EARTH DAY 2015

I am still amazed at how I have been able to reduce my carbon footprint by converting BIANKA to electric propulsion eight years ago. This was further reduced  with demise of the 2 horsepower Honda BF2 outboard because of hurricane Sandy. It is no longer on the boat and is going to the recycler. It's replacement an Electric Paddle is an electric outboard. Both of these upgrades have made things easier on board and also helped keep the boat and earth a little cleaner. In a way everyday is Earth Day on board these days.  

LORAN LIVES AND A HAPPY EARTH DAY ENDING!

I was sad when the U.S. Government shut down all theU.S. LORAN transmitting stations back in 2010. That action rendered my Kings 8001 unit obsolete. Still, I kept it aboard for a while until I thought I might be able to recycle part of it even if it was just the case. I posted about my plans for the obsolete unit here. Then about a month ago I received an email from a fellow in Norway who had seen my post and wanted to know if I still had the boards. It seems that LORAN is still alive and well and used on the waters around Norway. Who knew? He also mentioned that he had a non functioning Kings 8001 unit and would like to acquire the boards so he could try and repair his unit. This is what I call a win win situation and so yesterday on Earth Day I sent the LORAN boards off to Norway to hopefully continue to help guide fellow sailors on their way as it did for me. I love when things can be recyled!

A SAILOR'S EARTH DAY 2010

I think sailors are more in tune with the environment than those who spend all their time on land. We tend to be always keeping an eye on the weather and water conditions and the land (which we try to avoid for obvious reasons when sailing). We also tend to be early adopters of "green" energy technology like solar panels and wind generators because we know the limits of the energy we carry on board and are often not connected to the power grid. We know the energy stored on board in things like batteries on our boats is finite so we try and conserve it. I also try not to be too sanctimonious about my boats electric propulsion system though I think it is the best improvement I have made to the boat in the fifteen years I've owned it. I'm confident others will come around to it's advantages on a sailboat as we head into the future. We sailors also tend to be more conservative in the amount of things we consume and bring on a boat because we just don't have the space to carry everything. Still there is always room for improvement and revaluation. Bob at Boat Bits has some green thoughts that are good to keep in mind.