The Way to the Pole, an unprecedented expedition supported by Kawneer

 With the support and partnership of KAWNEER, Sébastien Roubinet and Rodolphe André will cross the Arctic Ocean, between water and ice, without engine or assistance: leaving Alaska in July 2011, arriving in Spitsbergen via the North Pole, over nearly 3000 km (1750 nautical miles). The two men will be driving a strange machine, a hybrid catamaran/ice boat, capable of moving on water and on the ice floe. This boat will serve also a scientific observation platform, equipped with latest generation measuring instruments which will provide precise data.
When the winds are favorable, the sails will push the boat, otherwise the men will pull it.
And for two, maybe three months, without any outside assistance.
The objective of this extraordinary project is to combine sporting challenge, innovation and respect for nature.

Kawneer, an eco-responsible commitment
As a partner in this great human, ecological, and scientific adventure, Kawneer, a specialist in aluminum architectural systems, is expressing its commitment and passion in a sustainable way. The company's strong values of innovation, respect for the environment, boldness, and commitment will be shared throughout this unprecedented challenge.
Crossing the Northwest Passage solely under sail requires adaptive and improvisational skills in several areas: navigation, technical, human and physical.

Navigate while respecting ethical choices
The aim of this challenge is to raise public awareness of the ecological issues linked to climate change: a sailboat crossing this passage for the first time without an engine is a powerful image, which runs counter to the use of this maritime route as a commercial route. This traffic, made possible in the long term by global warming, risks causing even more dramatic environmental damage (oil spills, illegal dumping). The realization of this human and sporting adventure must highlight its extreme richness, its great fragility and therefore the need to preserve it.

At the request of researchers, the two men will carry out samples in nature, meteorological, glaciological and hydrological surveys, bird and mammal population counts, etc.

Participate in medical research
Medical and cognitive resistance tests (to stress, sleep for example) will be carried out on Sébastien and his teammates, in collaboration with the Universities of Montpellier and Orsay (UFR STAPS).

An expedition across the Arctic ice floe
The Arctic sea ice has been visibly thinning (from a satellite) for thirty years, its surface area at the end of summer has decreased by 40% and its average thickness by 50%, falling from 3 m to 1,5 m. The summer sea ice could disappear completely around 2030. This disappearance will have radical consequences for the global climate. Current climate forecasting models are unable to explain this acceleration of processes. Science, even with the help of the most advanced satellite technologies, remains blind. It is therefore urgent to put the sea ice under close surveillance, which several international research programs are doing with various surface resources: icebreakers, drifting stations, automatic buoys.

For further information and to follow the adventure of the VOIE DU PÔLE:
www.sebroubinet.eu
seb.roubinet@gmail.com

KAWNEER France, a specialist in facade and curtain wall solutions, puts its national and international know-how at the service of the creativity and audacity of architects.

KAWNEER France, it is a complete and coherent range of architectural aluminum systems (facades, glass roofs, windows, sliding doors, verandas) intended for the non-residential and residential markets.