Be the change you want to sea
For the third time, the Extreme Sailing Series™ has teamed up with Sailors for the Sea Portugal – a charity based around uniting sailors to protect the ocean and promote sustainability.
Friday 6th July 2018
As sailors and lovers of the sea, the Extreme Sailing Series™ teams understand the importance of keeping the ocean clean.
Dedicated to this important cause, the ultimate Stadium Racing championship is on a mission to lessen its impact on the sea.
For the third time, the Series has teamed up with Sailors for the Sea Portugal – a charity based around uniting sailors to protect the ocean and promote sustainability.
Striving for recognition in the charity’s Clean Regattas award system, the Extreme Sailing Series has already put in place protocols to reduce single use plastic at their events, and today organised a beach clean with the circuit’s competing teams.
Helm for SAP Extreme Sailing Team, Adam Minoprio, feels passionately about protecting the ocean. Away from the Series, Adam lives on his own boat that he sails around the world with his fiancée. A prevailing love for the sea, he is determined to do his part in saving the ocean.
“In between the events I’m currently living on a yacht,” he explained. “I’m cruising around the world, making my way slowly back to New Zealand. Plastic pollution is massive in the ocean. You see a lot of it, and in different parts of the world you see it differently. A lot of places you can see it when you’re sailing along in open water.”
“Before Cascais, I was in French Polynesia,” he continued. “We were moored in a tiny little atoll, 4000 miles from any main civilisation. You go ashore and walk on the outer reef of the atoll, and there’s plastic from all sorts all over the place, all over the rocks. I’ve even seen crabs use them as homes. Broken up bottles, broken up fishing pots, rope, nets, so much plastic scattered across the whole atoll. It’s sad to see when you’re so far from where the pollution is actually made, and it washes up on these reefs that are otherwise pristine.”
Nasser al Mashari from Team Oman Air also feels strongly about the state of the ocean, with this mentality engrained him from a young age, due to his Omani culture. He was thrilled to take part in this morning’s beach clean.
“We spent an hour cleaning the beach this morning here in Cascais,” he explained. “I think this is a great start. We do this in Oman every weekend. It’s part of our culture really. Just as we have a beautiful country, we have beautiful beaches that we care for. We should care for beaches and the sea all over the world.”
Pleased to see the world’s ultimate Stadium Racing championship doing its bit to promote ocean health, the Vice-President of Sailors for the Sea Portugal - Isaac Silveira - commented:
“With this beach clean, sailors and staff of one of the World’s major sailing events show that everyone must be involved in sea sustainability. We must catch this opportunity because there is no Plan B for our planet.”
Adam Minoprio agrees.
“Being on the Extreme Sailing Series it’s really great to see them partner with Sailors for the Sea. They’re helping to promote the awareness of the plastic pollution, organising beach cleans, and promoting that everybody in society needs to do their part in reducing plastic usage. We need to clean up the mess that’s already been made.”
Be the change you want to sea.
About Sailors for the Sea
Sailors for the Sea is the world’s only ocean conservation organisation that engages, educates, inspires and activates the sailing and boating community toward healing the ocean. Since its start in 2004, Sailors for the Sea has worked towards building a community of ocean stewards by offering tools, education and inspiration so that sailors may become change agents, and harness the power of their passion to heal the ocean. Sailors for the Sea is headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island and has three affiliates; Sailors for the Sea Japan; Sailors for the Sea Portugal: and Sailors for the Sea Chile.
About Clean Regattas
Clean Regattas is the world’s only sustainability certification for water-based events. The program enables sailors to protect their local waters by empowering them with tips and resources to implement sustainability initiatives. Since 2006, more than 1,350 Clean Regattas have been run in 36 countries and in over half of all the United States. To learn more, contact Robyn Albritton (robyn@sailorsforthesea.org) or visit sailorsforthesea.org.
