The arctic has been Pierre Sauvadet's dream since childhood. Sailing is his passion and his profession. Pierre has spent his adult life sailing, having circumnavigated the world several times. But he is always drawn back to the Arctic. In 1991, with the support of the Japanese Asahi Shimbun news group, he openned the Northeast passage to Western navigation, while developing the use of satellite imagery for ice navigation. The next year, he sailed Northwest passage. Pierre has worked on various environmental satellite validation projects for the European Space Agency.
His experience in the Arctic led Pierre to consider the use of small, shallow draft, ice strength hull small work boats to access areas large ice breakers cannot. Winterizing the boat so it could be lived on in the winter would provide a year round research platform for the remotest locations.
In 2004 Pierre designed and financed the construction of Aurora Magnetica and tested the boat in northern Canada and Greenland, including spending two winters on board, to validate the concept. Sila inua, launched in August of 2011, is the second boat of its kind.