Greta har mönstrat på Malizia

Nu har Malizia II och Greta Thunberg, 16 år, lagt ut från Plymouth.

Greta Thunberg är på väg till ett klimatmöte i New York och valde att acceptera erbjudandet att resa med Malizia sjövägen istället för att flyga.

Och hon är medveten om att valet kommer att innebära brist på bekvämligheter, och troligtvis bli en allt annat än behaglig upplevelse periodvis.

– Det kommer inte att vara bekvämt. Jag kommer troligen att bli sjösjuk och man måste göra behoven i en hink. Men det kan jag leva med, sa hon innan hon klev ombord och startade den cirka två veckor långa vistelsen till havs.

Med ombord på Malizia finns också Greta Thunbergs pappa Svante och dokumentärfilmaren Nathan Grossman samt seglingsentusiasten Pierre Casiraghi, son till prinsessan Caroline från Monaco.

Efter klimatmötet i New York 23 september reser Greta vidare med tåg och buss. Först till Kanada och Mexiko och sedan till Chile för FN:s årliga klimatkonferens.

Pressrelease från Boris Hermann Racing:

“Malizia has set off from Mayflower Marina in Plymouth this afternoon with Boris Herrmann, Pierre Casiraghi, Greta Thunberg, her father Svante Thunberg and filmmaker Nathan Grossman on board. Here follows Team Malizia’s press statement expressed by skipper Boris Herrmann a few minutes before leaving the dock:

Thank you everyone for coming. Hopefully you are all enjoying the English weather. This is a front and after that we want to leave.

We are all here today because of this great girl. 

By the way. These phones always correct the spelling ‘great’ to ‘Greta’. Did you notice?

I would like to thank Greta for her leadership and relentless fight to wake us up to listen to the science. I have been very touched when I listened to Gretas’ speech in front of our magnificent town hall in Hamburg early march of this year.

According to the United science, Humanity is in a race against time to reduce CO2 emissions drastically. This involves changing everything: to change a global economy which is almost entirely based on fossil fuel.

This voyage symbolizes two things: it is not easy to replace fossil fuels but it is absolutely possible and it can be a great adventure. It also offers the opportunity to bring us closer to nature, each other and ourselves.

This voyage will be difficult and challenging: 3500 nautical miles over the north Atlantic. At least two weeks of noise, cold, humidity and sacrifice of any comfort….

Dealing with nature means that we have to accept our limitations. We cannot know exactly how long it will take us and if we even make it for sure as planned.

Technology has enabled us to achieve remarkable things without using any fuel. Our sail boat for example is capable of sailing faster than the average cargo vessel or luxury motor yacht. The longer the trip the more this is true as we could even circumnavigate the planet nonstop – which would be impossible for any motor vessel. And we can do this without leaving any trace by using only wind and solar power.

150 years ago the emigrants from Europe to America have already sailed without leaving any trace. When they left they basically sailed west into the unknown. Their fate was in god’s hands.

But today Technology enables us to return back to nature without this total fear of the unknown. We don’t pray to Neptun, Rasmus, Heol or Njord anymore. We rather pray to the computers and global weather models. The reliable forecasts and the speed of modern sailing vessels allow us to find smart routes through the storms most of the time.

If everything has to change, then we have to take a great leap into the unknown. Just like sailing across an ocean.

I would like to thank Greta for her remarkable courage. I could not have been that courageous in her age. We cannot ask anyone to be that courageous, but we could all embrace the unknown and challenges lying ahead of us as something positive and exciting rather than a threat.

We are aware that not everyone can sail across the Atlantic on a high tech racing yacht.

But we would like to motivate everyone to look for alternative forms of transport, then the ones based on Kerosin, Diesel and heavy oil.

Everybody can start making changes in her or his own backyard. And many small steps could ultimately change everything. But we need these changes and climate actions now. Because this is a race against time – A race we must win.”