Sailing with Purpose #RaceForChange
Since the beginning of Ollie’s Vendée Globe campaign, sustainability has been an important aspect.
“Right from the start" says Ollie “I wanted my campaign to stand for something. I chose sustainability because, as a sailor, I spend a lot of time outdoors, on the water, and I have seen first-hand the changes in our climate.”
The team bring sustainability to life through three ‘pillars’:
1. Contributing to Global Ocean and Climate Science
2. Being Carbon Neutral
3. Offering floating R&D for Green Tech
Contributing to Global Ocean and Climate Science
Our oceans play a vital role in climate control. It has already been proven that our oceans are a key ‘carbon sink’ absorbing around 30% of the atmospheric CO2 released from human activities and storing it. They also absorb up to 93% of excess atmospheric heat and thus help to mitigate ‘global warming’.
The objective is to further understand the impact of this CO2 and heat absorption on ocean health and ocean currents, which in turn impacts our weather systems.
There are many vessels which carry sensors on major shipping routes providing data, but in more remote locations such as the Southern Ocean there are many scientific models, but verified information is much harder to collect.
Ollie has partnered with the Swiss Polar Institute who provide and manage an ‘Ocean Sensor Pack’ which is installed on Ollie’s boat and has been professionally calibrated to ensure it provides reliable data.
Whilst Ollie is sailing, this sophisticated equipment continuously takes samples of surface water. A series of extremely precise sensors record various metrics including water temperature, salinity, CO2 content and Chlorophyll.
The data is stored on a memory card, and Ollie manually transmits this back to the scientists every week. The data is shared on a global platform so scientists from around the world can access and use it, creating an invaluable contribution to climate science.
Ollie comments “Carrying this equipment adds quite a lot of weight to my boat. The heavier the boat, the slower I go. It also takes my time and effort to regularly check it is working and send the data back to shore. But for me this contribution to global ocean health is so important, and actually, I would like to see all skippers required to carry something similar.”
For the Vendée Globe, the Swiss Polar Institute have developed a new series of free educational resources for schools called Swiss Polar Class. These modules are based on Ollie’s epic voyage around the world – using his endeavours to inspire and educate a younger generation of students on topics such as geography, climate and ocean wildlife. Ollie will provide regular updates to all participating students from the boat!
In addition, for the Vendée Globe, Ollie has volunteered to carry an Argo Float, which will be deployed at a pre-determined location to provide additional readings of water temperature and salinity for oceanographical studies and weather modelling.
Carbon Neutrality
The entire Oliver Heer Ocean Racing team are committed to delivering a carbon neutral campaign.
The team consciously make sustainable choices where possible and follow the mantra of reduce, reuse or recycle. The team also work with Climate Partner, supporting various carbon offset programmes and which ensures that we can be certified as carbon neutral.
Ollie comments “As far as I know, we are the only team to run a fully carbon-neutral campaign. I am very proud of this achievement.”
Floating R&D for Green Tech
Ollie is committed to supporting the development of Green Tech. He carries on board solar panels and hydro-generators, which help power the electronic systems on board the boat and reduce his reliance on diesel as a fuel source.
Over the past few years, Ollie has worked in partnership with various organisations to help them develop their marine Green Tech solutions.
“The ocean is such a harsh environment; it really makes the perfect location for testing. If it can survive out there, it has passed the test!”
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