Environmental explorer Peter Blake and SEAMASTER continue with Etienne Bourgois and TARA to seek answers to the questions of why our global environment is changing...rapidly.

The Seamaster’s retractable gear proved invaluable on the next expedition, navigating the often-shallow waterways of the Amazon. Sir Blake reported back on the smoke from burning forests and the overfishing of the rivers. The Amazon was more populated than Sir Blake expected, so when his trusted core crew, the jungle team, left the ship to explore the more-remote Aracamuni Mountain in the Guyana Shield, he was anxious to join them in exploring the junble region. At the last moment, concerned for the safety of the Seamaster and a possible visit from the New Zealand Prime Minister, he decided to remain aboard . . . a decision that changed his life.

On December 5, 200l, the Seamaster moored in the impoverished town of Macapa. The next morning they were scheduled to pick up the jungle team and head out of the Amazon intending to be home for Christmas. When six hooded thieves boarded the Seamaster, they had no idea that their petty thievery and resulting murder would resonate throughout the world. Sir Peter Blake, on his quest to preserve our environment, died from two bullet wounds in the back. At his memorial service on Christmas Eve in Auckland, 300,000 people stood to show their respect and 8,000 boats in the harbor did a sail pass in his honor.

Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, the Seamaster is once again off on exploration. Now christened the Tara she is embarking on the most ambitious project yet, thanks to her savior, 45-year-old Etienne Bourgois.

This year, supported by the UN Environmental Program and in honor of the 125th anniversary of the Polar Year, the Tara will travel to 82 degrees north in the Arctic Circle to begin a two-year, 1,800-kilometer (1,120-mile) drift called Tara Arctic. The vessel will be embedded in the ice for the Arctic winters and travel with the ice floe collecting scientific data. In July the Tara left Lorient, France, for Oslo, Norway, at the invitation of the Norwegian government. The route then followed the Norwegian coast around to Murmansk on the Barents Sea in Russia, expecting to arrive within 600 miles of 82 degrees north by September. Depending on conditions the crew will proceed until the Tara either becomes embedded in the ice floe or, aided by Russian icebreakers, is lifted aboard the ice. Grant Redvers, a 33-year-old New Zealander, will then take command of the Tara as head of the expedition for the two-year duration. Once the scientific equipment is in place the six-man crew will be busy disseminating information during the dark Arctic winter. The Arctic was to be Sir Peter Blake’s next mission, and appointing a New Zealander to head the project was important to Bourgois as a tribute to Blake.

Forty-six scientific institutions among 12 European countries plus Russia have integrated their expertise under the name Damocles to conduct research. The goal of this more than $20-million project is to better understand the climatic changes in the Arctic regarding sea-ice cover, atmospheric changes, and ocean circulation. The Tara’s aft cabin was restructured to accommodate an oceanographic winch for a cable that can penetrate the ice to 1,200 feet with equipment that measures temperature, salinity, and pressure at various depths. Tethered balloons surrounding the Tara will gather data at six different levels from the ice surface. Scientists will try to discover the reason for climatic changes—such as why the ozone and mercury levels dramatically fall off or completely disappear with the advent of spring, creating surface ozone holes.

Up to 250 visitors, including scientists, journalists, and artists, will converge on the ship for six weeks during the spring. Bourgois believes the vision of the artist is very important because it provides a different perspective than the scientific view. Documentary films will cover topics such as the crucial importance of pilots in the remote Arctic and the dwindling number of Inuit Eskimos in the region.

The cost of the Tara and the crew are the sole responsibility of only two shareholders: Etienne Bourgois and his mother, Agnes, founder of the French fashion company Agnes B. “You know I have been very lucky in life,” explains Bourgois. “It is very rare that people can do their dreams and be able to do many things. It will be a great adventure for me. But I am not thinking of it as an Etienne Bourgois promotion—it is much more that I am working with people who are concerned about the same problems. I have experience in a different field and want to remain in the background.” Etienne has worked for Agnes B for 27 years, and his experience as COO of this now worldwide company is invaluable to the project. Bourgois does not endorse sponsor logos displayed on the vessel—it is not his style. To help defray costs, corporate leaders are invited to spend a week aboard the Tara for an estimated cost of $30,000.

Bourgois is an accomplished sailor. At 13 his grandfather taught him to sail, and his uncle Bruno Trouble is the distinguished America’s Cup skipper and consultant for the Louis Vuitton Cup series in Valencia. Bourgois has had a friendship for many years with Jean Louis Etienne, who built the Tara, so it was especially poignant for Bourgois to be able to bring the vessel back to France.

So how does a COO of a fashion company become involved in such a monumental project? “I like boats, but I was not crazy about racing because going around three buoys is not my cup of tea. Then I went twice to an expedition base in the Arctic with my friend Bernard Buigues, and when you start to work on the ice with seafaring people it is another world and something you never forget.”

Critics of the project balked at the expense of a two-year commitment. “When you are a sailor, you know time is different,” reflects Bourgois. “You can’t control the weather or the conditions, and scientific research takes time. I used to travel so often when I knew exactly where I would be, exactly what I would do, with whom and where, but this kind of project is completely different. It also opens my eyes to other people, certainly under different conditions.” Bourgois recognizes that this project will be a life-changing experience. The recent birth of his sixth child and work commitments will keep him closer to home, however he hopes to spend the second winter aboard the Tara.

Rising sea levels are not the only environmental concern . . . so is melting permafrost releasing methane gas into the atmosphere. Bourgois says studies in Scotland in the last 20 years also reveal the earth’s warming trend is releasing an amount of carbonic gas into the air that is essentially negating all the advances being made by the car industry to cut back on car emissions. “The problem is the accelerated rate at which the climate is changing. Where before it may have taken thousands of years, now it is a relatively short time, and we are not prepared. I think what happened in New Orleans [the Hurricane Katrina devastation] made people realize that something is really, really wrong and things have to change. This is fact. We all stand in this together, we breathe the same air, and we have to see what we can do. Politicians will move, will change, if individuals are changing.”

Explorer Sir Peter Blake’s goal for Blakexpedition was “to help all of us fall in love with the planet we live on … to start to regard rather than disregard … start to care … not out of fear, but awe.” On behalf of Sir Peter Blake, Godspeed, mate.

To follow the exploration of Tara Arctic online or inquire about sponsorship, log onto taraexpeditions.org. To learn more about Sir Peter Blake’s expedition please read his log entries in The Last Great Adventure of Sir Peter Blake.

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