The SA team’s preparations for the race are underway. The team also hopes to break a world record during the 2020 race.
WWF South Africa and racing trimaran Love Water are joining forces to raise awareness about the problem of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans ahead of the Cape2Rio yacht race in January 2020.
The 80-foot, French trimaran, skippered by Craig Sutherland, arrived in Cape Town on 12 December after a 14 000km delivery voyage from Portimao, Portugal, via Brazil, to the Mother City. It will be berthed at the V&A Waterfront until 11 January 2020 while making final preparations to take part in the Southern Hemisphere’s premium sailing event – the trans-Atlantic crossing from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro.
The #LoveWater team has set itself two goals – to break the Cape2Rio record of 11 days set by rival vessel Maserati, and to promote environmental awareness around the impact of plastic pollution on marine life while doing so.
They’ve also settled on the lucky number eight. With eight crew members on board, and their sights set on a record-breaking eight-day race, they plan to share eight stories about plastic pollution during their voyage.They will end their trip with a Commitment Day when they will share what they’ve learnt and seen of plastic pollution during the crossing and make their own pledges to do something about it.
Pavitray Pillay, Environmental Behaviour Change Manager with WWF South Africa, said: “We were thrilled when Love Water approached us to suggest that we join forces to bring home a relevant environmental message during this popular yacht race. With an estimated eight million tonnes of plastic entering our oceans each year from land-based sources, we couldn’t think of a more important issue to tackle together.”
Rick Garratt, sponsor of LoveWater and Founder of HomeChoice International Ltd, said: “We are excited to be participating in this record attempt and in so doing to highlight the pollution of our oceans and water. Our collaboration with WWF South Africa brings home the urgent need to do something to change the way people think about the ocean and the use of plastics. As a company, with the help of WWF, we are committed to reducing our use of plastics in 2020 by signing the SA Plastics Pact and we urge other companies to follow suit.’’
Follow #LoveWater’s progress at https://my.yb.tl/lovewater and the social media channels of both #LoveWater and the WWF SASSI account on Instagram @WWFSASSI to learn more about plastic pollution and to track the yacht’s progress.