25
ALL AT SEA AUGUST 2020
Oil about sustainability A What is a UK sailing school doing importing olive oil from Portugal? Dhara Thompson explains… sailing school with a difference, Sail Boat Project, based in Chichester Harbour, is also trying to make a difference. The core work is RYA sail training and sailing trips, with a focus to widen access to the sea, for all. Regular half day taster sails are a way to introduce people to sailing who might not otherwise think of it, and all the commercial activities support the Project’s Community Sailing Fund. Supplemented by grants and donations, the Fund offers a range of sailing opportunities to people as a form of gaining confidence and improving well-being. Dementia friendly sailing trips, work with people in recovery from addictions and trips with blind veterans are all part of the project’s community sailing work, and they are a RYA Sailability organisation too.
WHAT ABOUT OLIVE OIL? Also written into the Project’s constitution is the promotion of sailing as a sustainable form of transport. This can be for people learning to sail as a low carbon form of transport, with former students going on to sail-hitch across the Atlantic or using their sail training to push the boundaries of their sail cruising area on their own boats. However, sailing is also seeing a resurgence as a sustainable way to transport produce and goods, including olive oil. Surplus from sales of the olive oil that the Sail Boat Project imports goes into the Community Sailing Fund, an example of the circular economy that Ellen MacArthur might like. One billion tonnes of carbon dioxide is emitted each year by the merchant shipping fleet, with 15 per cent of the largest ships polluting as much nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide as all the cars in the world. While sail cargo is a tiny drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the problem, it has not deterred those involved in what is known as the Sail Cargo Alliance. Since 2017 a sail cargo hub has been developed in Newhaven, East Sussex with the help of the port authorities and Newhaven Marina. As you read this, sailing vessel Gallant, operated by the Blue Schooner Company, is at sea with a cargo delivery of Portuguese goods, which is due into Newhaven on 11 September. Sail Boat Project is just one of a growing network of port allies, guided by brokers New Dawn Traders who connect them with passionate producers in France, Portugal and the Caribbean.
IMPACT ON THIS SEASON While Covid 19 has severely disrupted on the water sail training activities, which are running again for households and ‘social bubbles’, this has allowed more energy to be diverted towards the sail cargo work this season.
Sitting out some weather in Baiona, Galicia, on my own sail down to Portugal last autumn, I hired a car and managed to meet up with our producers faceto-face for the first time to learn more about the challenges facing them. At the time, Brexit uncertainties were on our minds and climate impacts (fire, flood and drought) were all very real risks for the farmers. And then came Covid! However, throughout lockdown, Gallant and her crew as a commercial sailing cargo vessel have been able to continue to operate, making a first trip to Falmouth in April bringing back cocoa and coffee from the Caribbean, followed by a second UK port schedule in July, with the cocoa now being delivered up the coast as chocolate bars. In these uncertain times it has been great to see the model of community supported shipping not just survive, but thrive, and offer an uplifting example of what a green ‘new normal’ could look like.
FOCUS ON PLANTS As the UK’s only vegetarian and vegan sailing school, since 2009 Sail Boat Project has focused on plant based products to import. The lack of meat on the boats is part of an organisational commitment to reducing carbon emissions. As well as five litre containers of olive oils, there are also 20 kilo sacks of beans and pulses and large containers of olives for wholesalers, shops and people who want to order together. Everything is grown organically and people order and pay in advance, so that the farmers and ships can be paid up front and at a fair price. It Is a bit like a crowdfunder. The commitments made by each person who orders are what make each voyage happen, really involving people in the process. These ‘sail cargo pioneers’ get regular updates about the farmers, the ship and even Zoom webinars to explain the background to the work.
DELIVERY OPTIONS
Previous deliveries have seen a great event where customers meet Gallant and the crew and collect their orders. This year the focus is on delivering to people’s doors. In Brighton and Hove this will be by local cycle couriers Zedify. As well as bikes they have an electric van to collect from Gallant in Newhaven, keeping the carbon footprint down as much as possible. There are also UK onward delivery options this year to help open up support for the idea to a wider audience as well as helping Sail Boat Project widen an income stream in a challenging year. There is nothing, though, to stop people watching Gallant’s arrival or departure and the ship can be followed on AIS or the tracker on the Blue Schooner Company website. You will see traditional gaff rigged sailing working to a purpose. Trainees on board learn skills while helping develop and maintain a reliable and effective ship’s schedule.
TRIED AND TESTED Gallant is just one of the ships operating within the Sail Cargo Alliance, with established transatlantic routes and new ships on the drawing board and under construction. There is also a role for smaller sailing vessels. As the bigger ships want to keep their stops to a minimum, the coastal trans shipping method known as cabotage is an effective way to reach smaller ports. Sail Boat Project’s 43ft yacht Jalapeno brought 1,000 litres of olive oil up from Brixham in 2019 following a delivery there by Nordlys of Fairtransport, as well as a short Newhaven to Brighton run. There are port allies in Falmouth, Bristol, London and Kent as well as Sail Boat Project in Sussex. Sail Cargo and the community supported shipping model is proving to be an example of tried and tested skills and techniques coming to the fore, combined with modern communications and forecasting to provide a reliable transport solution . sailboatproject.org
DID YOU KNOW? Gallant was built in 1906 and will have a much longer life cycle for the embedded energy than any lorry.
“In these uncertain times it has been great to see the model of community supported shipping not ust survive, but thrive, and o er an uplifting example of what a green ‘new normal’ could look like.”
All images: Stephen Ambrose