Going green at sea

Climate change is one of the major challenges of our age and all of us who love the sea are faced with a problem that has a huge impact on our surroundings and the environment.

Fortunately, it’s easy to make your lifestyle and way of sailing greener and more sustainable.

Here are some tips on how to sail in the most environmentally friendly way possible.

Choose a greener boat where possible

The decision starts when buying a boat. Sailboats have the lowest environmental impact because they are powered by the wind, so their carbon footprint in itself is smaller than other boats.

Electric boats are also a good choice as they are becoming more affordable and efficient.

You can also consider buying a second-hand boat, so the environmental cost of the product is minimised.

Boat maintenance

Regular maintenance of the boat is the key to keeping it safe and reliable, as well as avoiding leaks, spills and general failures that generate unexpected repair costs, as well as causing much more pollution.

You can also choose to make improvements that will reduce your ecological impact. Installing solar panels, wind turbines or hydroelectric generators are some of the options to reduce the impact of your carbon footprint.

Keep water clean

Dumping untreated sewage into the sea has a major environmental impact and can destroy the marine ecosystem.

Avoid dumping waste, especially near the coast. A good solution is to use eco-friendly and natural cleaning materials for both boat cleaning and personal hygiene. Use an organic portable toilet and equip the boat with a marine sanitation device that treats waste.

Paint and clean carefully

Use natural, environmentally friendly and sustainable products wherever possible and avoid using plastic, fortunately there are more and more alternatives on the market for this.

The antifouling paints that are used to paint the boat are highly polluting, look for non-toxic alternatives and be very careful when painting so that no waste is discharged into the sea.

Be as green and efficient as possible

Reuse and recycle should always be one of the premises in your daily life. Buying second-hand equipment, repairing the equipment you already have and recycling old equipment are simple but important actions for the environment.

Do not anchor near the coast or sail in shallow waters to avoid damaging the seabed.

Be careful when fishing, think also about protected species and do not take corals, shells or other accessories as trophies, leave in the sea what belongs to the sea.

Don’t throw anything into the sea and collect plastics, cans and rubbish in general that you can and is within your reach to keep the environment clean at all times.

In short, try to be as ecological as possible by reducing your impact with small actions, it is within everyone’s reach to adopt new sustainable habits.