Gathered under the La Belle Classe Explorer label of the Yacht Club de Monaco, these shipowners, captains and professional explorers work to promote technological innovations and environmentally-friendly sailing. These “Adventurers” are determined to discover the oceans, to explore maritime zones that are little explored or not at all, to appreciate their beauty but also their fragility, and to bear witness to it.
These men and women, explorers of tomorrow’s yachting, perpetuate the Art de Vivre la Mer (the art of living at sea) that is one of the Y.C.M.’s core values. As a tribute to their commitment and efforts to sail with the utmost respect for the environment, H.S.H. Sovereign Prince Albert II presents an annual award to the shipowners-explorers who have distinguished themselves in the Yacht Club de Monaco’s La Belle Classe Explorer.
There are 7.6 billion people on the planet today. In thirty years’ time, there will be ten billion of us. The ocean will then be the main resource for life on earth. Through their choices, through their actions, through their sailing, the men and women who make up La Belle Classe Explorer of the Yacht Club de Monaco are innovating and helping to raise awareness of the importance of the Ocean for Humanity, of the absolute necessity of preserving it, and of ensuring that its biodiversity flourishes.
The vocation of the Yacht Club de Monaco’s La Belle Classe Explorer is to perpetuate the sailing spirit of Albert I, Prince of Monaco. In 1885, with the Hirondelle, a 200-ton sailing ship purchased in 1873, he was the first to fit out a pleasure yacht, innovating in a number of fields by devising novel scientific equipment. His goal was to set out to discover the ocean, to bear witness to its infinite beauty, its immense usefulness to mankind and, consequently, the need to preserve its biodiversity for future generations. For many years now, H.S.H. Sovereign Prince Albert II has ensured that this spirit of exploration and preservation of the Ocean continues to grow, in the same way as Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau did in 1950, when he once again converted a ship, the Calypso, for oceanographic use.
Setting sail from Monaco on May 3, 2023, Mike Horn has embarked on a new adventure, Whats’Left, to take stock of the state of the planet, become its spokesman and bring his public on board. On the program: four years of navigation in the most remote environments on the planet to discover and report on the signs of climate change.
A delegation of members and staff from the Yacht Club de Monaco joined him in Greenland for a few days at the end of December 2023 to experience this extraordinary voyage from the inside. The team ventured into isolated regions, observing environmental variations and, in particular, fjords that are slow to freeze over. It was an opportunity to deepen their understanding of local ecosystems.
With Mike Horn as its ambassador, the Yacht Club de Monaco, as a true player in the environmental transition, continues to encourage all initiatives that are part of the collective “Monaco, Capital of Advanced Yachting” approach.
Driven by the desire to share their passion and reveal the beauty of Antarctica, François Miribel, owner of the Sir Ernst, and Fabrice Papazian, both members of the Y.C.M., have multiplied their expeditions to this fascinating land. From the canals of Patagonia to the vast expanses of the White Continent, each of their adventures had well-defined objectives.
Their main mission: to raise awareness of environmental protection and bear witness to the fragile beauty of these ecosystems. They also collected data for the Seabed 2030 program, in partnership with Monaco’s International Hydrographic Organization, to help map the seabed.
At the same time, the sailors offered a virtual voyage to children hospitalized at the Institut d’hématologie et d’oncologie pédiatrique de Lyon (IHOPe), enabling them to follow the adventures of the Boréal 47 and its crew. Among them, Palmito and Patagonia, two penguin mascots, also came on board to help these young patients dream.
LBC Explorer
yachts@ycm.org
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