Sailing in the cleanest, lightest way possible for the planet. Italian solo sailor Ambrogio Beccaria recounts how he achieved his goal. “The solutions are there — you just have to want it.”
Connection with the sea, knowledge of and respect for its elements. Sailing is one of the sports that best manages to reunite us with the nature of the ocean — sometimes harmonious, sometimes fierce. The health of our seas is increasingly at risk due to human activity and its consequences, and those fortunate enough to call this environment home are both direct witnesses to its plight and ambassadors for its protection. Among them is Ambrogio Beccaria, a young Italian sailor who has turned his passion into a career — and a mission.
I'm a sailor. Essentially, I live and work in the middle of the sea.Ambrogio Beccaria, sailor
Sailing since the age of 14, after numerous races he entered the world of so-called "nutshells" — boats measuring just six and a half metres in length (mini 6.50s), the smallest ocean-going vessels in existence. Having become a two-time champion in this class, the Classemini, he is now preparing to take on the ocean race MiniTransat 2019, the longest solo race of its kind and one of the few sports in which men and women compete on equal terms. This year, Beccaria, sailing aboard his Geomag, has decided to do so with particular attention to caring for the environment that hosts him: sailing on solar power alone and cutting single-use products to a minimum. We met Ambrogio Beccaria, who told us about his challenge, the difficulties and the successes of this choice.
What makes your boat and the races you do special?
What makes it special is that the boat is very small — the smallest ocean-going boat there is. The races I do are solo, and you're completely isolated; it's a bit like going back in time. There's no technology, no computer, no satellite connection — all things you'd find in ocean sailing outside this class. What fascinates me is that you have to know everything about everything: you need to be prepared physically, technically, in terms of meteorology and in terms of managing yourself, because when you're sailing solo the challenge is managing your energy. Other than that, it's very simple: there are no rules, there's just the ocean in between, acting as a chessboard.
What does it mean to cross the ocean on renewable energy alone?
On a sailing boat, when you need power you normally start the engine. We don't have an engine. There are several ways to get around this — for example, a generator, fuel cells. Or renewable sources, and the sea is full of them: wind, solar panels, hydraulic turbines. To avoid slowing the boat down, we steer clear of propellers in the water, but since we're in the middle of the sea there's a huge amount of sunshine, so solar panels work very well. When there's no sun I have to organise myself with longer stints at the helm and know, based on the forecast, when it will come back. This summer I did a race with particularly little sunshine and I was surprised: the panels charge a great deal even without direct sun, even when it's cloudy or raining — as long as there's light. This year is the first in which I've sailed exclusively on solar panels: they work very well.
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Thanks to an Italian company that sponsors me, we created a system at the stern (the rear) where I have two 100-watt solar panels that I can angle, a bit like sunflowers. I position them perpendicular to the sun so they're as efficient as possible, and I have one extra in case of need. Choosing to use only renewable energy — that is, only solar panels — isn't a constraint for me; on the contrary. It allows me to be light, not to have to think about fuel, which is dangerous, heavy and smelly. It's great because it's good for the planet, because it's lightweight, and it's the least burdensome way of having energy on board.
We sailors are direct witnesses to the pollution we see at sea.Ambrogio Beccaria, sailor
For those of you who live at sea, how visible is the plastic problem?
In the Mediterranean it's far more visible. The concentration of microplastics in our sea is, paradoxically, higher than in the famous plastic islands — people talk of "plastic soup". The worst is when there are storms and you're sailing near rivers: it's depressing, you see what they carry down. At sea we see it constantly, and it's mostly fishing material, and obviously a great many plastic bags. Sometimes it can even become a problem for the race itself: you have to watch out for plastic getting caught, but above all for broken and abandoned fishing nets drifting in the middle of the sea that get caught in the rudders and the keel. During my first long race, for example, on the return leg I was winning the stage, and at a certain point I got entangled in a piece of abandoned netting. Two or three days from the finish, in the middle of the ocean.
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How do you manage waste on this kind of voyage?
Waste is a subject I'm trying to work on — it's very complicated. I'd like to try to complete this crossing without single-use plastics. Imagine living for twenty days inside a Twingo, eating and drinking without using single-use plastic. For water I have large jerricans that I reuse, so I'm fine there. For food it's far more complicated: there's no fridge, no kitchen. It absolutely has to be vacuum-packed or freeze-dried food (disgusting!). Vacuum-packed is already cooked — you just heat it up — but finding someone who does it without plastic is the challenge. It's a very specific need, and you'd have to find a company that has a material it wants to test. The market is offering more and more products to this end; it's talked about more, and people have realised there's a market share that wants this. Because it would be wonderful to manage not to use single-use plastics while at sea.
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In your view, is there awareness today, both in the sailing world and beyond?
Sailing is one of the cleanest sports there is — it takes place at sea, it ties in perfectly and it's an excellent vehicle for communication on this front. In that world, the subject comes up a lot, it's a common topic, but I don't yet see many grand gestures, even from those who are actively involved. There needs to be greater consistency. In this race, for example, only three or four of us are using exclusively renewable energy, out of around sixty competitors; the others have solar panels but also other sources. More broadly, the problem can sometimes feel disheartening. When you raise it, a lot of people say: what do you think is going to change? The sea is beautiful while it lasts — it'll just be wet plastic. And sometimes it's hard to argue otherwise. But no — you have to try. You have to raise people's awareness of conscious use.
On 16 October 2019, Ambrogio Beccaria, in his role as ambassador for Geomagworld, took part in the third Osservatorio Milano sostenibile, the annual survey on Milanese attitudes towards sustainability, conducted by LifeGate in collaboration with Eumetra MR. "In the last race I did, the biggest thing I came across wasn't a whale — it was a fridge," Beccaria told the audience from the stage. "The fact that wildlife is being replaced by household appliances should make us reflect on the need to act as quickly as possible, because we cannot treat the oceans this way."