We’re getting close to Bermuda, and Madeira is already a distant memory! It looks like these two stopovers will be completely different. We’ll stay in Bermuda for over a month, and we’ll play a major role in the America’s Cup—the world’s most famous sailing race. Plans for the event have been in the works for years, and our exact arrival time has been calculated down to the minute! While we’re out at sea, I’ve been thinking about Madeira. It started out as a technical stopover lasting a couple of days, and a chance to drop off some of the crew. But it quickly turned into a real stopover on our journey, due to the energy and enthusiasm of the local people. Race for Water was barely moored when the TV crews boarded to interview Jean-Marc [Backup captain and technical director Jean-Marc Normant]. We were all over the newspapers. And the Funchal yacht club rolled out the welcome mat for us, even putting on a lunch at their club and inviting all of the island’s most prominent ocean conservationists.
The Funchal Yacht Club welcomes Race for Water
Not to mention that we were provided with a car and a driver to go shopping for supplies, a Zodiac for our arrival and departure, and the port staff who regularly dropped by to see if we needed anything. They truly bent over backward to answer all of our questions! To round things out, we got a taste of how interested people are in Race for Water: many of the islanders came out on the dock to admire the boat, and they even paddled out on their stand-up paddleboards to get a better look!
Marco Simeoni and Race for Water’s captains with Antonio Cunha and a member of the Funchal yacht club
The crew were eager to get on land, away from the boat’s constant movements on the water. We took advantage of Madeira’s lush vegetation, restaurants and—in moderation—the local bars!”
Mafalda Freitas, director of the Funchal marine biology station and president of the Funchal yacht club, describes her meeting with the Race for Water Foundation.
I was thrilled to see Race for Water and meet her crew. There’s no doubt, this is an innovative and progressive project. But Race for Water’s journey has another important goal: helping to protect our ocean environment. Race for Water is a real-world example of the transition to a world where we use only clean energy. This mission shows that we can reduce C02 emissions in terms of energy, but we can also reduce the noise and pollution generated by boats. And Race for Water’s technology is highly innovative! It shows that a yacht can be completely self-sufficient when it comes to energy, by using a combination of renewable energy sources from its kite and solar panels.
Mafalda Freitas with Marco Simeoni and Race for Water’s crew
Energy and pollution on Madeira
Could Race for Water be an inspiration to an island like Madeira? Our island currently uses five energy sources: hydraulic, wind, photovoltaic, urban solid waste incineration, and thermal energy from fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas. Since 2015, we’ve been implementing the MaRaM strategy to combat ocean pollution in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (Stratégie de Combat de la Pollution de la Mer de la Region Autonome de Madeira (MaRaM))
It specifies zero tolerance for illegal ocean pollution. We intend to step up our activities to effectively prevent pollution. In order to do that, we have to account for the needs and desires of our government, civil society institutions, and our residents.