Polaris – Arctic expedition under the aurora
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The High North. The Mediterranean.

In the winter of 2024 the founder of the company set out alone, by snowmobile, beyond the Arctic Circle, on a course for the magnetic pole. The first attempt was left unfinished – there will be further expeditions. Conditions were harsh: he was equipped like an astronaut and shown the way – from there on he was alone. And every September we return to the Mediterranean.

The programme is private in character: it is funded entirely by the principal shareholder. It reflects his humanist interests – the sea, distant routes, music and the arts.

Polaris – Arctic expedition under the aurora
Polaris Expedition · Winter 2024
Arctic – Polaris Expedition
The last place before the expedition. Beyond it, the route leaves civilisation behind.
Arctic – training before the expeditionTraining before the expeditionArctic – base camp, the start of the Polaris expedition

Arctic Program

Polaris Expedition

Beyond the Arctic Circle. Polar night. A course for the magnetic pole. The expedition was undertaken by the company’s founder – solo, by snowmobile. Nothing resembled the world known at sea level. The expedition suit was closer to a spacesuit than to clothing: complete isolation from an environment that does not account for human presence.

No infrastructure. No daylight. No point of reference. A magnetic storm disrupted GPS and set the aurora borealis alight over the ice. Near the pole the compass needle no longer points north – it dips towards the ground. One thing remains: one’s own track. The first approach remained unfinished. The retreat – by choice, not by necessity.

For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

Albert Einstein, letter to the family of Michele Besso, 1955
Theatre
High Arctic · polar night
Mode
Solo · by snowmobile
Principle
Leave no trace
Black Pearl at anchor in the bay of Cannes
Cannes – French RivieraCannes – French Riviera
Cannes – French RivieraCannes – French RivieraCannes – French Riviera

Cannes Yachting Festival

Each September we return to the Vieux Port. The quay is the same and never the same – a forest of masts against the ochre of Le Suquet, the morning anchorage scattered across silver water like notes across a stave, the Croisette at dusk under palms strung with small lights. The light turns golden an hour early, and the water carries every sound further than it should.

The sea teaches the same lesson as music: a phrase must never be hurried. We bring friends and partners – conversations begun on deck mature over dinner in the harbour, and the relationships that carry the rest of the year take on their proper weight.

When
Each September
Where
Vieux Port · Cannes
Monte Carlo – Port Hercule
Monte Carlo · RivieraMonte Carlo · RivieraMonte Carlo · Riviera
Monte Carlo · RivieraMonte Carlo · RivieraMonte Carlo · Riviera

Port Hercule – where the circuit runs past the hulls

In Monaco the sea and the circuit share one frame: the street course threads around the Port Hercule basin, past the moored hulls, while above the bay the copper roofs of the Salle Garnier weather green – opera house and marina in a single view. Beyond, at Le Castellet, the Paul Ricard circuit waits.

On the water, at the wheel and in a box at the opera, precision is what counts.

Domain
Port Hercule · Paul Ricard

Horizons covers our interest in distant expeditions and the sea; it is not part of the commercial business.