. Once above Nunarsuit Is. at 60N for the most part conditions improve although we were caught in a 50kt + storm in the same area last year. A well-found boat is both necessary on this coast and to transit the North Atlantic at any time. Inshore is mostly ice free, except around the exit of fjords fed by glaciers. Unlike the east, this coast is populated with the occasional small permanent or Summer settlement. Yachts with shallow draft or a lifting keel can motor for the 200 miles of predominantly sheltered inshore passage through the outer islands to Nuuk. Seamanship still has to be of a high order, although the Danish Hydrographer’s charts appear modern, GPS co-ordinates are unreliable, reefs are charted out of position or are simply not on the chart. It’s not the comfortable cruising of Maine, Scotland or Norway, but it is rewarding. The scenery and fauna are even more spectacular. We arrived from St Anthony, Newfoundland in our 30’ sloop Santana, confident in our ability to adjust our plan day by day. Use the as a source of information for good pre-planning. The Northwest Passage is one of the longest, most challenging and in parts some say the most monotonous of journeys that a smaller yacht can make due to the distances involved. If you manage the passage by small craft you will join what is still a very short list of people to achieved the feat. The passage was first completed by the legendary Roald Amundsen in 1906. Many dozens of navigators and explorers failed before him in their pursuit of a new trade route between the east and west; Cabot, Hudson and of course Franklin’s expedition of 1845, to name a few. Even now, the route cannot be traversed some years, most recently in 2018 a yacht that had been advised by Canadian Coastguard not to persist had to be abandoned. There is not one passage, since the ice conditions around the various islands differ from week to week and weather is of course a dominant factor. For the larger, better equipped vessels there is real time data courtesy of the . Traversing from east to west, Cambridge Bay on Victoria Is. will likely be the last ‘large’ port of call. After this it is remote, often there will not be another Inuit settlement, vessel, or any human beings for hundreds of miles. If you’re looking for beauty, solitude, remoteness and thrive on self-reliance then it will be all of that; a very long passage that truly will take a good deal of planning. The most recent (not a pilot) guide to the history and region is Tony Soper’s 2019 book, North West Passage: Atlantic to Pacific. Antarctica is very different from the Arctic, it is land mass, a continent in its own right, surrounded by the Southern Ocean. The vast majority of yachts that visit do so by crossing Drakes Passage from the South American ports of Puerto Williams (Chile) or Ushuia (Argentina) to the South Shetland Islands, a distance of 700 miles. Whatever time of year, weather can delay departure crossing ‘Drakes’ in either direction and that has to be allowed for. Depending on the length of the vessel, from the smallest yacht to the largest superyacht there is always the likelihood that for at least some part of the journey you will encounter a Southern Ocean depression. An understanding of weather systems, good preparation of the vessel and experience of heavy weather sailing is essential. It’s not a place to practice for the first time. My second rounding of Cape Horn was as skipper in the BT Global Challenge sailing from east to west. As we neared the Cape, I recall I said I’d be back to cross Drakes and cruise south but I'll never be as experienced as my wife Ashley, who spent three seasons as the boating officer for the British Antarctic Survey, living in the region. Ash now runs and Arctic Ice Pilot, an invaluable source of information of how and where to go, as well as providing pilotage and expedition support as well as new build and refit consultancy for private and commercial yachts that plan to explore the polar regions. As in the north the Polar Code applies and a sister organisation to AECO, publishes guidelines for yachts visiting south of 60S. Sailing around the 800 islands that make up the Falklands is not dangerous, but it is an adventure, rarely attempted by yachtsmen. Which, is a pity because the wildlife is stunning, more so than Antarctica and the scenery quite different, not dissimilar to the Western Isles of Scotland. Many of the yachts that put into the main harbour, Port Stanley are coming or going from Antarctica or Patagonia and consider it only as a transit point with good air communications to the UK and South America. This makes it even more attractive, at least to me; it is the road less trod with Bays, quiet anchorages, great hiking and diving. While some famous yachtsmen and women have sailed the islands since, the best pilotage guide remains one from 1983 by then Royal Marine Major, Ewen Southby Tailyour. The hand drawn charts and information found in Falkland Island Shores formed the basis of British landing plans during the 82’ Falklands War and can be your inspiration to discover this amazing cruising ground. The islands are home to the Black Browed Albatross, countless sea birds, sea lions, seals and five species of penguin, including the King. Almost all land outside of the well protected harbour at Stanley is privately owned farm or moor land that can be visited by prior arrangement. Locals are friendly and knowledgeable regarding local flora, fauna and history of the islands. Most are descendants of original settlers. It’s not just a stopping off point, it’s a little known or appreciated gem. This is the jewel in the crown of the Antarctic region, partly because of its remoteness as there is only one way to get there, 800 miles by sea. South Georgia is a territory with its own , but effectively administered by the UK. The permanent population are centred predominantly around the small base in Grytviken, where Ashley lived for a year and we were married. All yachts require a visitor’s permit before setting out and visits by commercial charter yachts must be organised and run by a member of IAATO. Those visiting early and late in the season are required to ‘buddy up’ with another yacht and permits are refused if the vessel is technically deficient or the crew inexperienced. Hiring an experienced professional known to the South Georgia Government is an avenue by which private explorer yachts can get to visit. Once there they’ll find a mountainous island with stunning bays, beaches and glaciers that run to the sea. Incredibly rich in wildlife, more so than anywhere in the south. The surrounding waters are one of the world’s largest protected marine reserves and “in respect to species, marine inhabitant’s endemic to this ecosystem outnumber and (in respect to biodiversity) surpass better known regions such as the Galapagos”. I have not sailed there but spent 10 days on the coast exploring by ship and I will return in a yacht. I love the history, it’s association with Shackleton and the age of exploration. It is rugged, beautiful, very challenging and then after all that one gets to sail back upwind in the Southern Ocean or east to Cape Town, what’s not to like? Some of the most remote yet achievable sailing anywhere can be found in Southern Chile. There are over a thousand miles of epic cruising, as with West Greenland, most of it possible inside the relatively sheltered waters of an offshore chain of islands. There are snow-covered volcanoes in the north and south, tall granite mountains with glaciers that run to the sea in Around the corner, deep in the latitudes of the Southern Ocean are the islands and protected waters of Tierra del Fuego, jumping off ground for the Antarctic Peninsula. As with the Falkland Islands, especially for large yachts and superyachts, the Patagonian ‘canals’ are often seen by owners as only a region to transit, rather than a destination in themselves. For the crews of smaller sailboats, they have no choice but to slow down and take in the majesty of the trip, especially if they’re travelling from south to north against the prevailing winds. The Chilean and Argentinean sides of Patagonia are quite different. Argentina, to the east of the Andes is mostly flat and accessible by land. Chile’s side is a maze of fjords, high mountains, lagoons, rivers and hundreds of islands. There are no roads from north to south, the only access is by the sea or air and one result of this is that the locals are very happy to meet the resourceful ‘tourist’ travelling by boat. Yachts preparing to leave will normally start south from the bustling city of Puerto Montt, while the best jumping off place for those intrepid enough to make the journey north will be from anchor off the windiest city in the world, Punta Arenas. For more information contact: For an explanation of the technology behind the design process go to: For an insight into our engineering and detailed design work go to: |
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9 Explorer Yachts Made to Cruise the World’s Most Remote Destinations
You don't need a 250-footer to reach the ends of the earth. serious explorer yachts now come in owner-operated 85-foot lengths., howard walker, howard walker's most recent stories, this new 75-foot yacht has transformer-like drop-down terraces.
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With last year seeing a record number of explorer-style yachts under construction, it’s clear a new generation of superyacht buyer is no longer content to jostle for moorings in crowded harbors of the Med or Caribbean. They want open space and adventure.
Expedition yachts have traditionally been converted freighters or supply vessels, like the 223-foot Ragnar or 250-foot Yersin. But this new generation of compact superyachts, many below 150 feet, is designed for similar missions in smaller packages, thanks to utilitarian hull designs and expanded fuel capacities.
One in this group is designed to be self-sufficient for 30 days as it explores remote regions. Another has a top speed of 25 knots, giving it the ability to outrun storms. Several have enough rear deck space to land a helicopter.
Name-brand builders such as Holland’s Damen and Italy’s Sanlorenzo and Cantiere delle Marche have been joined by a number of specialist Turkish yards, like Bering and AvA, in offering capable, adventure-ready vessels with luxury interiors.
Here are nine of the finest. Most are new, but we’ve included several recent launches, and even a decade-old classic, to show just how far this field has come.
Damen SeaXplorer 58 ‘Pink Shadow’
Nothing screams “explorer yacht” louder than the 190-foot SeaXplorer 58 Pink Shadow from Damen Yachting. This oceangoing beast was just launched from the Dutch brand’s yard in Antalya, Turkey. The heavily customized Pink Shadow (it’s painted green) has a towering, ice-crushing, vertical bow and a distinctive open forward gallery. The boat is designed to explore the most remote corners of the globe. The vessel can be completely self-sufficient for up to a month, with the ability to cruise at 11.5 knots for over 5,000 nautical miles. Need to fly in more supplies? There’s a basketball-court-sized helipad at the stern. The yacht’s huge in-hull garages can also be filled with a fleet of toys, including two multipurpose tenders, motorcycles, ATVs, and a 4×4 SUV, plus a custom 37-foot racing sailboat.
Lynx Crossover 27 ‘Avontuur’
Paint numbers on the bow and you might mistake this new 88-foot explorer from Lynx Yachts for a military vessel. There’s even space on the open aft deck for a Navy SEAL–style RIB. But the Crossover 27 is all about adventure (“Avontuur” is the Dutch word for exactly that.) Designed by Holland’s Bernd Weel with a hull shape by Diana Yacht Design, the Lynx comes with a pair of 850-horse Caterpillars that can power it to a top speed of 14 knots. At 10 knots, it has a range of over 3,000 nautical miles. This first example was commissioned for an adventure-loving Californian who had the 750-square-foot aft deck designed to carry both an Air Nautique G23 wakeboard boat and 16-foot RIB. The garage on the deck below can transport Jet Skis, paddleboards, and scuba gear.
One of the baseline requirements for legitimate explorer yachts is that they be safe and stable in rough seas. Which is why the 85-foot explorer is so impressive. With no fewer than three stabilizer systems, the Arksen can stay upright even if slammed side-on by some Perfect Storm– sized rogue wave. The all-aluminum hull is even designed to recover from a 180-degree knockdown. The Arksen’s semi-displacement hull and glass-filled superstructure come from U.K.-based Humphries Yacht Design. Twin, heavy-duty 330 hp Cummins diesels give the boat a top speed of 14 knots. At nine knots, it has an astonishing range of 7,000 nautical miles.
Sanlorenzo 500EXP ‘Para Bellum’
The 154-foot 500EXP , the newest and biggest addition to the yard’s luxury explorer yacht range, has space for a helicopter on its stern. It also features an ice-crushing full-displacement steel hull and towering bow that gives it serious expedition cred. But the 500EXP is designed to cruise to the most remote corners of the planet in comfort. The vessel has a range of more than 4,500 nautical miles at 11 knots with the twin 970-horse Cat C32s powerplants. Below decks, the generous 31-foot beam delivers copious amounts of space for 10 guests in five cabins. The latest version of the yacht, the gray-hulled Para Bellum , can now be chartered from $300,000 a week. Helicopter not included.
Alpha Yachts Alfresco 125 ‘Piccolo’
Turkey’s Alpha Custom Yachts go-anywhere 125-foot Piccolo focuses on big spaces to enjoy the great outdoors. The flybridge itself sprawls across 1,180 square feet, with features such as a plunge pool up front and uncluttered entertaining spaces at the rear. The sleek, clean lines are from Britain’s H2 Yacht Design, with the semi-displacement fiberglass hull from naval architects Laurent Giles. And unlike most explorer yachts, the boat is fast. Twin Caterpillar C32s can punch her to a top speed of 17.5 knots, though throttle back to 10 and it will cover over 2,300 nautical miles. The first in the Alfresco 125 series, Piccolo, was launched in 2020. It is now on the market for $12.5 million.
Bering B145 ‘Heeus’
The flagship of Turkey’s Bering Yachts is the 145-foot Heeus . It has a range of over 4,600 miles, which means it can run from San Francisco to Hawaii, and back, on a single tank of fuel at 12 knots. In addition to its twin main Caterpillar engines, the B145 can also be powered by electric motors and batteries. The hybrid system is designed to ease the yacht silently into more eco-sensitive anchorages and run overnight without generators. The outside decks are huge—the sundeck alone spans almost 1,000 square feet. The boat is available for weekly charter this summer for around €230,000 ($250,000).
AvA Yachts Kando 110 Explorer ‘Infinity-Nine’
AvA’s Kando110 Explorer series hit the headlines last November after it emerged that the Turkish yard’s newest launch had been purchased by former San Antonio Spurs’ basketball star Tony Parker. He called the boat Infinity Nine . The 110-foot, steel-and-aluminum world-girder was designed to crisscross the Atlantic, courtesy of its 6,500 mile range and fuel-sipping 650 hp Volvo D16 diesels. Distinguished by a four-deck layout, towering topsides, and expansive hull-side glass, the Kando110 has six staterooms, including a 290-square-foot full-beam master.
CdM Flexplorer 130 ‘Aurelia’
Superyacht cranes have never been this cool. The towering A-frame heavy-lifter on the rear deck of CdM 130 Flexplorer Aurelia can lift and launch the yacht’s hefty 28-foot tender over the stern without breaking a sweat—in fact, it can hoist up to 3.5 tonnes. But even more impressive is that, when stowed, the crane disappears completely into recesses in the yacht’s teak deck. Sergio Cutolo’s Hydro Tec studio did the yacht design. The Flexplorer series lives up to its name: Yachts can be built from 127 to 154 feet. Power-wise, Aurelia , the first of the series, has twin Caterpillar C32s to give a 14-knot top speed. At 10 knots, it has a 5,000-nautical-mile range.
Canados Oceanic 143 Fast Expedition
Traditional explorer yachts tend to chug across oceans at single-digit speeds. But there are times when you need to outrun a storm or punch against a fast-flowing tide. That’s the beauty of Italian builder Canados’s new Oceanic 143 tri-deck: speed. Powered by three 2,400hp Caterpillar C32 12-cylinder turbo diesels, the boat can reach a top speed of 25 knots. With a fuel capacity of 8,320 gallons, if you ease back to an eight-knot cruise speed, range extends to over 6,000 miles. Much of this comes down to the yacht’s innovative “Dis-planing” hull (see image above). Canados gave it the unusual name because the design is a rare combination of “displacement” and “planing”—topped off by a wave-slicing, straked-bow design.
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OceanXplorer: Inside the unique expedition yacht unlike anything else afloat
Refitted with masterful design, cutting-edge submersibles and Hollywood-standard editing facilities, 87-metre OceanXplorer is an expedition yacht unlike anything else afloat, says Sam Fortescue
There is a delicious irony to this most unusual refit story. Mark Dalio, son of Ray Dalio, the billionaire philanthropist who set the wheels in motion, expresses it perfectly. “We’ve taken a vessel that was originally used for oil exploration off the market, to convert it to something that actually gives back to our scientific knowledge and the advancement of the world’s oceans,” he tells me. Now rechristened OceanXplorer , the 87-metre workboat had plied the North Sea oilfields for years as the Volstad Surveyor before Mark and OceanX, the non-profit initiative he co-founded with his father, came looking for a new research vessel.
What they hoped to create was nothing short of a revolution – a vessel with which to perform ocean science that inspires a new care for our underwater world. Not content with just a sturdy platform for exploring the most hostile corners of the oceans, OceanX wanted to blend top-end media production facilities with cutting-edge science labs and an underwater exploration capability that puts many of the world’s navies to shame. “Being able to merge the science aspect and the comms really gives us an opportunity to be a voice for the scientist,” enthuses Mark Dalio when I catch up with him by phone in New York. “It enables us to share the research and their understanding, to excite the next generation and the public to want to care. Too much doom and gloom only alienates audiences.”
Dalio and the OceanX team had a clear idea of what they wanted from the outset, because they had operated the smaller 56-metre research vessel Alucia for several years beforehand. She had been built in France in 1974 and, despite a refit, she was showing her age. “ Alucia is an incredible vessel but we needed a ship that offered the scale we needed for years to come,” says Dalio. They knew they needed more space in order to extend the boat’s capabilities, and to reduce their reliance on shore-based facilities. And they wanted much better seabed-scanning equipment, so they could quickly establish the value of sending a mission out in the submarines. So, they began looking at procuring a new ship.
The first idea was a new build, but that was quickly discarded. “It just didn’t make sense for what we were trying to achieve in our scale and timeline,” explains Dalio. “We looked into other solutions but ultimately turned instead to a refit. Ironically, a lot of the vessels that presented themselves as really good options were doing offshore oil work. These vessels were already deploying ROVs [remotely operated vehicles].”
Once they settled on the 10-year-old Volstad Surveyor, the team asked Norwegian marine engineering expert Skipsteknisk to redesign the fabric of the ship to their ends. That meant laying the foundations for an imposing new A-frame crane on the stern, which could launch and recover the twin Triton subs, used for manned exploration down to a depth of 1,000 metres. Similarly, the new sub hangar had to be hollowed out of the superstructure, and equipped with a hydraulic arm to launch the Argus ROV and Remus autonomous vehicle (both of which are rated down to 6,000-metres’ depth). The existing crane on the aft deck was actually too capable so it was replaced with something smaller and lighter. Similarly, the boat’s existing moon pool for launching divers and subs inside the boat was closed to improve buoyancy.
Skipsteknisk knew the boat well, having done the design work for its original incarnation as an oil survey vessel. “That knowledge was crucial – it would have been very challenging otherwise,” says Skipsteknisk’s Bjørn-Oscar Kløvning. “The owner’s team knew what they wanted but the full complexity was hard to see at the beginning: helicopter hangar, sub hangar. This goes much deeper than we would normally anticipate.”
The focus of the project next passed over to yacht designer Steve Gresham and the Damen Shiprepair & Conversion yard in Rotterdam, which undertook the refit work. Here again, the words “challenge” and “complexity” keep coming up. “It’s a refit but it was more like a rebuild,” says project director Tjarco Ekkelkamp with a broad grin. “We changed and added a lot of structural elements. More than 50 per cent of the superstructure was demolished, completely stripped. From the main deck up, we built almost completely new.” As well as the new A-frame and hangars, there were two new lifts and the accommodation decks were extended out on both sides of the ship in a sort of cheek, to create extra internal space and phenomenal views. Damen installed a box keel with solid ballast, amounting to 400 tonnes all in. And they also put in the so-called “gondola” which Ekkelkamp describes as a “sort of shoe that fits under the boat in a hydrodynamic shape”. This houses the cutting-edge sonar equipment, which needed to be positioned in a spot on the hull that is untroubled by bubbles and receives a laminar (smooth) water flow.
But if this project had been simply a case of changing the structure of the boat, it would have been simpler by far. Damen also had to install an IT backbone to support the high-end science as well as the 8K video editing and production facilities. It had to allow visiting scientists to bring their own machines and servers, for simply slotting into a dedicated rack – all without compromising the security of the ship’s vital systems. Then there needed to be an interior suitable for guests on decks three and four. “As Damen, we have fitted all these things to boats before,” Ekkelkamp continues. “We’ve got all these different disciplines within the group, but it was the first time that we’d brought it all together here into one project. That was the challenge. There is no yard in the world that has done all these things together.”
Steve Gresham styled the exterior and layout of OceanXplorer , as well as the look of all but the accommodation spaces, which were designed by Christina Fallah. Gresham got involved early on, glossing some of the technical design work from Skipsteknisk. For instance, he moved the bow helipad three frames (1.8 metres) further forward, in order to create the room for a proper hangar behind it, which he then specced with a futuristic top-hinged door. His vision called for full floor-to-ceiling-height windows on one side of the upper guest deck, and much larger windows throughout. “The basics had been done, but I softened it and added detail that gave it less of a commercial look,” Gresham explains. “Overhanging coachroofs and positioning the domes as far out as possible – they’re not really technical issues, but more about keeping the design looking as good as we could.”
He made ample use of superficial features, such as vinyl wrapping the comms domes to look a little like something from Star Wars. “We also threw in a little smiley on the dome at the top!” He put brightly coloured safe walkway routes around the decks, which Damen set into the surface using synthetics from Bolidt. He is particularly proud of the styling in the sub hangar. Here, a mezzanine level fabricated from steel pillars and metal mesh flooring has been turned into a feature, hung with tools and spare parts, while important-looking cowls hang from the ceiling with red klaxon lights. He also put in stock-exchange-style tickers throughout the working spaces of the interior. “You don’t want tannoys going off all the time to say ‘launching in 10 minutes’. This way you can also put notes out to people. They are high- definition screens, so we could have fish swimming along it if we wanted.”
It was also his idea to highlight features such as the hydraulic cylinders of the A-frame, and the tower of the gantry crane, in “friendly” lagoon blue. “When this boat comes over the horizon, we don’t want it to look scary, like a stealth fighter,” says Gresham. “It’s got to have a certain friendliness.” Skipsteknisk tells me that there was a lot of weight added high up on the boat by the accommodation but, by superyacht standards, it is quite restrained. There is no pool on board and no spa. When I ask Mark Dalio about this, he shrugs. He tells me that the accommodation performs a simple function. “It’s kind of standard guest accommodation,” he explains.
“Along with scientists, we are trying to inspire and educate and to bring along for the journey folk that could be partners for the future, whether philanthropists or investors. But for us, science always comes first, and really being able to explore the knowledge and to further scientific understanding.” The area has a spacious layout with seven large double cabins for the guests. There is a step up in terms of comfort between the technical and guest areas, but some continuity in design and materials. It is described as “incredibly futuristic”, with overtones of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise .
Dalio is much more interested in the boat’s technical capabilities, however. There are no fewer than four science labs aboard, for wet and dry work. They are capable of fine microscopy, genetic sequencing and minutely analysing samples from the ship’s various pieces of equipment. Crucially, the eDNA analysis means that the team can quickly identify whether a sample constitutes a new species and merits further investigation. “Being able to do real-time science like we’ve never done before, means we can process samples on board rather than send it off to a lab,” explains Dalio.
The roll-call of those involved in the science and media is impressive. OceanX has just unveiled a partnership with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for instance. It has worked with NASA to develop a vehicle that can explore the 11,000-metre depths of the ocean, and there are projects to tag manta rays and understand bioluminescence. There have been collaborations with Sir David Attenborough and the BBC, with National Geographic and with a host of scientists and film-makers who are all leaders in their fields.
Meanwhile, Hollywood giant James Cameron, he of Titanic and Avatar fame, also has a passion for deep-sea exploration. He is executive-producing a new series with the BBC Natural History Unit for the National Geographic Channel, which will follow a team of scientists and adventurers aboard OceanXplorer . That comes on top of the BBC’s two Blue Planet series, which captured breathtaking footage of rarely seen creatures and habitats. And there was a seminal mission in 2012 which produced the first ever natural television footage of a giant squid.
This was perhaps the best moment to date for Dalio. “There’s almost like a little kid inside me that gets excited about the squid,” he tells me, before continuing in the tones of one contemplating Christmas to discuss another elusive underwater giant: the colossal squid. “It’s never been documented alive and I’m wondering if we could take a one-up on the giant squid.”
In the end, he knows that the natural world performs to no shooting schedule, and that they will be led as always by the science, one discovery to the next. And it is this unlimited, unknowable brief that has guided the design and refit of OceanXplorer . “The boat is like the USS Enterprise of the oceans,” says Dalio. “We’ll only know the extent of its capabilities in years to come – not just a couple of months. It’ll take years to see exactly how much it can handle”.
Follow the OceanX mission at oceanx.org and on social media @oceanx
First published in the February 2021 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.
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