Seaweed, plastic bags, balloons, all of these items have been blamed for slowing a boat down. Whether or not this is due to an anxious sailor, the fact is plastic debris is becoming more common then ever and it can slow your boat down. For our first Sailing and the Environment post we thought about plastic bags and different ways they have proven to be a foe to the boating community.
For any boat with an engine, a plastic bag can prove to be a costly problem. The water intake can suck up plastic bags, which causes overheating and leads to serious damage if unnoticed.
In some harbors, sailing through the current line can be similar to visiting the local dump. This affects racecourse tactics, as extreme current relief is needed to make it worth sailing through the debris and risking what may catch on your keel.
We recently caught up with Moth sailor Anthony Kotoun after just finishing a race in Miami. Anthony said, “Plastic bags can stop us faster that any other debris in the water, and when you are sailing at 20 knots anything you hit is dangerous.” During the event almost every sailor ran into a problem of having trash caught on their foil. For the moth sailor this is a timely incident. To remove the trash they flip their boat or stop and sail backwards. Plastic bags have also proved to cause more serious problems than losing a race. Moth world champion Bora Gulari seemed to have the worst luck with the bag fish, his first run in caused his rudder to rip off. A second incident, with an unidentified culprit, caused a severe crash where he ran into his shroud, cutting his face and requiring medical attention. Seeing as bag fish were everywhere, they seem like the #1 suspect.
So what can you do?
- The moth fleet tries to pick up the bags they have encounters with; even if they are hoping the guy in 1st will slow down.
- Ban the plastic bag, in your home, on your boat, at your marina! As a boater reduce the risk of having bags fall into the water by never using plastic bags.
- Have a trash pick up plan for your regatta or sailing club. Whether this means having pool cleaning nets with the race committee for trash that floats by or dedicating an hour when sailors contribute their time to clean up a beach, no matter how much trash you remove, it all makes a difference.”
Tell us: Have you had any run-ins on your boat with plastic bags? What do you do to help prevent this problem?
Courtesy of Sailors for the Sea