Mike Horn and the Yacht Club de Monaco: the last great round-the-world expedition to inspire new environmental actions

Mike Horn set off from the Yacht Club de Monaco‘s marina on Wednesday 3 May 2023 at 4.49pm precisely, for a new great expedition that will sail around the world, exploring remote places and raising awareness of the environmental actions that will have to be taken in the near future to preserve our planet.

This last great expedition is called What’s Left and has an important purpose: to take stock of the state of the Earth and advocate the initiatives implemented, involving the public in this adventure.

Mike Horn, a Swiss-South African sailor, left the docks of the Yacht Club de Monaco on board Pangea, a 32-metre icebreaker sailing boat flying the Monegasque flag, which has just undergone a two-year restoration thanks to partner Sunreef Yachts.

The expedition, which will last four years in all, will touch several continents and different environmental zones of the planet such as the Arctic, the Amazon jungle, Antarctica, Patagonia, the Australian desert, New Zealand, northern Canada, Alaska and Asia. Every six months Mike will set off again to discover the next stage, together with his four-member crew.

Mike has a 30-year experience in expeditions of this kind, and thanks to the support of sponsors and participating partners such as Panerai, Hexaom, Cummins, Sunreef Yachts, Explora Journeys and the Yacht Club de Monaco (of which he is a member), he will end his explorer career in style, retracing the iconic places that have marked his career and also discovering new places.

Fourteen years after the start of the first Pangea expedition, which also departed from the Yacht Club de Monaco, Mike Horn, the man who has dedicated his life to discovering and protecting the environment, as he himself has claimed, now wants to train new generations:

“The aim is to support them as they develop their projects with the help of experts and coaches. During the programme, teams will learn about concepts such as Business Model, Design Thinking and Business Plan to help them make their idea achievable. It’s only then that they can come aboard and make their project a reality. We then become a platform for execution.”

The expedition set off from the YCM docks under the passionate gaze of HRH Prince Albert II of Monaco, who commented on the initiative as follows: “Faced with the climate emergency, it is imperative that living proof replaces the promises”. A vision shared by explorer Mike Horn who added:

“Thanks to extensive research, we know now we have to make every effort to change the situation. We know sea temperatures are rising, that we have problems with microplastics, that fires and floods are increasing. Nature is in revolt.”

With the What’s Left expedition and Mike Horn as its ambassador, the Yacht Club de Monaco reiterates its commitment to environmental transition as it encourages initiatives in line with its collective ‘Monaco, Capital of Advanced Yachting’ approach.