Sailing, a privilege and a responsibility
The environmental impact of this 12th edition of the Route du Rhum, a famous sailing race between Saint-Malo, in Brittany, and Pointe-à-Pitre, in Guadeloupe, raises questions.
We are talking about two million spectators in Saint-Malo and the surrounding area (over the two weeks preceding the start), about a hundred motorized support boats.
The skippers, not spared by the critics either, are trying hard to reconcile sporting issues and ecological awareness. Traveling seas and oceans is a privilege coupled with a responsibility.
Fabrice Amedeo, a citizen sailor, has set up a laboratory area on board his racing boat.
It is a CO2, salinity and temperature sensor. I work with several scientists, it allows them to better understand the consequences of global warming on the ocean. Then I have a second sensor, which is a microplastic sensor. And the great novelty on this Route du Rhum is an environmental DNA sensor, which will make it possible to measure the presence of living organisms, and therefore to measure biodiversity.
Initiatives that do not completely make us forget the ecological cost of offshore racing. Race for innovation: always faster, boats are built with highly polluting materials.
For the experienced Kito de Pavant, it can’t last any longer.
All you have to do is get together and come to an agreement, you are able to change, perhaps to go a little slower, to make boats that are more respectful of the environment.
Replace carbon with flax, as on the new boat of double Route du Rhum winner Roland Jourdain; the idea is debated and has its opponents.
Like Jérémie Beyou, skipper of Charal, a brand new car.
They are fabulous boats, which make people dream, and I think that from time to time, we also have a little right to dream, we also have a little right to like sport, to like competition, to love mechanics. You don’t have to be ashamed of it all the time either.
There is also the question of the solidity of the different materials, with the ocean as a judge of the peace.