All entries under Morro Bay

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

Today I felt the first tangible inklings of what may have been Robert Swan’s dream to connect people all over the world around climate issues. The sun was shining and we had little feet dancing on the deck – children running up and down the stairs into the boat, Cal Poly students asking us all of these great questions, a biologist telling us about the shark that lives under the boat in the marina (he gave us video footage of this shark), and a number of other visitors inspiring us, making us laugh and telling us about all of the great things they and their circle of friends and family are doing to make a difference and have fun in their lifetime. One story stands out in particular – a gentleman from San Diego who heard about ‘2041’ from a local kayak outfitter came by today and he told me a story about his son Josh who is working in Shishmaref , AK . He helped re-design the boats the local Inupiaq Eskimos use for hunting. The boat he designed uses nylon, so it is about 1/3 the weight of the other boats, therefore it uses a smaller motor and less fuel. Josh is also helping to record the number of different Inupiaq words used for various types of sea-ice. Shishmaref is the “canary in the coal mine” for climate change, says Josh’s dad Mark, because rising temperatures have reduced sea ice, affecting local storms. According to NOAA, Shishmaref is also facing erosion issues due to melting permafrost (www.arctic.noaa.gov/detect/human-shishmaref.shtml). Talking to Mark this afternoon reminded me how important it is to meet new people and share stories. We all have so much to learn from each other, and ‘2041’ is a fantastic host for these important conversations and connections. I feel very lucky to be here in this moment in time.

I know it sounds hokey…but once again in my life, I am reminded about how wonderful people are, how creative we can be, and how much hope there is for the future. And this is just one day in the life of the Voyage for Cleaner Energy! We had boat tours today in Morro Bay , and as you can probably tell…we had a great time. The crew headed out to the famous Thursday night farmers market in San Luis Obispo after a long day of tours and cleaning the boat. The sun set in a pink haze behind Morrow rock and the Peregrine pairs are probably huddled low in their nests as the night chill sets in.

Have a peaceful night all of you dreamers out there.

• Maura Fallon-McKnight

After stopping in the big cities of Seattle and Portland , the sleepy, beach town of Morro Bay, Ca is a welcome change. Being the home port of our Captain, we arrived to news crews and cameras documenting the arrival of our 67 ft. vessel. Considering that none of us had showered in the week long voyage and had barely slept the night before- we were looking like proper salty sailors. Today we woke up to sunshine and a media crew on deck. They interviewed Robert Swan and then we took them for a quick sail so they could experience the wind in their faces, the heel of the boat and (by accident) the douse of a wave. Captain Mark informed us all that there are 2 pairs of Peregrine Falcons that live on Morro Rock, one on the north and one on the south. Peregrine’s had a hard time recovering from the amount of DDT sprayed over crops in the past and considering that Peregrine Falcons usually dominate a 15-mile radius for food and shelter- these 2 pairs have compromised their habits and lived harmoniously together on one rock for a number of years. Maybe as humans we should take heed?

After taking the media crew out for a sail we dropped them at the dock and went right back out for some video footage. We had to tack with a narrow island, Morro Rock and the fishing docks surrounding us…no small feat for a 50 ton vessel. The gusts of wind that blew around Morro rock at the head of the harbor entrance, kept us shuffling back and forth. We tacked, sailed downwind, tacked again, sailed upwind, tacked again….and so on. With about 30 seconds in between each tack and gusts of wind trying to knock us off balance the media crew got the footage they needed- sails up and full of wind!

Hannah Huntley