I’m leaving tomorrow to travel south to Falmouth and join Pangaea Exploration’s yacht Sea Dragon for a voyage through the North Atlantic Gyre to the Azores and then Lanzarote. We’ll be exploring ocean plastic pollution and wider questions about human nature relations and consumerism. Why do we treat the ocean as a dump? And why do so many of us end up consuming so much more than we need? Above all, we’ll be trying to figure out what solutions to this issue might look like.
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Leg 4 completed and a new crew for the day
On Sunday we got a new crew on board for the day. Politicians, representatives from government agencies, and sponsors visited us and joined Sea Dragon for a day sail in the Stockholm archipelago. We sampled the water for particles using the pump and also showed some of the trawl samples from the expedition.
Read MoreA cunning plan, faulty equipment, and blisters!
At one magic moment (after threatening the pump to become a cucumber slicer), the pump miraculously started to work again. In the water, Eric and undersigned inspected the working of the pump. For me it was a good excuse to go swimming, after not having taken a shower so far…
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A Rough Start
During the evening and night the wind picked up and we were sailing close to the wind in forces of 30 knots, with two reefs in the mainsail and the jib. Later on the wind increased further to 35 knots and the jib was replaced by the staysail and a third reef in the mainsail. During the night and in squalls wind gusts of over 45 knots were measured, and the Sea Dragon was racing off and over ever increasing waves like an experienced surfer off Hawaiian waves.
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Rough weather
After the sampling we headed south to reach the next position. However, the weather turned worse during the day; first heavy rain, and later big waves. Despite that the windy weather made the sampling impossible and made several people seasick, this weather gave us a great chance to see this boat using its full potential, as the boat was heeling over.
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Sea Dragon anchoring in Norra Kvarken
It was a beautiful Swedish sunny Saturday the 9th of August when the crew for leg 3 of this Baltic Sea Expedition gathered in the harbour of Sandhamn in the archipelago of Stockholm. We were all excited when approaching this magnificent sailing boat, the Sea Dragon, that was about to be our home for the next seven days. The aim of this trip is to set sail for the northern parts of the Gulf of Bottnia in the Baltic Sea and take samples of the water along the way.
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The Media Team
We are fortunate to have a film team on board consisting of the wonderful Metta and Joakim. They like to chat and take pictures a lot. I concluded this morning that it is a dream come true to wake up at 4am to a film lens and questions about the research. The sunrise was also great. Yesterday Folke Rydén met up to film us from another boat while we were doing authentic sailing and research on board.
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Third Crew On Board
After a steaming hot day in Sandhamn the discussion topics on deck last night seemed to be endless. Sea sickness, sleeping schedules, sailing strategies, Spotify lists with boat theme …..
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Introducing the trawl
Jessika Hagberg (Örebro University) and Louise Hedenskog (Thorén Business School, Örebro) throw the manta trawl in the water between Sweden and Germany in the southern part of the Baltic Sea. This excercise is repeated twice a day and trawling takes an hour each time most days of the expedition.
Read MoreCompact living on Sea Dragon
Although the research and plastic pollution is my main focus on this trip I would like you give my opinion on the interior design. This boat is a Mecca for all fans of compact living. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, would go green from envy if he saw all the great storage solutions onboard. So. I want to show you the best bits of this gorgeous, boho-chic and somewhat retro 72-ft home.
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A salty splash and strong winds
At this writing, I find myself at the Sea Dragon in the strait between Helsingborg and Elsinore. We had a stormy afternoon with heavy rain and strong winds, the feeling of the salty splash and strong winds are terrific.
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Stepping back aboard Sea Dragon after 5 weeks on shore
It was good to get sailing again, up the coast a few miles from Gothenburg towards a rocky cove near Marstrand, effortless motion in the flat water as the afternoon sea breeze built, followed by a swim in the oddly warm sea.
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