All entries under Students

We finally got some sailing in this morning, just before pulling into San Diego . It’s a bit chilly but everyone on board is in good spirits. The crew is ready for a short break in port and we passengers still can’t get over the fact that four days ago we were worried about what schoolwork we had to finish for the week. Not even knowing we would have had the opportunity to sail 400 miles around the Channel Islands and meet new people whom we will say in contact with throughout their inspiring journey, and hopefully for the rest of my life. The last two and a half days I have been inspired to change the overall course of life. Time at sea has made me realize it might be the lifestyle that is suited for me and how being one with the ocean can be fully sustainable and fulfilling at the same time.

I am a fourth year construction management major at Cal Poly SLO about to graduate and go out into the corporate world. But I am not really sure if that is for me. I am focusing on sustainable building practices as a concentration in my major and am currently studying for the LEED exam. I hope that once getting into industry this will allow me to further progress the green movement that has already begun in the construction industry. The experience of the last three days came at the perfect time and was exactly what I needed to kick my butt into high gear and figure out what I can change in my life to better myself and the world.

Just wanted to thank the 2041 crew for everything: great food, great stories and good times, all you need for an epic trip.

Nick Harvey, Cal Poly student

To start off, FELIZ CINCO DE MAYO BABY! This has definitely been the most eventful and amazing Cinco de Mayo of my eighteen years. Last night we had a great couscous stir fry dinner with naan (beats campus food any day). My portion ended up in the Pacific after several rounds of sea sickness. Drew beat me to it though and lost the bet he had started in the first place (who’d get sick first). This morning was really laid back and we’ve been chasing clouds all day with little spurts of blue skies. Sea lions have been poking their heads up every once in a while. But nothing compares to the humpbacks and dolphins. Within a ten minute period Drew, James, and Jake jumped in the water to salvage old helium balloons that sea turtles would probably otherwise try to eat or get caught in; We decorated the boat with these recycled balloons. The next minute we saw dolphins playing and swimming with the boat. Hannah then brought out the chips and Mexican music and we had a fiesta! Hooray!

My name’s Stacy Shutts and I’m a first year Forestry major at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. I found out about 2041 through Empower Poly, the Grand Poo Bah of all environmental clubs. I’m here and there with different groups, doing beach clean-ups with Environmental Council. I occasionally work on the organic farm which is a blast. Learning about organic farming techniques and which fruits and veggies are in season is pretty intriguing. It’s great to listen in on the sustainable conversation on the boat because a lot of these people know what they’re talking about a lot more than I do. I’m trying to pick up on some of the boating terminology as well. Maura had some sort of concentration in Natural Resources when she was in school and it’s great to see someone out on a mission like this with a similar major. All of this is pretty inspiring. It’s awesome to see people actually doing what they love. Thanks to the crew for their hospitality and letting us invade their boat for these two days. This is a great trip and definitely beats 9 a.m. math class!

Stacy Shutts,

Student at Cal Poly

Waking up at 4am was not nearly as bad at it should have been. The pitch black and freezing cold actually led to some learning about charts and navigation. Last night I enjoyed an excellent dinner, followed by some great conversation with the crew about sustainable practices and efforts going on. Today was uber-beautiful all day, no need for shirts, shoes, and the like. We spent mostly all day up on deck, and I had some time to read some school stuff (about 5 min) before I put that down for a book from the galley (much better!). We talked all through lunch, where after a big group of balloons was spotted, and consequently retrieved from the water by myself and a couple mates. The water was surprisingly warm, and I had the chance to lay out for the rest of the afternoon and talk, as well as a small Cinco de Mayo celebration with chips, salsa, and fresh guacamole.

I am one of four Cal Poly students on board, and this experience has enabled me to get another perspective on the aspect of global warming, renewable energy, and sustainability, which is going to help in several projects I have going on right now. I missed a midterm which will not be able to be made up, a class which if I miss one more I fail, a lab class that can not be made up, but it doesn’t matter. This is college, this is my time. This is something that I have to do, and I have learned much more from this day than an entire week I could have spent in class. And the best part is that I actually care about it, and it is something that is going to affect us all in the near future. JUST SAY YES!

I am currently the president of Cal Poly Biodiesel, a group of student on campus currently in the process of building a reactor to turn waste vegetable oil from on-campus dining services to usable biodiesel fuel for the many tractors, vans, and other machinery on campus that currently use diesel. It has been a long and hard process, but our findings and process have proved that something of this magnitude can be done, with cooperation from the college, Campus Dining, and students. Our goal is to create a model program for other schools and campuses around the world to follow, using the information we have gathered, our hardships and how we overcame them, etc. For more information, please email: cpbiodiesel (at) gmail (dot) com. A website will be up in the next month or so.

James Pickering
President, Cal Poly Biodiesel
General Engineering Department, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

It has been a wonderful week in Morro Bay, CA. We have had some great responses to the boat from the people of this fine land. So many folks here are already converting their cars to veggie oil or installing solar panels, riding bikes, and recycling but I already knew this about the area you see I live here in the small hamlet of Los Osos, just a few miles south at the end of the bay. I love this area, but mostly I love the people here. I cannot tell you how fantastic it felt to return home and hug my wife Jennifer and daughter Sierra and watch her give a tour of the boat to her friends – so excited to play and jump around the boat. Even at 5 years old, they are interested in why 2041 is a special boat, connecting to the idea that we need clean energy whether they understand what that means or not. I could not be out here trying to help inspire people to “preserve the world”, if not for the great strength of my wife Jennifer and all our friends that help support her so “3 CHEERS” to you friends of Spooners Cove – you are the best anyone could hope for. A deep thanks to all the friends new and old who came to see the boat and offer words of encouragement – you have inspired me to continue on.

We have a full boat on this leg to San Diego with four more warriors for sustainable energy aboard. I am looking forward to a day at sea passing the Channel Islands and learning what’s happening at Cal Poly from a student’s perspective about sustainable energies. The sky this morning has been grey with fog and cold but now the sun is burning through, our shoes are off, and finally we are headed to the warm climes of southern California, where our next adventures await. This time we are armed with shorts and sun screen as opposed to the gloves and goggles of up north. I hope the people of San Diego are ready for us because we have a mission to get their attention, to try and inspire them to make some changes and help our planet to thrive for their children and their good friends and all the good people we share this world with.

Fair winds, Capt Mark

I went to sleep last night at 4am after my night watch and was awake at 6am due to a ruckus that I just couldn’t ignore. Evidently while I slept, Helga the auto-pilot had broken Bret’s speed record by reaching 14 knots and a celebration was in order! Captain Mark took over at the helm just as the sun peeked over the Big Sur range. I jumped into my foul weather gear and got in line to steer the boat in the choppy seas. “G-L-O-R-I-A…Gloria” was blaring on the radio and it was clear this was going to be a fantastic day. As I was steering, we watched a small pod of dolphins follow the boat for hours, making surprise appearances along the way. One thing for sure – you don’t get much sleep at sea, but you get plenty of adventure. We pulled into Morro Bay , near San Luis Obispo , around noon after 6 days at sea. Unfortunately we had to say good-bye to our passengers Mike and Bret, who were amazing during the journey from Portland . They were a huge help onboard and we had a number of interesting discussions with them regarding the pros and cons of various renewable energy resources during our journey. Thank you both and we hope to see you again soon.

- Maura Fallon-McKnight

I just ran around the sailboat taking sadly, my last photos of my new friends that I’ve met on the 2041 yacht. We’ve managed to pick up amazing speed on our south track towards San Luis Obispo (technically Morro Bay). We’re running our sails “wing on wing” with the wind at our backs, going at an amazing 10-11 knots, several knots faster than we could motor (and carbon free!). We’ve all taken a stab at driving the boat, seeing who can surf the fastest. Bret, a newbie helmsman took the record at 11.7 knots. Call it beginners luck!

Yesterday, we went about 20 miles due west of Cape Mendocino, just south of Eureka, California. My graduate research proposes to harness the same energy that’s filling our sails, to power offshore wind turbines. Cape Mendocino has the best offshore wind resource and until recently, had been completely ignored as a feasible renewable energy resource for California. The offshore wind farm Cristina Archer, Mark Jacobson, and I proposed would locate 300 turbines off of Cape Mendocino, to supply California with 1500 MW of clean power generating capacity (about the capacity of 1.5 large nuclear power plants). Winds at this offshore site blow consistently throughout the day, especially during the summer months when electricity is most needed. The proposed Cape Mendocino wind park could replace about 4% of California’s current carbon emitting electricity generation (including out of state imports).

We’ve ignored vast clean energy resources like wind, solar, and geothermal, in our quest for economic growth at nearly any environmental cost. The California offshore wind resource is a perfect case in point. By relying primarily on coal, oil, and uranium for our energy, we’ve gotten lazy in inventing novel ways to harness the free energy available on our planet. As I write this now, we’re being hurled down the California coast at a comfortable cruising speed in the 2041 sailboat. My laptop right now is being powered by PV solar cells and the wind generator. All of this comes at a minimal environmental cost.

My hope is that everyone who visits the 2041 boat and reads about the Voyage for Cleaner Energy tries to think about ways in their life, as well as ways for their governments to come up with more creative solutions to solving global warming. We can mitigate the effects of climate change and manage to keep our western standard of living if we are creative enough.

Mike Dvorak
Atmosphere/Energy PhD student
Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering