4 PACIFIC CUP 2022
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he 2022 Pacific Cup marks the launch of our official Pacific Cup Environmental Partnership program. This year, we are working with four leading marine conservation non-profits to lessen our environmental impact, helping to raise awareness about how individual sailors can make a difference on a day-to-day basis and promote the efforts of those working hard to protect the oceans and marine habitats that we love. Sailors for the Sea Powered by Oceana, is the leading ocean conservation organization uniting sailors and boaters around the world to work together to protect and restore the world’s oceans. In 2006, Sailors for the Sea launched their Clean Regattas program, the world’s leading sustainability certification for any water-based sailing or boating event, which supplies a framework of twenty best practices for organizers to run a more sustainable event, such as reducing single-use plastics, protecting known marine habitats, and employing clean race technology. Pacific Cup is vying for Gold-standard Clean Regatta certification, which is one of the highest-level certifications based on level of impact and difficulty to implement. This achievement is particularly significant given the Pacific Cup’s decentralized venue organization across yacht clubs and U.S. states. Some of the efforts we have made include the reduction of single-use plastics, eliminating straws at our venues, promoting water refill stations at all ports of departure and arrival, and accepting tamper-proof seals for emergency-use water to enable that these containers can be reused. It is our hope our efforts will inspire race organizers at other events across the Bay and beyond to adopt some of the best practices we have been able to enact with the Pacific Cup. Additionally, we encourage sailors to become members of Sailors for the Sea’s Green Boating program, which provides resources and knowledge so individual boaters can take action on a day-to-day basis to protect our oceans for future generations. Rounding out our Environmental Partner program are three non-profits, the Ocean Voyages Institute, The Marine Mammal
Fishing nets with GPS trackers from the Ocean Voyages Institute
Center, and the International Bird Rescue. We encourage you to visit their websites to learn more about how these organizations are cleaning up our oceans and working hard to protect sensitive marine animals. You can also learn more about what best practices to adopt on an individual basis to protect the oceans that we love on the Pacific Cup website and across our social channels on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook where we have posted interviews, links to these organizations, and more.
