One of the ways Sailors for the Sea is doing just that is through their Clean Regatta certification program. Through the Clean Regatta initiative ,regattas, races, yacht clubs, and sailing programs can achieve a higher level of environmental standards while still bringing the boating community together. Volunteering to become a certified Clean Regatta is a prestigious honor, joining the ranks of the America’s Cup and the US Sailing National Championships. With the summer racing season underway in the Northern Hemisphere, it amazing to see the amount of organizations that are committed to reducing their environmental impact as much as possible.

To run a Clean Regatta, first register your event with Sailor for the Sea so they are aware of your commitment. After completing the registration you will sent additional information regarding the next steps. Certifications come in Bronze, Silver, and Gold with Gold being the highest level of environmental responsibility. Criteria involves having a green team at the event, reducing waste and plastic water bottles, grey water reduction, and using non toxic products. You can see the entire list of best practices here. Once you’ve established how to become a Clean Regatta, then you need to organize your community to spread the word and educate as many people as possible. If you are an active racer or casual boater, start a discussion with your boating club and local community to find ways to reduce your impact on and off the water.

• Find and follow fellow boaters, divers, surfers, kiters, and conservationists.

• Meet our newest members and discover the most active.

• Join a group discussion or start your own.

• Learn more about environmental groups and companies that interact with the ocean.

We hope you like the changes. There are more improvements on the way. Keep taking the ocean further.

Walking along the beach at night or sailing on a darkened sea, you can often see sparkling lights in the water. This natural occurrence is caused by bioluminescent photoplankton. Bioluminescence is the production of light by a living organism as the result of a chemical reaction. Bioluminescence occurs in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as microorganisms and terrestrial animals. Eighty percent of all creatures known to produce their own light live in the ocean. 

Scientists believe it serves a variety of functions for animals including communication, defense against predators, hunting, and attracting a mate. For some deep-sea creatures, their body light may help them see in an otherwise completely dark environment. A number of deep-dwelling sharks have special light-emitting organs on their undersides that allow them to glow. Squids combine bioluminescent bacteria and light organs in order to camouflage themselves. The anglerfish famously uses a glowing lure to entice their prey and certain type of shrimp squirt a glowing cloud to defend itself from predators.

The most common sighting of bioluminescence appears when photoplankton are moved by a disturbance in the water. This can be caused by a breaking wave, the wake of a passing boat, or by a swimmer taking an evening dip. It is quite astonishing to experience first hand.  Luckily it happens all over the world! BlooSee Team members have seen bioluminescent photoplankton in Chile, Bermuda, and Southern California. Our members have seen them in a variety of places too: the beaches of Vaadhoo, kakaying in Estero Banderitas, and in the waves near San Diego. Where have you encountered these beautiful lights?

The calm before the storm of Strictly Sailors.

Our feet may be a bit tired, the back of our necks are a little burnt, but our spirits are high after a great weekend at the Strictly Sail Pacific 2012. The event was extremely well attended with large, energetic crowds and amazing California weather. We couldn’t of had a better location in Jack London Square, right next to the Summer Sailstice booth and the docks with all the boats. We met a lot of great people and made some new friends. We waved goodbye to the Clipper Round the World Race as they departed on Leg 7 of their journey. We watched some of weekend’s action from Naples in the America’s Cup tent. Best of all, we introduced a lot of people to BlooSee and had the opportunity to talk to a couple of our members in person.

Peace, Love, & Sailing: The Summer Sailstice way

Luckily for us, Summer Sailstice had the most colorful the booth at the show, with their bright t-shirts catching the eyes of everyone passing by. For those of you that don’t know, Summer Sailstice is a global sailing holiday, held annually on the weekend closest to the summer solstice. We have partnered with them to geolocate all of their events happening this year as well as to help increase participation. We were giving away BlooSee shirts and water bottles along with purchases of Summer Sailstice gear, which were a hot commodity all weekend.

There was a big send off for the Clipper Round the World Race yachts. As they departed, crowds cheered them on and wished them well on their voyage down the Pacific coast, through the Panama Canal, and on to New York. The crews of the race couldn’t have been any nicer over the weekend and their presence was a particular treat to all of the event attendees.

The Londonberry Crew waves goodbye to the crowd

The America’s Cup tent was always crowded as fans gathered to watch the races Naples. On display outside the tent was the Oracle Racing teams new AC 45. Team members were on hand to ask questions. Standing next to the massive catamaran, one could easily imagine the speed and maneuverability of the boats. Although the America’s Cup 34 event has been off to a difficult start with the city of San Francisco, it was abundantly clear at Strictly Sail that the Bay Area sailing community was excited that the Cup was coming their city.

BlooSee members are quite amazing in person. We met a number of great people and talked about how they’ve used BlooSee to improve their sailing experience. Thank you to anyone that stopped by to talk to us. There were a lots of people that were unfamiliar with BlooSee and it was a great opportunity to tell people about who we ar. Responses were positive and we couldn’t be happier than knowing that more people are discovering BlooSee everyday. Needless to say, we are already looking forward to next year’s event.

Oracle's AC 45

The vibrant Summer Sailstice booth

Hobie Cats on display

Jack London himself

Taking the ocean further.

Singapore

The first days of Strictly Sail started with mellow crowds and weather that kept you guessing. We were able to explore Jack London Square, step aboard a few boats, and partake in some fascinating seminars. With two more days to go, we plan to educate as many people as we can about BlooSee and the amazing tools we offer for sailors. Plenty more to come after the weekend, but here’s a taste of what we’ve seen so far.

After establishing a spot with the Summer Sailstice crew, we headed into the event and checked out all of the latest products and sailing gear. The space at Jack London Square is big, taking up two full floors with seminars rooms attached. We really enjoyed the seminar ‘4 Not-to-be-Missed Destinations for West Coasters’ by Zuzana Prochazka, who is a writer and photographer who freelances for a dozen boating magazines and runs the website Talkofthedock.com. She went into great detail on cruising through the San Juan Islands, The Channel Islands, Catalina Island, and Tahiti. She had pictures to accompany all of her destinations and BlooSee now has some new fascinating infopoints thanks to the Zuzana.

Sage advice on Singapore

Another highlight was boarding a Clipper Round the World Race yacht and getting to see first hand the conditions the crew lived in. The quarters are cramped and simple, but homier than we expected. Talking to 54 year old crew member and optometrist Patricia Morris about her experience was humbling. Sleep sounded like the rarest commodity on board and that life of sea is a constant challenge. Patricia who completed Leg 2 and will be leaving today for Legs 7 and 8, said that the she couldn’t wait to get back on Singapore.

We were also able to board Ocean Watch, another remarkable sailboat that we have on BlooSee. Ocean Watch is an eye catching, 62 foot sail yacht with bright colors and lots of character. Her crew is welcoming and the feel on board is energetic. She belongs to Spirit of the Sea who educates at risk children in need about the ocean and teaches them how to sail. With Ocean Watch as their classroom, students are guaranteed to sail away with a positive experience.

The weather is expected to be sunny and warm for the last two days and their are still plenty of exciting things to cover. The Clipper Round the World Race yachts will be leaving on Leg 7 today. There is plenty going on with the America’s Cup and we plan to cover as much as possible. And of course, there are plenty of parties going on as, sailors tend to cut loose when they get together, whether on land or out at sea.

Gold Coast next to the S.S. Potomac

BlooSee CEO Pedro Valdeomillos on Ocean Watch

Ocean Watch

The bow of current leader Gold Coast

After being the first man to sail solo non-stop around the world, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston helped fund a company in 1995 that would run the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, which is today’s longest yacht race. This race is 40,000 miles long and is broken down into eight legs, which takes eleven months to complete. Unlike traditional professional races, this unique event allows for amateur crews to set sail with a fully trained skipper, giving those that apply professional challenges and experiences. There are 15 individual races throughout the entire event, and points are scored at the end of each race building to an overall champion.

The 2011/2012 route leads ten crews on identical 68 foot racing yachts around the world to ports in England, Portugal, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, China, the United States, Panama, Canada, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Current positioning has Gold Coast Australia in the lead with 96 points after another top finish into Jack London Square in Oakland several days ago, although with six races still to come, the championship is still up for grabs.

Currently, the yachts are docked in Jack London Square in anticipation of the Strictly Sail Pacific event. During the event this weekend, attendees will have to opportunity to board the boats and meet with the crews. BlooSee couldn’t wait until the event to see the yachts, so we took a field trip across the Bay take some photos. Check back next week for a follow up post about the Clipper Race as well as coverage from Strictly Sail. If you are in Oakland this weekend, stop by and meet some members of the BlooSee team. We will be hanging out of the Summer Sailstice booth.

The Golf Coast crew making some repairs.

The competitive eye of Team Yorkshire

How to stay safe in rough seas

Drying out wet boots in the California sunshine

The Finland crew making some repairs

Sailing around the world requires a little bit of rope

Western Australia had to airlift some of its crew after its steering column snapped off in rough seas.

Flags flying high

Race yachts contrasted by shipping barges at the Port of Oakland

We are excited to be working on newer features that will make it in upcoming versions, like other weather layers (temperature, swell, etc.) as well as access to our more social features from our mobile app (users and boats database). As always, we welcome any feedback!

Some of the earliest accounts of shipbreaking are on vessels that have run aground and were dismantled by the natives to rebuild the local infrastructure. Today, more than 80% of all retired ships are run aground in developing countries, with little regulation or environmental standards set in place. Countries like Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh have some of the largest ship graveyards in the world. Deserted ships can be seen in satellites images, dotting the broad beaches of where they were wrecked onshore.

There are many environmental difficulties when it comes to retiring a ship. Toxic chemicals and asbestos must be properly contained. Child labor, injury, and death are common, as salvaging the valuable metals is dangerous without any safety standards to follow. Luckily, there are proactive people trying to resolve the issue. The Shipbreaking Platform is an NGO made up of environmental, human, and labour rights organizations. Their mission is to prevent the on going practice of beaching toxic, end-of-life ships in developing countries.

This video from Pakistan gives insight on the scale of this problem. You can see a list of ship breaking beaches and graveyards on BlooSee. Are we missing any? If so, then sign in and create an infopoint.

How to create an Infopoint

Sharing an Infopoint

Measuring Distance

Changing your profile

We asked what motivated him to start shaping boards. “I just don’t want people to surf on a bad board.” He explained to us that  when it came to lessons, he was more a a shaping lifeguard. He gives direction and makes sure no one gets swept away and shaves of so much foam they end up with a boogie board.

How do you feel about the current state of surfboard shaping?
Dismal. I do see a resurgence, but I was the youngest guy by 30 years in the Haut Shop.

How do you feel about the big companies, pressing boards Overseas?
Not my deal. You gotta make money…I guess.