01. Shakedown Voyages: 1975-1979

On its maiden voyage, the ship sailed from San Francisco Bay down the coast to Panama, through the Panama Canal, then stopping at the San Blas Islands, Martinique, the Britsh Virgin Islands, and Great Inagua. The first Atlantic crossing began at Miami, with ports of call at Bermuda, Morocco, Spain and Marseille, where the ship docked at Quai d’ Honneur. Crew members attended the Institute of Ecotechnics Ocean Conference, which assembled world-renowned experts in Aix en Provence. They then set sail to Corsica, through the Suez Canal to the Red Sea, and across the Indian Ocean to Mumbai. In collaboration with the University of Bombay, Ecotechnics continued Institute fellow’s Thor Heyerdahl’s study of the expansion of the Middle Eastern reed boat culture to the Andaman Islands off India. Crew assisted research of mercury contamination in the rivers of Maharashtra before continuing east to Sumatra, Singapore and Darwin, Australia, completing its first major voyage two-thirds of the way around the world.