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Displaying items by tag: Greta Thunberg

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has arrived in Portugal after sailing across the Atlantic in a catamaran for the past three weeks.

The 16-year-old originally sailed to the United States to attend UN climate talks this past August — travelling by sea as she avoids air travel due to carbon emissions that harm the environment.

Sailing out of Hampton, Virginia on Wednesday 13 November, Thunberg, as RTÉ News reports, joined navigator Nikki Henderson — the youngest ever skipper in the Clipper Race — on the 14m La Vagabonde along with its owners, an Australian family who document their adventures sailing around the world on YouTube.

La Vagabonde docked in Lisbon shortly before 2pm local time and later tonight (Tuesday 3 December) Thunberg will travel onwards to a UN climate summit in Madrid.

Published in Environment
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It's been 15 days since 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg hitched a ride on a sail-powered yacht from Europe to the U.S. for the U.N. Climate Action Summit taking place in New York in mid-September. As Afloat previously reported, Thunberg has vowed to avoid air travel, due to environment-harming carbon emissions. The Malizia II docked this afternoon at 4:00 EDT at Coney Island in Brooklyn so its passengers could clear customs and immigration and then proceeded to North Cove Marina at the southern tip of Manhattan, just a stone's throw from Wall Street.

The Swedish teenager crossed the Atlantic on Boris Herrmann and Pierre Casiraghi’s Monaco-based 60ft Mono60, Malizia II, which has previously competed in the Rolex Fastnet Race.

Despite a light drizzle, a crowd of more than 200 gathered at North Cove to welcome Thunberg. The young activist has gained an adoring following in the last few months as she's worked, with great success, to highlight the urgency of the climate situation, which she says is most accurately described as a "crisis." She has 1.2 million followers on Twitter and 1.1 million friends on Facebook, and her Facebook post announcing her arrival in New York has drawn more than 2,000 comments, nearly all celebratory.

Published in Marine Wildlife
Tagged under

Young climate activist Greta Thunberg is taking to the high seas as she plans a zero-carbon journey from Europe to a UN climate summit in New York this September.

As RTÉ News reports, the 16-year-old Swede intends to cross the Atlantic on Boris Herrmann and Pierre Casiraghi’s Monaco-based 60ft Mono60, Malizia II, which has previously competed in the Rolex Fastnet Race.

The foiling vessel is equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines to generate energy at sea.

It will also bear the slogan ‘#Fridays for future’ inspired by Thunberg’s regular Friday protests against climate inaction at the Swedish parliament.

Thunberg refuses to fly due to the negative impact of commercial aviation on the environment.

RTÉ News has more on the story HERE.

Published in Offshore

The Round Britain & Ireland Race

The 2022 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race will feature a wide variety of yachts racing under the IRC rating rule as well as one design and open classes, such as IMOCA, Class40 and Multihulls. The majority of the fleet will race fully crewed, but with the popularity of the Two-Handed class in recent years, the race is expected to have a record entry.

The Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race starts on Sunday 7th August 2022 from Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK.

The 2022 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race is organised by The Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with The Royal Yacht Squadron.

It is run every four years. There have been nine editions of the Round Britain and Ireland Race which started in 1976 Sevenstar has sponsored the race four times - 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and has committed to a longterm partnership with the RORC

The 2022 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race is a fully crewed non-stop race covering 1,805 nautical miles and is open to IRC, IRC Two Handed, IMOCA 60s, Class40s, Volvo 65s and Multihulls that will race around Britain and Ireland, starting from the Royal Yacht Squadron line in Cowes on the Isle of Wight starting after Cowes Week on Sunday 7 August 2022

The last edition of the race in 2018 attracted 28 teams with crews from 18 nations. Giles Redpath's British Lombard 46 saw over victory and Phil Sharp's Class40 Imerys Clean Energy established a new world record for 40ft and under, completing the course in 8 days 4 hrs 14 mins 49 secs.

The 1,805nm course will take competitors around some of the busiest and most tactically challenging sailing waters in the world. It attracts a diverse range of yachts and crew, most of which are enticed by the challenge it offers as well as the diversity and beauty of the route around Britain and Ireland with spectacular scenery and wildlife.

Most sailors agree that this race is one of the toughest tests as it is nearly as long as an Atlantic crossing, but the changes of direction at headlands will mean constant breaks in the watch system for sail changes and sail trim

Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race Records:

  • Outright - OMA07 Musandam-Oman Sail, MOD 70, Sidney Gavignet, 2014: 3 days 03:32:36
  • Monohull - Azzam Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, VO 65, Ian Walker, 2014: 4 days 13:10:28
  • Monohull All-Female - Team SCA, VO 65, Samantha Davies, 2014: 4 days 21:00:39
  • Monohull 60ft or less - Artemis Team Endeavour, IMOCA 60, Brian Thompson/Artemis Ocean Racing, 2014: 5 days 14:00:54
  • Monohull 40ft or less – Imerys Clean Energy, Class40, Phil Sharp, 2018: 8 days 4:14:49