Sea Dragon Shakedown Run On The 5 Gyres Expedition

Yesterday the Five Gyres crew got our first taste of the Sea Dragon in action. We’re skippered by Clive Cosby, a circumnavigating racer who captained the same design at the Sea Dragon BT Global Challenge. The Sea Dragon is one of 12 identical boats designed for this race, and she’s 72 feet, 5.5 meters at beam, and draws 10 feet. She’s a beautiful beast underway: smart, elegant, stable and FAST. On the open ocean she’ll easily maintain 12 knots. Unfortunately, it’s a bit stuffy in the USVI port so many members of the crew, including myself have been sleeping on the dock, sleeping on nearby swatches of grass, much to the delight of the security that patrols cruises the opulent port shops in golf carts. I mean actually mean that. Security actually is treating us exceptionally well as we’re a bunch of dirty environmentalists working on our boat preparing for our expedition which is in stark contrast to the 10-15 million dollar boats parked beside us with constant air conditioning.

Today, science expedition leaders Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins explained all the equipment we’ll be using to sample the ocean. On this voyage, Marcus has developed a new tool for sampling the ocean floor for plastic debris. The apparatus essentially looks like a massive dart, that we’ll be reeled out on six miles of line to the ocean floor where upon it’s hit, a spring load mechanism will scoop up a handful of sediment for analysis back in California. The other pieces of equipment include the Manta Trawls, which we’ll deploy 25-30 times on the first leg to collect debris stratified in the water column as we cross it. The third is a basic trawling net which I’ve spent the past few days sewing, and then sewing it to its frame. This net will also be dragged, and will collect Lamprey fish samples, which we’ll dissect to look for debris in the belly onboard, as well as send several samples for analysis back in California.
Short vid that took a VERY LONG TIME to upload:

Right now, I’m off to snorkel some reef, as tomorrow the voyage begins. Maybe it’s because I’m willing to sew nets all day, but I’ve been invited to stay on from Bermuda to the Azores to complete the entire gyre mission. It’s not an offer I can refuse. It’s been a life long goal of mine to cross an entire ocean under sail, and this my chance.

Thanks to @surfrider @keen_shoes @aquapac @5gyres for making this happen.

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