COMMERSON ZODIAC inflatable craft (RIB)

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aukepalmhof
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COMMERSON ZODIAC inflatable craft (RIB)

Post by aukepalmhof » Sat Oct 17, 2020 2:15 am

In 2020 the French Southern & Antarctic Territories issued a miniature sheet with two stamps for the Maritime Nature Reserve in the archipelago. One of the stamps shows us a Zodiac inflatable craft (RIB), while the other stamp shows us a Commerson dolphin, in the border of the M.S. is also the Zodiac depict on the left.

Commerson's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii), named after the naturalist French explorer of the Eighteenth Century, Philibert Commerson (1727-1773), who sighting the dolphins in the Strait of Magellan

She is a small black and white cetacean who frequents the waters of the cold subantarctic and mainly the Kerguelen Islands.
The scientist from the research station: Port-aux-Français in the Kerguelen named their zodiac depict on the stamp: COMMERSON after the dolphin

Of the Zodiac inflatable craft Wikipedia gives:
Made with an inflatable buoyancy tube and a rigid hull, these boats combine the advantages of traditional inflatable boats – security, stability, portability, and ease of use – with those of rigid-hulled boats – comfort, agility and speed.
Its unique combination of a very low center of gravity, a deep-V hull and added stabilization of the tubes which gives the rigid hulled inflatable speed and sea-crossing capacities without compromising comfort or safety.
The Zodiac boat has an exceptional weight / area-below-water ratio, giving the boat a load-bearing capacity such that it can carry considerable loads.
The buoyancy is distributed on the sides, the center of gravity is very low: this makes it much harder to capsize the vessel.
The buoyancy tubes of Zodiac boats have several compartments, separated by waterproof partitions. Thanks to its important air reserves, the boat keeps its ability to float and stays conceptually unsinkable when fully loaded, even with a deflated compartment.
Zodiac inflatable boats are commonly used by the United States Military, however, these are Zodiac Milpro (Military and Professional) boats, which is a separate company also created during the breakup of the Zodiac Group in 2007.
Zodiac boats were brought into American popular culture in the late 1960s. They were ubiquitous in the popular television documentary series, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.
The word "ZODIAC" is a registered trademark for rigid-hulled inflatable boats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Nautic and internet.
2020 French Southern and Antarctic Territories 1.05 Euro sgMS?, scott?
Attachments
2020 ZODIAC-RNN.jpg

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