“The talk was great. I believe that many of the students in today’s audience were positively affected by both your message and your desire to inspire. Your down-to-Earth demeanor, humor, and message of teamwork and positive thinking made this a talk for all people — all ages — all backgrounds. I hope your success with this project only grows. I am pleased that CCSF was able to be a part of your launch.” — Katryn Weise, Professor of Earth Science City College of San Francisco.

And some feedback from Wednesday night’s lecture:

“Inspirational is the first word I would use to describe the heart-felt presentation by Robert Swan at SFSU. He made us laugh, he had us nearly crying but importantly he showed us the need and gave us hope that each of us can make a difference in the effort to slow global warming and protect Antarctica.” — Patrick Tierney, Recreation and Leisure Professor San Francisco State University.

After returning from the lecture at the City College of San Francisco today we were informed that our office in Truckee , CA has received multiple calls from the San Francisco community requesting that Robert come back. We are very honored by the incredible responses that we have received and foresee that our Voyage for Cleaner Energy will only gain momentum as we travel the west coast.

Our last lecture in the bay area is at UC Berkeley on Saturday. Come early — seating is limited!

Seeing you soon

Melissa Ritti

In our first 24 hours out to sea, we made it 180 miles closer to our final destination – Seattle. Today’s winds were a bit of a break compared to the gale last night. The winds are 24-28 knots compared with a max of 38 knots last night. Last night Brent (the first mate) and Mark (the captain) were champs. It was a long night of rough seas and it seemed there was constantly something to be addressed on the boat, which meant non-stop work for them through the night. Today we were able to have our first hot meal (pasta) for lunch, which we all needed. We ate in almost perfect silence, we were all so exhausted and hungry. Besides getting our sea legs on in a hurry, I think we are all getting to know the personality of the boat as well. Today the captain said “she is no lady. When the waves come at her she puts her shoulder down and drives right into them.” And that she does. She is like a football player or the only female member of a tough rugby team. She shows up all the men with the way she faces a challenge and keeps on driving. She is my kind of girl, that’s for sure. No fear. I also came up with a nickname today for Jake the deckhand – “bombproof”, because he can handle pretty much anything and seems to not even be nauseous in these seas (having taken no seasickness remedies). We are averaging 7 knots today and “have the bone in our teeth” to use a sailing term, which means we are making great progress.

Maura Fallon-McKnight

The connection that Robert had with the staff and the young adults of the Larkin Street Youth Center was an instant one. David Zenoff, an old friend of Robert’s who is involved with the center, kindly introduced him. You could tell that on each end there was a sense of understanding about how hard some situations that happen in life can be. Trust, truth and humor are the things that get you through. One thing that was emphasized by Robert throughout the lecture was that if you have a dream make sure that you pursue it and YOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN IF YOU TRY. Hopefully we will see one of these young adults on the next Antarctic Expedition with Robert and his team! We would like to thank Kathie Lowry and Wendy Borden for making this happen.

At the end of the lecture we looked outside the window and saw that Diana, who has taken on almost every role at our company with a smile, had outfitted our bio-diesel Dodge Sprinter van with Voyage for Cleaner Energy magnets. Exciting things are happening every day!

San Francisco State University

Later in the evening Robert conducted a lecture at San Francisco State University . Not only were the professors extremely gracious and excited to hear about Robert’s experiences but the students had to have been one of the most energetic lecture audiences that I have seen so far. Laughter filled the auditorium throughout the hour. Patrick Tierney, a professor at SFSU who is an avid sailor, made the lecture happen – for this we thank him. Directly before the lecture we phoned our crew on the ‘2041’ sailboat, including Hannah Huntley who is SFSU student, and heard that they are doing wonderful!

We were sad to say goodbye to our videographer , David McGraw, and our photographer, Candice Towell, who have both been incredible along the first intense days of our journey and have helped to capture the excitement and pride that we all feel. You will be missed!

We appreciate your incredible support!

Melissa Ritti

We have seen the full range of conditions today – from 15 to 38 knot winds. Earlier today we passed Point Reyes where I worked for four years as an elk and deer biologist. The sheer sand cliffs bring back memories of many early morning sunrises along those beaches tracking elk. Now those cliffs and the Golden Gate Bridge are already memories – just like the calm weather.

2100 hrs – Now this is extreme computing. The winds are blowing 38 knots outside, and the boat is getting soaked. She loves it. I can almost hear her hootin’ and hollerin’ as the big waves crash over the bow. I get the feeling nothing stops this ship. I am crouched in the office with my wet foul weather gear on, with one leg perched on each wall to stay still. The laptop is velcroed onto the desk, so I am basically typing up near my face the boat is listing so dramatically. This boat loves to ride on her edge, she is faster and more agile that way – cutting through the waves just like she was built to do. In seas like this you almost want to be strapped to a harness below deck as well as above deck, because your body is being pitched to and fro landing on all of the wood and metal pieces of the boat. We had cliff bars for dinner because keeping anything on top of the stove in this weather is a joke. We are all tired, but in great spirits. The good news is that none of us have been sea sick yet today…although the longer I stay here and type that might change. So I’m signing off now. Good night.

Maura Fallon-McKnight

Today was huge. The whole team was on hand to launch the Voyage for Cleaner Energy sailing expedition, and a really nice crowd gathered as well. The ‘2041’ sailboat was docked at Pier 1 ½ in the heart of the Embarcadero in beautiful San Francisco, and Jared Blumenfeld from the city’s Department of the Environment was on hand to emcee the event.

Taylor Francis delivered a terrific speech. If you’ve never heard of Taylor, check out his website. He’s an amazing 16-year old from Menlo Park who was trained personally by Al Gore to speak to audiences around the world about climate change as part of The Climate Project. He has spoken to nearly 10,000 people and has been on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle. This June, he’ll visit China and speak to university and high school students and business and government leaders. Today he captured perfectly one of the critical elements of the voyage. He said: “My generation—the youth of today and the leaders of tomorrow—will inherit this planet in the next few decades, and what type of world we live in will be determined by what people do now about the climate crisis.” Taylor is dedicated to the cause and a true inspiration to young people.

San Francisco’s Director of Climate Change Initiatives, Wade Crowfoot, spoke to the crowd about the importance of civic programs and community efforts on environmental issues, particularly climate change and renewable energy. He talked about the Voyage for Cleaner Energy and proclaimed April 8th, 2008 Robert Swan Day in San Francisco.

With the ‘2041’ crew on deck behind him and the crowd gathered round, Robert Swan said that he was really pleased to be launching the Voyage for Cleaner Energy from San Francisco. He’s looking forward to bringing information about their environmental efforts to other cities, just as he’s looking forward to learning about successful programs in other parts of the world. Robert emphasized the importance of inspiring young people to take action and said that he hoped to make a difference with his global commitment during the next five years.

At the close of Robert’s remarks, we said goodbye and waved to our wonderful crew as they left the dock on their way to Seattle and beyond.

Today was also the start of <i>Voyage for Cleaner Energy</i> university lecture series. Robert spoke at Stanford University to a group of students, professors, and guests hosted by Energy Crossroads. Energy Crossroads is a student-initiated, global movement for a clean, prosperous, and secure energy future. They facilitate collaboration between groups of policymakers, non-governmental organizations, technologists, entrepreneurs, academics, and activists, guided by the belief that their interactions will accelerate progress toward innovative solutions to the world’s energy challenges.

Robert’s presentation was very well received, and the students were excited to hear about his plan to establish a student expedition to Antarctica in 2009. Stay tuned to this site for details.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this launch a successful one, and if you’re on the west coast this spring, keep an eye out for an eco-friendly sailboat with a tall mast and smiling crew.

Cheers, Marnee Benson

I am very excited to be typing these words… the boat is finally ready for her voyage! Yesterday was the last day of the retrofit and cleaning and let me tell you – the retrofit crew worked until the wee hours of the morning making sure she was ready for her visitors in San Francisco and her upcoming voyage. Our first tour today was a school group from Ocean Shore High School. The students were awesome and had a number of great questions about the boat. They are learning about the Polar Seas this year, so their teacher wanted to kick off the lessons with a visit to ’2041′. Later in the afternoon we had our second tour group from San Francisco City College visit the boat. We were all grateful for the beautiful weather throughout the day… a great sign at the beginning of the voyage. I am exhausted and need to finish packing for my upcoming 2 months aboard ’2041′. Until next time…

Starting our sea-trial with a day of crazy weather simply meant that it could only get better. Today was the better day one can only imagine. The sun was shining, the skies were blue, the seas were calm and the wind was a mellow 15 knots. We had a leisurely morning, leaving Half Moon Bay by half 10 and cruising out into the open waters. After a fair share of man overboard drills, and might I add Maura and I rescued our man on our first attempts, we ate lunch on board and enjoyed the afternoon. Not long after lunch I spotted a spray of water on the horizon only to be followed by a whole pod of whales. When you are the only boat around and the only people watching the whale fins on the horizon you feel truly blessed to be where you are. The rest of the day was spent with the wind at our back and we came into San Francisco Bay right at sunset. We left Sunday at sunrise so it was fitting to return days later at sunset. Instead of returning to the pier we’ve set anchor near Angels Island and now its movie time. That’s right, we have movies on board so Brent’s on popcorn duty and we are about to chill. An epic day if I do say so myself.

“Good morning Everyone!” Brent hollers from the deck and Hannah and I wake up, pull our gear on and go on deck to see an orange morning haze behind the Golden Gate bridge. We are heading west and Ini is showing us how to operate our life vests and harnesses. We figured it out just in time, because within the hour we were facing 30-40 knot winds and 15-20 foot swells. All the sea sickness remedies in the world could not have kept me from getting sick today. ‘2041’ likes to get likes to get wet – this much is clear. Every third wave crashes over the bow and travels most of the way to the stern. In the middle of the day, I turn to Hannah and say, “I love this safety harness”. It is wonderful knowing you are attached to the boat at certain moments. We spent the entire day in almost gale force winds, and then pulled into Half Moon Bay at 20:00, when things finally calmed down. Once the motion subsided, we all became normal human beings again, talking and laughing and eating the first bites of real food all day. I couldn’t even hold down 2 tablespoons of water since 08:00, so I was eternally grateful for Hannah’s warm, delicious dinner and the comfort of my bunk.

Now it’s early Monday morning, I slept like a log last night, and I am up for another day of sailing. I think the weather is calling for 10-15 knots of wind today. Yay!