The Atlantic Cup held its inaugural race this year, starting in New York City on May 7th, and concluding in Newport, RI on May 15th. Atlantic Cup organizers, with the help of Sailors for the Sea, took many steps to making this exciting new event a very Clean Regatta. Challenges for a destination regatta working in the Clean Regattas program stem from addressing the needs of boats out at sea for a long period of time, and coordinating events at both the start and finish lines. The Atlantic Cup handled all of this with aplomb, and with the help of the four Class 40 teams racing.
With a destination regatta, there are two opportunities to reduce use of disposable water bottles: on the boats during the race, and at the shore for racers and spectators. To address this issue on shore, Atlantic Cup provided 2.5. gallon jugs of water at the bar and opening night events for spectators to fill their water bottles and cups. In this way, they conserved 120 16-oz. bottles in just the race's start event.
In addition, bartenders at all events were instructed to ask each individual who came to the bar if they still had their cup, which could be reused for their second drink, and on. This is a subtle, but effective tool in the Clean Regattas resources. By simply asking people 'do you have your cup?" the organizers were able to get a large group of people thinking about their use of materials. Though someone might not remember to save their cup every time, over time and many regattas, this message will sink in deeper and deeper until this habit becomes second nature to us all.
On board the four vessels, the racers all carried stainless steel water bottles during the 260 mile course. One of the conveniences of carrying flats of single-use bottles in a race like this is the ease with which one is able to transfer the water back and forth across the boat during each tack. This is one reason many racers do not like to use their water tanks, which remain fixed. The Class 40 skippers solved this problem by carrying coolers in lieu of flats of water, which can also be easily moved during tacks, and are infinitely reusable as they filled their stainless steel bottles.
A major advantage that a destination race has is it is usually raced on larger boats with more resources and more opportunities for energy savings. In the case of the Atlantic Cup, half of the fleet (Team 11th Hour and Team Dragon) installed hydro-generators on their stern to save fuel necessary when powering batteries and electronics with the engines. Additionally, several of the boats already carried solar panels and all vessels were provided with biodiesel for their engines, donated by Newport Biodiesel. Below, Dragon Skipper Michael Hennessy talks about his love of his hydro-generator, including the fact that on an upcoming transatlantic race, it will allow him to keep his engines off for the entire race.
At the New York start during the initial hospitality event, the North Cove Marina had existing trash collection, but not recycling. Atlantic Cup was able to establish temporary recycling bins that collected items, and could then be recycled through the city's municipal collection. The Manhattan Sailing Club, New York hosts, also had existing recycling for the on-the-water spectator events. This was a great help to these events as many of the beverages consumed came in aluminum, glass and plastic containers.
At the other end of the race, host Newport Shipyard has a pre-existing recycling program that collected and processed all items for this event. For those of you hosting regattas at the Newport Shipyard, you can take advantage of their existing infrastructure. If you are in a situation where recycling is not yet established, it is simple to set up temporary bins, and communicate with a local hauling company to have them carted away, or to have a Green Team volunteer cart them to a recycling center. Contact Sailors for the Sea for help establishing this type of communication in your area.
Atlantic Cup also organized a great Green Team, made up in part by Sailors for the Sea staff to help coordinate these an all other efforts.
On board the boats themselves, racers kept their trash and recycling separated during the journey. It's important to remember that though some trash can be disposed of overboard more than three miles from shore, this is not encouraged when running a Clean Regatta. More importantly, plastic must NEVER be thrown overboard, and always recycled onshore.
In addition to the above, the Atlantic Cup also worked toward a Clean Regatta Certification by:
If you are running a destination regatta and would like more information from Sailors for the Sea, please don't hesitate to contact us, or register your regatta today! Other destination regattas of note include the Pacific Cup, Velux 5 Oceans and the Volvo Ocean Race.