Sailing for change with an up-cycled 30 year old 34 ft Smaragd

THEY MADE A “TESLA ON WATER” IN 2018 AND STATED TO SAIL FOR AGENDA 2030. THEY JOINED CLEAN SEAS IN 2020 AND ARE NOMINATED “THE WORLD’S BEST ELECTRIC SAILBOAT IN 2022.

The 100% Sun Wind Water climate statement sailing project started with skipper Bjorn Bertoft’s idea to upcycle a 34 ft Smaragd. Bjorn and Hanne bought it in 1991 and their two children were more or less born into it, but definitely grew up on it from early spring to late fall in Stockholm, Sweden. It was then sold, but bought back again fifteen years later, with the intention to give it to the by-now grown-up kids. Bjorn could not see himself sitting there by the tiller with them, or a potential grandkid on his lap, and know that he recently had installed a new fossil-fuel engine. So, the old engine was ditched and taken out of circulation. Instead, one of the first electric pod engines on the market was installed. The new engine offered charging of its own batteries as a cool feature – by being used as a generator while sailing. So called hydrogeneration.

A plan to sail 2.000 nautical miles via 7 countries was planned – Norway, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Sweden. The project was dedicated to the young generations to come. It started with two specific missions – sail fos-sil-fuel free and fight plastic pollution. That meant inviting young people to hop-on-hop-off along the way, generating the electricity needed with the sun, wind, and water, trawling for microplastics, and picking up and analyzing plastic waste along the way.

45 young crew members sailed tested life under six missions

Young crew members did bring refreshing esprit and thoughts onboard from Day 1. Some were experienced sailors, others had never set foot on a sailboat before. Some were friends already, others had never heard of the project before. Some traveled from far away, others just popped up where they stopped. They were all curious, eager, and concerned. Somewhat torn between fear and hope looking into their future. The project’s purposes were tailored together along the way – since 2020 they have been sail-ing with six major missions on the list.

The project was blessed with 45 young crew members from 13 countries and 5 continents. “It is a dream and challenge for me – a skipper from the generation that invented plastics, developed convenience into religion, and burned fossil fuels for 50-100 years like there was no tomorrow”.

100% Fossil-Fuel Free

Sailing electric has obviously been a blessing in many aspects. Ditching the fossil-fuel engine meant gaining space, silence, nosmell, no looking for marine gas stations, no oil, no filters, and no emissions into the air or toxic spills into the seawater. The shorter range than diesel is an issue, but going slow keeps the range up. They learned to ditch fossil fuels also for cooking and heating– using an electric induction cooker in marinas, a solar oven, a slow-cooker pillow, open fires, and good planning. Living with nature instead of against her, sailing as much as possible, and cutting down on appointments was said to reduce stress levels substantially.

1. The solar oven – using nothing but sunshine for cooking. 2. Hello new electric pod engine and generator. 3. Bye-bye fossil fuel engine, tank, tubes, grease, smell, filters, and toxic emissions. 4. The non-electric slow cooker – a pillow around the pot keeps the food cooking for 6-8 hours after boiled for just a minute. 5. Portable solar panels keep smartphones and speakers charged. 6. Cooking on open fires using dry branches and a match or two – no single-use lighters, no charcoal, no chemical fire-starters. 7.The yummy banana bread baked by pure sunshine. 8. Marine Lithium batteries instead of fossil fuel – still expensive but prices are moving downwards while their capacity is going up, and recycling development and infrastructure is making progress.

100% Toxic Free

The goal is an as toxic-free life onboard as possible and it started under the waterline with the coating. Hard as glass and
not releasing any microplastics or particles as many anti-fouling alternatives do. Guri from Maui introduced toxic-free and
microplastic-free hygiene and cleaning products. From soap, toothpaste, sunscreens, and dish soap to toilet cleaning detergents. A lot of it hand made. “Nowadays it feels ridiculous to go back” says Bjorn.

1. The sticker with ten recommended, but definitely not necessary, liquids for cleaning a porta-potty. 2. Their non-toxic cleaning liquids components – lemon peels soaked in white vinegar, baking soda, and essential oils. 3. The toxic-free coating after the first season, just washed with a sponge and cold seawater. 4. Making dishes with non-toxic soap in blocks. 5. After three months of sailing in 2018 the coating could still be wiped clean with bare hands. 6. On a black water emptying mission, instead of dumping it straight into the seawater. 7. Non-toxic soap blocks – the green one for dishes and clothes, the yellow ones for skin, and the small ones for hair. 8. Cleaning the Ocean Artivism decorated hull in 2020...after 5 months in the water.

100% Zero Waste

The decision to live a zero-waste lifestyle onboard was an effort made to find answers. And it turned into an adventure with exciting dimensions as well as some tricky challenges. But they shared the good feeling that arriving in a marina without any trash was a true blessing. They brought stuff to recycle (glass, metal, paper) and some wastewater to take
care of, but nothing was dedicated to landfills. Again a very refreshing feeling.

1. The plastics we picked up while sailing and at some stops in 2020. 2. Our Compost-Garden on the transom – a circular food scrap station and yummy green garden at the same time. 3. Gram, the zero-waste bulk store in Malmö, Sweden. 4. A toothpaste tube picked up from the waves outside of Kiel, Germany, with plastic “chrystals” for whiter teeth...hm. 5. Guri diving for a yellow oil bottle from Shell, standing on the sead bed in a peaceful bay on a remote little island in the outskirts of Stockholm archipelago. 6. Organic oils and even wine sold in bulk at the zero-waste store Løs in Copenhagen, Denmark. 7. A birthday party ballon picked up while sailing outside Utklippan in Sweden. 8. Trawling for microplastics in the waters outside of Finland.

100% Solar Food

They chose to call it solar food and they mean preferably local, organic, seasonal ingredients, grown, harvested, captured, or bred and nurtured by conscious producers along our voyages and preferably cooked under the sun.

1. Non-local but ecological bananas were used to bake yummy banana bread in the solar oven. 2. Dandelions grow everywhere and make a great complement in any salad. 3. A farmer’s road stop store – take what you need and pay cash or with your phone. 4. Local onion and garlic by nature, and without packaging. 5. Milk in glass bottles from cows they could say hello to. 6.These carrots were “abnormal” and meant for the pigs – “No, no they are absolutely beautiful... so double the price and sell them as Art Carrots” was their suggestion. 7. Yummy lamb meat bought from the breeder Elisabeth and grilled on dry juniper branches collected on the island for the night. 8. Carefully picking only what is needed for the day, makes sense, and tastes more.

100% Female Racing Crew

Sailing is one of many male-dominated sports. Crew members Hanna, Hanna, and Siri wanted to sail race but had not been encouraged or supported as much as their boyfriends. “Go ahead and use the Smaragd” was the simple answer to that non-equal gender dilemma. They formed a team of six girls and were morally supported by Dee Caffari MBE, the world’s most competent female skipper with a track record few will ever come close (see caption). She is not only a Clean Seas ambassador, and Chair of World Sailing Trust, but also the Patron of the 100% Sun Wind Water project

1. Training without the guys. 2. Tjörn Runt, 30 nm inshore, the largest race on the Swedish west coast. 3. At the Byxelkroken Race, a 60 nm offshore race between the mainland and the island Öland. 4. Prepping the storm jib before the bad weather. 5. Winning the 300 nm offshore race Gotland Runt in hard winds...as our team was the only boat sailing the Covid-cancelled event. 6. Dee Caffari MBE standing up for the girls – British skipper in the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race on Turn the Tide on Plastic as an ambassador for the United Nations Environment initiative, Clean Seas. She has sailed six times around the world, three of them single-handed and the world’s first woman to sail it “the wrong way around”. 7. Preparing the route well is as important as preparing the food, the boat, and the equipment... 8. ...as the circumstances may be quite challenging out there.

100% Ocean Activism

Artistic expressions are being used to make an impact and to create awareness of the project’s missions. Handing over the Smaragd as a “canvas” to Mexican graffiti artist and scuba diver Julia, from the Island Cozumel, was truly successful. The theme was “Clean Seas” and her only limitation was to use the non-toxic coating in three colors: orange, grey, and black. Apart from the coating project, there are more Ocean Art projects in the making.