Officine Panerai

New York, NY (May 2011) – On behalf of PANGAEA Expedition sponsor Officine Panerai, renowned South African explorer Mike Horn will be in Los Angeles on May 26^th and 27^th in an effort to educate local media about his travels aboard PANGAEA, a custom-designed boat used for research, environmental and educational projects both at sea and ports-of-call around the world.  In the days leading up to the Memorial Day weekend, PANGAEA will be docked at the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey, CA where local media will be invited to join Horn and local Young Explorer Garrett Celestin for a sail along the Southern California coast.   

Panerai Brings Mike Horn and PANGAEA

to Los Angeles in Celebration of

horn's Upcoming North American Tour Segment

Local high school student and Young Explorer Garrett Celestin

to join Mike Horn and press guests for a May 26^th sailing event on PANGAEA

Mike Horn is widely acknowledged as one of the modern era's greatest explorers and extreme adventurers. Horn's most recent PANGAEA Expedition is the result of his many years of hands-on experience exploring some of the world's most treacherous environments—from traversing oceans, mountains, tundra and ice, to making his way through the wettest of jungles and the driest of deserts.  The PANGAEA Expedition set out in October 2008 from Ushuaia, Argentina, in his 105' custom-designed sailing vessel.  The vessel was designed by Horn in an environmentally friendly way with integrated tools to produce energy and reduce pollution.  Additionally, it is outfitted with all the necessary equipment required to spend months at sea, including custom-made Panerai instruments.

While Horn is celebrated for his ongoing expeditions, the defining quality which sets him apart from other modern day adventurers and makes him an international "explorer-to-watch" is his dedication to sharing and imparting his knowledge to a younger generation.  He has done so through the creation of the Young Explorers Program (YEP), which is a side project of the PANGAEA Expedition.  The goal of the YEP is to expose youngsters (ages 15-20) from every country to some of the most remote and beautiful destinations on the planet in order to help them gain an insight into the environments and the dangers affecting them. The YEs are encouraged to return to their native region and share their experiences with family, friends and peers – acting as ambassadors to spread the word of PANGAEA's ecological and environmental message in each continent. In fact, many of the former YEs have created a worldwide network of ambassadors and have continued to be very active with their satellite projects around the globe.

Since 2008, the YEs have traveled to Antarctica, New Zealand, Malaysia, India, the Himalayas and Nepal, the Gobi Desert and Mongolia, and the Kamchatka region of Russia. This September, Horn will lead a new group of YEs on a trek through the nature reserves of the mighty Colorado River giving U.S. students an opportunity to participate closer to home.  Every young American has the opportunity to become a YE and experience the next wave of PANGAEA projects by simply applying on the PANGAEA website at www.pangaea-yep.com.

Before bringing the YEP program to a close in July 2012, the PANGAEA Expedition will travel to the Nunavut territory in Canada, the Amazon River basin in Brazil and finally the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. Currently the YEPs are in the Magnetic North Pole where they will explore the Northern Territories of the North Pole Region, starting at Resolute Bay, Canada, with the mission to discover the beauty of the region, and to develop an understanding of the people and the complex ecosystem while learning about climate adaptation, terrain elevation, temperature, wind speed and direction.

Accompanying Horn in Marina Del Rey on May 26th will be YEP participant Garrett Celestin , a student at Los Alamitos High School in Long Beach, CA, who at the age of 15 joined the Malaysia YE expedition in November 2009. Celestin was the only U.S. candidate to be selected from the Indonesia project training camp, a boot-camp type program where the students are vetted and trained for each upcoming YEP expedition. The goal of the Malaysia expedition was for YEPs to participate in coral reef restoration, and learn about biodiversity, deforestation and local wildlife. Celestin will share his experience in Malaysia and what he has learned from the program that has impacted his life in Southern California.

Italian high-end watch maker Officine Panerai is a long-term partner backing Mike Horn's explorations and a supplier of high-end professional instruments that support Mike throughout his adventures.  During the PANGAEA expedition Horn wears a Panerai Luminor 1950 Submersible Depth Gauge, a submersible watch with automatic winding and a chronometer certificate (C.O.S.C.), fitted with a depth gauge, whose measurement accuracy has been individually tested and certified by the officially qualified body METAS (the Federal Office of Metrology based in Berne, Switzerland). Additionally the PANGAEA vessel is equipped with other Officine Panerai instruments including a hygrometer, thermometer and barometer.

For more information about Mike Horn and PANGAEA, visit www.mikehorn.com.

For more information about the Young Explorers Program, visit www.pangaea-yep.com.

Information about PANGAEA

Mike Horn left the Principality of Monaco in May 2008 on an expedition lasting four years, on board PANGAEA, a 35-meter long vessel which combines comfort and safety with rugged versatility and premium innovation. Integrated in PANGAEA are the latest state-of-the-art and eco-friendly, sustainable technologies with solar panels, a recyclable aluminium hull and trawling nets for bottles. In several stages, his journey will take him to all the continents with the intention of sharing awareness of the current state of our planet so as to make public opinion aware of this important problem. During the expedition, 12 groups of Young Explorers will join Mike Horn and his crew, in order to engage in environmental projects inspired to the "Explore-Learn-Act" philosophy. www.MikeHorn.com.

Information about Officine Panerai

Founded in Florence in 1860 as a watchmaker's shop, workshop and school, Officine Panerai was for many years the official supplier of precision instruments for the Italian Navy, mostly for the underwater special corps. The projects developed by the company at the time including the Luminor and Radiomir watch - were covered by military secret until 1997, when the brand was purchased by the Richemont Group and launched on the international market. Officine Panerai is today the only Italian fine watch making company, developing and producing its own calibres and watches - a blend of Italian history and design with Swiss craftsmanship - in its own manufacture in Neuchatel, in Switzerland. Panerai watches are distributed worldwide through an exclusive network and in the Panerai boutiques in Florence, Milan, Portofino, Geneva, Madrid, Moscow, Paris, Beverly Hills, New York City, Boca Raton, Buenos Aires, Beirut, Doha, Dubai, Beijing, Hong-Kong, Macau, Shanghai, Taipei, and Tokyo. www.panerai.com.

Press Release