The current waters we’re passing though, (English Channel and Bay of Biscay) are very busy, we seem to be tagging along side an endless convoy of passing ships, the radio crackling all night with weather and safety bulletin. We had a pretty good sail so far, fairly fast up until now, with the wind veering behind us, we now await a stiff Easterly breeze to fill in and slide us across the rest of Biscay.

A couple of dolphins popped by for a visit this morning, with their friendly ways, dancing and diving in the bow wave, I always think, its a sign of good luck and a safe voyage, but perhaps its the dolphins smart way to evolve in this man made mayhem, as their fellow aquatic neighbors get hunted to extinction.

It will be interesting to see what nature we will find on this trip to Dubai, as i did a similar trip back in 1999, leaving me ponder how things may have changed in ten years?

-Conor

2041 closely supported 350’s efforts in their October 24th International Day of Climate Action, and is happy to promote their efforts in Copenhagen.

And . . . from our team in Copenhagen:

Those who are here for the COP15 seem to be buzzing around trying to be at three events at once. The exhibits at the Bella Centre have also proved very informative. Ranging from alternative energy studies such as using seaweed as biodiesel, ethanol and paper. Gas union, nuclear plants, fight against deforestation, transport associations, Christian & Charity organizations, Climate studies, aviation, Universities, and various countries all on show.

Back in the city, ESA’s Inauguration ceremony – Understanding Climate Change from Space - was another eye opener and very interesting to see how from even such a great distance these changes are perceptible. It’s fascinating how from space humans can measure the carbon effect, ocean warming, sea ice reduction and possible predictions for the future. Perhaps if we saw the whole of the bigger picture….

‘Earth seen from space is an extraordinarily beautiful place. Orbiting around our globe, its colour changes continuously from blue, to white, to green, to red and yellow and then to thousands of dots of light from cities on the night side. But at the horizon, where the deep black of space begins, there is a thin layer, which shines stunningly in red and orange at times when the Sun moves behind it – our atmosphere. It looks so fragile, and one thinks: there within this tiny layer, is the only place in the universe where humans can live, outside of a spaceship. One day it might be different, but until then – we must all of us together take care of this atmosphere and our beautiful planet!’ – Chris Fuglesang, ESA astronaught.

The walls of the maze are made from cloth banners stamped and signed by thousands of citizens around the world in support of the UN-led Seal the Deal! campaign, which asks world leaders to conclude a fair and effective climate agreement in Copenhagen. Complementing the Hard Rain commentary, the maze also contains climate change facts from UNEP in order to raise awareness about climate change.

‘We have to give governments a constituency to reinvent the modern world so that it’s compatible with nature and human nature,” says Mark Edwards. “Political change comes only when people form a movement so large and inclusive that governments have no choice but to listen - and act. The last verse of Dylan’s song begins ‘What’ll you do now?’ It’s a question that cannot be left hanging when the Copenhagen talks come to a close.”

Further up from the Kongens Nytorv to the City Hall is the Klima Forum and WWF Arctic exhibitions. Part of the WWF’s statement is the Bear in the Square. A life sized polar bear made of ice. All are invited to touch the sculpture, as time passes and the heat from all the touching hands melt the ice, a graphic skeleton emerges, a harsh reminder that this could be not just the great bear’s future but ours if we don’t act now.

The boys doing some trapeze work on the ‘2041.’ Photo by Laura.

The boys in Copenhagen, contemplating the siren call. Photo by Laura.

A ‘2041′ crew shout out to our partners in Asia - Giordano - who supplied us with these lovely COP 15 awareness raising t-shirts. Photo by Laura.

We look forward to welcoming you all onboard the brave yacht ‘2041’!

Please do not hesitate to contact, Laura Beyers, Yacht Manager, laura@2041.com DK Mobile: +45 52745503

7 Dec Mon COP15 Summit begins Yacht in COP – Open to public 1030 – 3pm Yacht in Nyhavn, berth 114 - (on the south bank at the far end of the canal from the square)

8 Dec Tue Yacht in COP – Open to public 1030 – 3pm

9 Dec Wed Yacht in COP – Open to public 1030am – 3pm

6pm 2041 to participate in the candle vigil with AVAAZ.org partnering with 350.org, Tcktcktck, WWF etc. - Our message is clear: at the Copenhagen climate summit, the world wants a real deal!

10 Dec Thu Yacht in COP – Open to public 1030am- -3pm

11 Dec Fri Yacht in COP – Open to public 1030am – 3pm

12 Dec Sat Yacht in COP – Open to public 1030am- 3pm

13 Dec Sun Yacht in COP – Open to public 1030am- 3pm

14 Dec Mon Yacht in COP – Open to public 1030am – 3pm

15 Dec Tue Yacht in COP

Yacht closed to public – private event

16 Dec Wed Yacht in COP

Yacht depart midday for Kiel

Jake 2041 crew

A frosty early morning in Kiel. Photo by Harry.

En route to Copenhagen, through ‘Hoek van Holland,’ literally the ‘Hook of Holland.’ Photo by Harry.

Our leg 2 - Kiel to Copenhagen - participants from our sponsor Essent. Photo by Harry.

Early morning frost and fog in Kiel. Photo by Harry.

After the preparation and the packing, the trip started for real on Tuesday 1st December: Astrid and I were driven by taxi from Groningen to Kiel in Germany, where we met the crew: Conor, Derek, Harry and Jake, three Paddies and a Yank, as they called themselves. (O: A little later the other passengers arrived: Lambert and Gerrie, all the way from Den Bosch in the south of the Netherlands. Wednesday morning was cold: we’d had frost during the night, so we started the day with taking pictures of the boat in the amazing morning light. After that, the instructions started: don’t fall overboard!!! But in case you do or someone else does: what to do in case of an emergency. When “captain Conor” felt sure we’d taken everything in, we started sailing… Well, we left the harbour, using the engine. After a while, the engine was turned off and the sailing trip started for real! And I have to say: I’m usually quite good with words, but now I was just lost for words to describe my impressions. I’d forgotten how good it felt to be on the water, looking at the coast disappear in the sunset and feeling the wind in my hair. When it was my turn to take the wheel I felt really tough! It went amazingly well, it being my first time on a sailboat…

Kiel Sunrise - photo by Dity.

The purpose of the 2041 is to show how you can use clean energy on a daily basis. Being a sailboat, the 2041 is powered by the wind most of the time. The motor runs on biodiesel and there are two wind turbines and solar panels to provide electricity. Although all the lights in the cabins were led lights, we were told to switch the lights off when we leave a room. The message is clear: even if you have it in abundance, there is no reason to waste energy!

During the night we took shifts: three hours on and three hours off. At first it was a bit tough to get out of your gear: a safety vest, an “oilskin” (waterproof jacket and trousers), rubber boots, a pair of jeans, a pair of long johns, another jacket, a sweater, and last but not least a thermo-t-shirt, the kind you’d wear when going skiing. All that in a compact cabin, when the boat is heeling over all the time. At one time, I was standing on one leg, with the other against the wall, to keep me from falling over while I was pulling my sweater over my head. In short: great fun! I’m sure I had enjoyed it a bit less if I hadn’t taken the seasickness medication: although our experienced crew told me the weather wasn’t too bad, very calm really, I was literally thrown off my feet a couple of times. I found out the hard way the wheel isn’t the best thing to hold on to when that happens… (O: But then again: I have a feeling that this crew won’t be impressed by the weather until it’s a gale or a full storm…. I really admired the way Derek and Conor were standing calmly beside the wheel, holding a cup of tea in one hand and steering with the other…. When just a while before I had been standing with my feet far apart to keep my balance and two hands on the wheel to keep the boat from hauling to the wind. Oh well, I’ll just blame my boots: they were nice and warm, but they were no sailing boots. (O:

The next morning, we arrived in Copenhagen, the place where it all happens between December 7th and December 18th! On firm ground again, the strangest thing happened: it still felt like the ground was moving, so I asked “Is it me or is this room swaying?” Harry’s answer was, after he had given the lamp that was hanging over the table a swing: “It’s not you, it’s the room!”

Leg 2 sailors.

Copenhagen is amazing, raising our awareness in two totally different ways: on the one hand there is an outdoor exhibition of pictures of a 100 different places on this earth, that you have to see before they disappear Surrounding this exhibition are numerous globes, decorated by artists, each with a different message about global warming and how to stop it. These solutions vary from simple ones like “put a sweater on when you’re feeling cold instead of turning the heating up” to the effects that planting different plants or changing the colour of your roof has on the climate. On the other hand: there are Christmas lights literally everywhere and even worse: whole terraces filled with parasols heated by terrace warmers…. What a waste of energy!

On my trip back to Groningen, I talked about our voyage and I got the question, very rightly so, what I did to change the future and to stop global warming. Do I have solar panels on my roof, for instance? I don’t because I live in an apartment building and tenants have no permission to place anything on the roof. But then I thought: I can urge the company that owns the building to do so! Because, rephrasing Robert Swans words: when it comes to global warming, the biggest danger we face right now is if everyone thinks that someone else will do something about it…. So how ever little it is what you can do, just do it and do it today!

-Dity

My 2 other colleagues, Rienk and Michiel, and myself quickly got familiar with the yacht’s crew. Captain Conor, first mate Derek and crew members Jake and Harry gave us a warm and practical welcome. The 67ft sailing yacht would be our home for the next approx. 56 hours.

The sailing plan was to leave Rotterdam by 3pm, arriving at open sea by 6pm and sail in the following 36hours to the Kiel Canal. From there it would be another 8hrs motoring to our destination in Kiel. The wind appeared to be somewhat less than the storm from the day before, but nevertheless we were strongly advised to take our anti-sea-sickness pills in time.

The journey to Hoek van Holland was comfortable (by motor), but things changed rapidly once we arrived at open sea. With (to my experience) a big swell and quite a strong SW wind (20 to 25 knots) we had to raise the main sail in order to start sailing along the Dutch coast in northerly direction. This in itself was a great experience as it was already dark. That first night all three of us got seasick (not all that bad), but after a good short sleep in the cabin everyone was OK again by Friday morning early.

Since we sailed 24 hrs a day, life on board consisted of 3 (at night) or 4 (daytime) hour watches. It was weird to notice how quick I could adapt to that scheme. On every watch I spent quite some time on the helm. Staring at the compass (70 degrees!) and correcting as the swell came in from the stern and that made the yacht roll. I found it most difficult to find our way at night when we were in the shipping lane just before the Kiel Canal. It was difficult to recognize the correct green light from all the other lights on shore, in the water and on other (large!) ships that were around. At the end of my watch around Saturday 0:00 just after Conor ordered to get the 3rd reef in; the wind gusted up to almost 50knots and we lowered the main sail and proceeded by motor. We arrived at the Kiel Canal locks by 3am and we had to wait until daytime due to regulations. Saturday was an easy day on board: Motoring the Kiel Canal for 8hrs until we arrived at the British Kiel Yacht Club around 5pm.

Saturday evening was well spent together with the crew in the Irish Pub in Kiel. Guinness, pizza and good talks!

I would like to thank 2041 and especially Conor, Derek, Jake and Harry for making this trip the unforgettable experience it was.

Joost van der Linde, Essent.

On arrival the crew changed gear, from four wheel drive to two. We where now on land and our goal had changed, rather than fighting the elements to get to our destination, we now had a job to present “2041” to the public and media. We cleaned and polished the yacht, flew our banners, battle flag and butting. We now took our place in the “2041” team, to do our part. Friends, visitors and the curious visited us, as we prepared for our grand arrival. The day of our official arrival went quickly, everything went according to plan, the media did their filming and interviews with Rob, ever resilient, preaching from his home from home, the familiar platform of the yacht“2041”.

“2041” is a boat with character, one that grows on you, a boat on a mission, a boat with a purpose. All who sail on her, quickly pick up on this, as did the Managing director of RWE/Essent for the Netherlands that day. He took the helm and steered ‘2041” down the meandering river Maas, a memorable day for the merger of two great Energy companies, the director helming them into the future. As for the team in “2041”, our great success that day, was that of the helm’s realization of the task assigned to “2041”, which is hard to ignore when you’re driving the message, “the hope of a better future together.”

We then sailed back up the Maas, where several hundred VIP’s awaited our arrival, we glided the boat gently onto the waiting platform, our new main proudly aloft with the branding of our sponsor, an arched wall of water behind us shot from a Tug into the heavens. It was a memorable occasion for all involved with “2041”.

Several days later the crew were lucky enough to hear Rob Swan, our commander chief speak at Erasmus University, to an auditorium full of University students. It was an inspiring speech - I had heard him talk to delegates on previous days, but when Rob knows he has a chance to really inspire change, to inspire the future leaders, the future CEOs and directors of companies, his levels of energy sky rockets. Transformed into words, his story is a powerful message that is hard to ignore - one of dreams, one of self belief and dog-eared determination, where failure is not in his vocabulary. The audience absorbed his energy, inspired to focus their own energies in life, ambassadors for the future. As a small example of this, upon returning to the yacht from the talk, we where handed a piece of paper by the harbor master, a hand written letter from a student who attended the lecture, a sincere letter, apologizing for his lack of action with regard to the topic of not “using a green tariff” energy bill. The frustration of this student had been inspired into action, as small as this may seem, it was just one of the hundred plus students present, and Student’s when motivated can be a very formidable force. With most of the team now heading south to Antarctica and E-Base, we on the yacht “2041″ are preparing to head North again, north to the Copenhagen climate-change conference, where some serious decisions must be made by global leaders, the clocks are ticking on our future, and I think the most important question we should ask ourselves is: “Are we to be remembered as the generation who destroyed the environment, or to be the ones who are remembered for saving it?” I know which one I’d like to tell my children.

The Captain