As The Ocean Race Summits continue next week in a new, innovative and engaging online format, Mike Vandrau, Managing Director – Rights at CSM Sport & Entertainment explains how The Ocean Race is turning the tide on partnerships with purpose.
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
Robert Swan OBE
As Covid-19 continues to sweep across the world at a rapid rate, it can be difficult to remember what life before the crisis was like. The destruction wrought by the virus has brought the planet to a standstill, with a third of the global population now in lockdown to help stop its spread. Yet amongst the sadness and chaos, we have also seen a positive transformation in the environment. The famously-polluted canals of Venice run with clear water for the first time in years, while in New York, levels of air pollution have reduced by 50% compared to this time last year due to extensive travel restrictions. In China, the days with ‘good quality air’ was up by 11.4%.
These are encouraging signs, no doubt. But, in the face of the looming climate catastrophe, it represents a drop in the ocean rather than any sea change.
Storm Ciara, which crashed into the UK’s shores back in February – affecting a wider area than any storm in this country for a century, may seem a distant memory for many of us now. But its impact has not been forgotten by those afflicted. It served yet another powerful reminder of our vulnerability to the scale and volatility of the environment. The storm followed a fatal year of environmental affliction; unprecedented wildfires in Australia, rainfall in the Amazon, heatwaves in India, typhoons in the Orient and cyclones in Africa. Each disaster a damning cry from the environment to heed its ample warnings.
As well as these devastating events, at the heart of the most pressing of environmental battles is the ocean, covering 71% of our planet. The ocean drives the global weather – acting as a barometer of global environmental health – and yet our water’s suffering is more subtle. I’ve certainly been shocked to learn the scale of it.
Eight million tonnes of plastic flows into the ocean each year. A truck of trash per minute[1]. By 2050, it is predicted that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish[2]. A platter of plastic is to no one’s taste, but it now features prominently on the menu, as the majority of sea birds and almost all sea life have consumed it. This grave reality should be fuelling the fires of action.
It certainly has for me.
It has, in fact, been a central facet in my journey from sceptical naysayer to ardent supporter of sailing. And more specifically, The Ocean Race.
This conversion was threefold.
The origins of adventure
Firstly, as one of three brothers, a keen sportsman and a South African, I was compelled by the competitive spirit which lies in the roots of the race.
Like many great ideas, this one was conceived in a pub by two friends and a round of drinks.
“I bet that I can beat you around the world.” Or something to that effect.
With that jovial jest, the gauntlet was thrown down for a race like no other. Played out among the unforgiving, unrelenting ocean.
So, in 1973, seventeen boats of intrepid explorers set sail for the horizon; four legs, seven months and 43,500 kilometres.
The inaugural ocean race was born.
The Everest of the ocean
As well as the romanticism of its origin, the romanticism of its escapades enticed me.
The innate vulnerability of man pitted against the unpredictable majesty of the ocean. Each boat at its mercy, making the conquest of the human spirit something to marvel at. I certainly did, and still do.
Forming part of the ‘holy triad’ of sailing competitions – alongside The Olympic Games and The America’s Cup – The Ocean Race boasts a modest yet brutal simplicity. There is no gold medal or gainful personal legacy.
Unfolding away from the spotlight, this tussle is more painful, powerful, poignant.
It is, unquestionably, the Everest of the ocean.
From foe to friend
The final step in my conversion came in the inspiring realisation that this was a rights holder who did not deal in words but in actions. A race not for sport but for purpose.
On the start line today sits a generation of conscious competitors whose playing field is no longer a foe but rather a friend, in grave need.
The Ocean Race is a forerunner in a wider industry evolution from purely profit to profitable purpose. It has become an influential and authentic platform for accelerating ocean health restoration and gender equality.
Its advocacy is as pervasive as it is impassioned; a thread connecting each dot of the organisation.
Aiding research
The yachts are equipped with pioneering scientific technology, enabling race teams to collect valuable data on marine plastic pollution at the most remote points of the ocean – where the astronauts on the International Space Station are closer than the humans on land.
Taking fans on the journey
The 24-hour onboard reporters give fans unparalleled insight and access to the gruelling demands of the daily battle both with, and for, the ocean.
Its following has sky-rocketed, with 2.5 million people flocking to the purpose-built Race Villages during the 2017-18 event, and millions more tuning into the action through TV and online[3].
Balancing the boats
These waters, and the mission to save them, does not care for gender lines. The Ocean Race is the only major international sporting event where men and women compete on the same team, for the same prize and for an equal share in the record books.
In the last edition, twenty-three women – made up of skippers, navigators, medics and boat engineers – lined up on the start line and, for the first time, three of them were part of the team who finished it first.
Creating tangible change
The Ocean Summit and Innovation Workshops bring together a variety of key stakeholders from the worlds of science, sport, industry, government and advocacy, at a range of stopover destinations, to explore innovative solutions to the mounting crisis.
Governments have committed to joining the UN Clean Seas Campaign, and international businesses such as Volvo and Iceland have pledged to remove single-use plastics from their operations, and extend in-store recycling schemes, on a global scale[4].
Extending the invitation
The sailors that set off for the horizon back in 1973 were propelled by a sense of the unknown. Today, we know the enemy well, and it certainly isn’t the seas.
Transcending sport to lead, inspire and affect this critical issue, The Ocean Race extends a pressing purpose to us all – to curtail the impending storm, we must join them on humanity’s next great adventure.
I may have once missed the boat on the intrigue of sailing, but this invitation is one that I am compelled, delighted and excited to accept.
Mike Vandrau is Managing Director – Rights at CSM Sport & Entertainment
If you work for an organisation that would like to get involved with sailing and help save our ocean then please get in touch: mike.vandrau@csm.com.
[1] The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics – World Economic Forum (2016)
[2] The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics & catalysing action – Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017)