The MOD 70 class has had its day... Some have been converted and lengthened, for better performance, others have left for different locations to race, but 'Race for Water’, the n°1 in the class, will soon be setting off on a very special round the world trip. We are no longer talking about racing here, but a genuine adventure, to take stock for the first time of the pollution of the oceans by plastics.
Today there are more than 260,000 tonnes of plastic in our oceans, a dreadful amount of pollution. This waste accumulates in the heart of huge eddies created by the ocean currents, forming huge clusters of rubbish called ‘gyres’ or ‘vortices’. Five gyres have now been counted, but only one, that of the North Pacific, is being actively studied. The expedition, which left Bordeaux on 15th March, will for the first time allow systematic and comparable data on all of the planet’s five gyres to be collected and analyzed. During this circumnavigation, which will take almost 300 days, the MOD 70 ‘Race for Water’ and its crew will be studying the beaches of the islands situated in these vortices.
A nice conversion for a racing boat capable of sailing at over 40 knots...
For more information: www.raceforwater.com
