Couple begin 8-month sustainability sailing adventure
by Emma Cotton 27 Apr 2020 15:42 BST
Colin cleaning before anti-rust painting © RYA
Rebecca and Colin Field are a couple on a mission. The experienced recreational sailors have set off in their 36 foot Westerly Corsair, Cariad, on an eight month sailing adventure. A test for any keen sailor - but the eco conscious pair are also trying to make their journey as sustainable as possible.
After departing from Bristol, the couple have headed to Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, where they are currently in lockdown during the Coronavirus outbreak. Once travel restrictions have been lifted, their route will take them from Ireland to Scotland, then across the North Sea to cruise around Norway, Sweden and Denmark, before heading back to the UK via the Netherlands.
Over the coming months, Rebecca and Colin will be sharing accounts of their on-board green adaptations through blogs, photos and videos on The Green Blue's social media pages. In particular, they hope to demonstrate that just by making small sustainable changes, all sailors can make a big difference to the eco-friendliness of their own trips.
The couple have been exercising environmental best practice since they began preparing Cariad for the trip. From purchasing second-hand items for the boat at boat jumbles, installing an on-board solar panel to following environmental guidance when applying anti-fouling, Rebecca and Colin are enthusiastic about reducing their environmental impact.
Rebecca says: "We wanted to make our journey as sustainable as possible so we took advice from The Green Blue about which products we could use and adaptations that we could make to Cariad."
One of the topics that Rebecca and Colin are hoping to bring to The Green Blue's audience's attention is anchoring with care. It is so easy for boaters to damage marine habitats, such as protected seagrass beds, when anchoring at the end of a busy day. The Green Blue will be sharing photographs and videos as the pair discuss and demonstrate anchoring best practice.
The couple are also keen to minimise the sustainability issue of travel miles which are often associated with supermarket shopping. Along their journey they are hoping to visit as many local suppliers and farm shops as possible. They are also intending to make use of any leftovers by cooking their dinners in bulk.
Another adaptation which the couple are testing is installing a Flostream which will allow them to have access to clean drinking water. This adaptation not only reduces the use of plastic bottles on-board, but also the amount of fresh water carried which creates more space, reduces weight and energy use.
Kate Fortnam, Campaign Manager from The Green Blue said: "It's great to see such interest and enthusiasm about sustainability from Rebecca and Colin. It sounds like a very exciting trip and we're so pleased that they've agreed to share snippets of their journey with us. We're really looking forward to watching how they implement different environmental best practice techniques and sharing it with our followers."
To follow Rebecca and Colin on their sustainability journey then you can find regular updates via The Green Blue's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages: @TheGreenBlue
The Green Blue is the joint environmental awareness programme created by British Marine and the Royal Yachting Association to encourage a more sustainable recreational boating sector.
For advice and resources on how to make your boating more sustainable and to find out more about The Green Blue visit thegreenblue.org.uk