SAVE OUR SEAS - Ocean Racing
SOS Ocean Racing is an arm of Save Our Seas Australia. This side of the campaign is all about creating awareness of the damage plastic bags do to our environment through competing in major offshore races and chasing world records.
To raise awareness of the damage plastic bags cause to our environment, in May/June 2010 skipper Ian Thomson set out to break the world recrod for the fastest solo circumnavigation of Australia. He achieved this goal by smashing in excess of 26 days off the record. Focus has now turned to the Sydney to Hobart followed by Pittwater to Coffs and Coffs to Paradise. Early in 2011 Ian will join Jim Cooney, owner of Brindabella (Arguably Australia's most famous ocean racing vessel) and compete in the Brisbane to Gladstone and then in May 2011 he will set out with a full crew to attempt to break the record for the fastest monohull circumnavigation of Australia.
Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the things you did do. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - MARK TWAIN
Save our Seas Aust. - Dare To Dream Tour
Ian will be travelling Australia to promote Save Our Seas Australia with his "Dare to Dream" talks from September through to November 2010. As a public speaker Ian is vibrant and has a message to deliver. His message will come in two forms, first of all to Save our Seas and secondly to live your dreams. Ian will inspire those who attend his evenings to reach for their goals and to help in saving our seas.
Ian will also visit primary schools and encourage the next generation to look after our oceans. Already his tour dates are filling up so if you want to host Ian for a talk then please get in contact with us ASAP.
For more details on the evenings please click here
All funds raised will go towards 'Save Our Seas Australia'
Race with Ian Thomson on SOS Ocean Racing
It is not often you get a chance to race with world record holders but this is your chance to secure the chance to race with Ian Thomson, current record holder for the fastest solo circumnavigation of Australia.
Over the coming year Ian will be competing in several events that you can join him in simply by bringing sponsors to the Save Our Seas Australia Organisation. Ian really wants to promote this organisation and by bringing sponsors on your own back, you help Ian conitnue his work in making sure we clean up our oceans.
Races on offer are Pittwater to Coffs, Coffs to Paradise, Brisbane to Gladstone and then the world record attempt for the fastest monohull around Australia which will be attempted in May 2011.
Where else can you get these opportunities? Click here for more details
Vote Now in our Online Poll
Around Australia Records
Having set the record for fastest solo circumnavigation of Australia by smashing the former record by 26 days, Ian will now set up a fully crewed attempt to take on the outright monohull record.
Currently set at 37d:1h:23m:7s, Ian intends to break 30 days and establish a noteworthy benchmark for others. You will be able to follow the journey online at this site and watch live video streaming on board with daily updates. There will also be a tracker with data updating every 30 minutes. This will be one of the most interactive sailing ventures ever as technology takes you onboard the vessel with Ian and his crew. Delight in the high seas as if you were there. Stay tuned for more updates.
To support the campaign, you can sponsor the venture.
Major and Minor Sponsors
With decades of life: The sea turtle is one to live, the "convenient" plastic bag, sadly, is capable of destroying life's existence!
You can join the SOS Ocean Racing campaign as a major or minor sponsor. Unprecendented coverage will be provided around the world in a campaign that depicts sailing as only most of us can dream of it..
Please visit our sponsors page.
Some facts from SOS Ocean Racing are:
Australia uses 6 billion plastic bags a year of which 3.6 billion are plastic shopping bags.- 100,000 marine creatures a year die from plastic entanglement and these are the ones found.
- A plastic bag can kill numerous animals because they take so long to disintegrate. An animal that dies from the bag will decompose and the bag will be released, another animal could harmlessly fall victim and once again eat the same bag.
- The floods in Bangladesh in 1988 & 1998 were made more severe because plastic bags clogged drains. The government has now banned plastic bags.
- In Ireland they introduced a 15c plastic bag tax and reduced their usage by 90% in one year. It is now 22 cents.
- If each Australian family used 1 less plastic bag each week that would be 253 million bags less a year.
- The #1 man made thing that sailors see in our ocean are plastic bags.
Why are we so passionate?
I have sailed the world and marvelled at nature's creations. I've been awe struck as whales breached 20 meters from the bow of my boat; others scratching their back on my keel. I've enjoyed dolphins playing with my boat as we cruise under spinnaker, the moon in its resplendent full blue light. I've enjoyed turtles swimming with us in Hawaii and then again at my home in the magical Whitsundays.
But far too often I have pulled dead turtles out of the water or reported them to Marine Parks. You see, I wear a turtle around my neck. It's a Fijian symbol of long life. Yet I have seen these graceful creatures die from boat strikes, some caught in crab pots but the most senseless and most common death is by ingestion of a plastic bag. (It's worth noting that a turtle's throat has a spine with bones that stick backwards and they cannot regurgitate.)
I was perplexed by this senseless loss of life. In May/June 2010 I set out to create awareness for the damage plastic bags cause to our environment, I sailed solo around Australia in what is now a world record time. I now want to break the monohull record with a full crew in 2011
I have been blessed with position and extensive sailing experience. I want to use this for the good of the planet and in this case, to engage my passion: to significantly reduce the use of plastic bags, where practical, to get rid of them. It won't just be about sailing, I want to use the profile I build with this record to go forward and campaign the whole of Australia to do something about our plastic bag habits. You see, a sailing client and now friend put it this way, 'Ian is neither dogmatic nor radical, he's determined, kind and passionate.' ** With that thought in mind and one I hold balance in, it will then be onto the world stage. I'd like to get the message out there to the millions of people.
In the words of Ben Harper
I can change the world, with my own two hands, make a better place, with my own two hands.
It's with my two hands, a big heart, some measured intelligence and some hard earned skill, along with your help, I believe that I can change the world.
** Brian Babcock - Babcock Business Strategies, St Catherines Ontario, Canada
