The Boat

The Malizia Explorer is a robust 85-foot sailing yacht, purpose-built for long-range, low-emission Ocean expeditions. Originally designed for leisure, the aluminum-hulled vessel proved its seaworthiness during a full circumnavigation before undergoing a major refit in Lorient, France, in April 2025. Currently undergoing transformation into a dedicated research platform, it carries the A Race We Must Win - Climate Action Now! logo on its sails, symbolising its mission to bring climate science and Ocean protection to life. Designed to operate with a professional sailing crew of three and accommodate up to eight scientists, the Malizia Explorer provides a functional and flexible environment for multidisciplinary oceanographic research. The focus of the research vessel’s expeditions will be on remote and hard-to-reach regions of the planet’s ocean, naturally taking it toward the poles. To prepare for these extreme environments, the yacht is currently being fitted with a reinforced roof and is already well-equipped for long-duration missions, thanks to its generous storage capacity and large fuel and water tanks.

In addition to the OceanPack, the vessel is fitted with a CTD rosette for vertical water profiling and sampling down to 500 metres. This system includes six four-litre collection bottles and records vital parameters including temperature, salinity, oxygen, turbidity and chlorophyll-a. Additionally, scientists are encouraged to bring their own instruments for additional research needs, including the deployment of Argo floats, buoys and other autonomous devices.

The Malizia Explorer also provides practical infrastructure to support scientific work at sea, including a large aft garage (4x3x1m) for storing gear and samples, a deck-mounted crane for deploying and retrieving instruments, a dinghy for coastal access and nearshore sampling, and a reliable satellite internet connection to enable data transfer and remote collaboration throughout each expedition.