SailGP partners with Oceanwise
May 12, 2022
Canada SailGP Team is joining forces with Ocean Wise just ahead of team’s debut in SailGP Season 3, which starts with the Bermuda Grand Prix on Saturday.
As the Team’s Race for the Future partner, Ocean Wise will collaborate with the Team on a comprehensive outreach, education and inclusivity plan focussed on protecting and restoring our ocean. The partnership will be the cornerstone of the Team’s Purpose and Impact strategy, which includes the We CAN Foil development programme that will roll out across Canada this summer.
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SailGP teams not only compete intensely on the water, but are also scored on their efforts to make a positive difference for our planet in the first ever podium for the planet – The Impact League, celebrating Teams’ positive actions in social and environmental sustainability. The Impact League will be closely following the Teams’ efforts to educate on and mitigate the impacts of climate change, setting a new standard in sport.
“The ocean is our racetrack, so we understand first hand the importance of protecting and restoring it. We are very pleased to be partnering with Ocean Wise on this important part of our Team’s programme and look forward to working with their team to really make a difference in Canada, but also in all the countries we will compete in,” said Canada SailGP Team CEO, Jean-Sébastien Chénier Proteau.
Canada has the world’s longest coastline and the Team has already set the ambitious goal to clean up the equivalent of this distance. Using Ocean Wise’s data collection technology, the Team will measure and report on all clean ups, as well as engage local community groups to participate. The Team’s first shoreline clean up expedition will take place in Bermuda this week.
Recognizing the critical importance the ocean plays in the fight against climate change, another Ocean Wise initiative that the Team will be supporting is kelp sea reforestation in British Columbia and other parts of the world. The Team will also be working with our partners to foster technological innovation toward cleaner energy.
Ocean Wise Shoreline Cleanup is one of the largest direct-action conservation programs in Canada. In 2021, Ocean Wise expanded the program to the United States, with cleanups in California and Texas. Shoreline Cleanup aims to collect valuable data on litter in the environment and promote understanding of shoreline litter issues by encouraging everyone to rehabilitate shoreline areas through cleanups.
Seaforestation, the restoration and growth of kelp forests, is one of Ocean Wise’s solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss. Kelp forests are rich habitat for marine life, including commercially important fish and invertebrates. The forests protect the coast from the impacts of extreme weather events. They naturally capture carbon in large volumes in seaweed tissue, some of which gets trapped in the ocean floor for centuries.
CANSailGP’s racing accomplishments in Bermuda will be headlined in Sailing in Canada next Wednesday.
