SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
This journey was more than just discovering new surf spots – we wanted to have an impact to really change things for the better. Our point of focus was the so called “Atlantic Garbage Patch”, an area of hundreds of miles in the North Atlantic, where marine debris tends to accumulate as it is bounded by oceanic currents. Trash that we throw in the ocean will sooner or later end up in one of these “Garbage patches”. Because of chemical composition of plastic, it will be there for up to 450 years. Small animals accidently eat these micro plastic particles. These smaller animals are eaten by bigger animals, which we then eat. Being at the end of this chain means that we consume the largest concentration of toxins. Moreover, millions of animals die from these micro particles, disturbing the balance of the ecosystem.
This pollution happens too fast for nature to adapt but too slow for us humans to notice. The biggest threat is that we cannot picture the destruction, but the consequences are accumulating, just like the little pieces of plastic in our diet. To visualize the problem, we applied a scientific method called plankton trawling. A special net tied up behind the catamaran revealed a very concerning truth. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, hundreds of miles away from land, we took samples and all of them were full of tiny plastic particles.