Four days into its two-week Atlantic crossing, the zero-carbon yacht carrying climate activist Greta Thunberg is becalmed in the ocean after a choppy start to the trip, still 2,500 nautical miles from New York.
In an update posted to Twitter around midday on Saturday, the 16-year-old said she was eating and sleeping well and had no sea sickness so far.
Day 4. Pos 46° 20‘ N 015° 46‘ W
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) August 17, 2019
Eating and sleeping well and no sea sickness so far. Life on Malizia II is like camping on a roller coaster! pic.twitter.com/pf1PnqYCov
Boris Herrmann, the experienced captain who is skippering the Maliza II, which is carrying a crew of four including Thunberg’s father, Svante, tweeted: “When you have no wind and you’re drifting around... Ahh the contrast to yesterday ... gives some time to slow the boat to have a wash and play some games ... which Greta keeps winning!”
On Friday the boat, which is a high-speed planing monohull built for the 2016-17 single-handed, non-stop round-the-world Vendée Globe race, had “experienced uncomfortable conditions and everyone is feeling a bit seasick but nothing too bad or unexpected”, Herrmann tweeted on Friday.
August is not the ideal time to cross the ocean as it is in the middle of the Atlantic’s hurricane season. The team’s progress is being tracked on a website.
Thunberg is hoping to cross to the US in time to appear at two crucial global gatherings: the Climate Action Summit in New York on 21-23 September and the UN climate conference in Santiago in early December.
She refused to travel by plane to the US because of the environmental impact of flying. Earlier in the year Thunberg undertook a tour of European countries by train.
While mainly powered by wind, the yacht draws its electricity for lighting and communication from solar panels and underwater turbines – aiming by these means for zero-carbon status. There are no bathroom facilities on board so the crew must make do with blue plastic buckets.
Herrmann said the journey would show how it was possible to cope without fossil fuels. He said: “This can be positive and exciting. Solidarity with Greta is not limited to eco-activists.”
