1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:21,440 Welcome back to the Clean Sailors podcast. Let's talk about sea, marine, sailing and 2 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:26,520 keep it clean. I'm your host Holly, founder of Clean Sailors and a sailor myself with 3 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:31,640 a passion for the health of our mighty oceans. Through conversations with experts, innovators 4 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:36,240 and activists, all working towards improving the health of our seas, we're showcasing the 5 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:41,320 people and projects, changing the way things are done. 6 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:48,040 I am exceptionally excited today to be speaking with Teresa Zabel, the Olympic sailor, multi-award 7 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:53,000 winning sailor who's also dedicated much of her time and energy to helping preserve and 8 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,680 conserve our oceans. Teresa, thank you so much for joining me today. 9 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:00,120 Thank you for this opportunity. I'm really happy to be here. 10 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:04,760 Teresa, I'd love to hear first you really sailor to sailor. Your history was sailing. 11 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,080 Where did it start and what have you been up to? 12 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,760 Well, I was brought up in the south of Spain in the province of Malaga on the Costa del 13 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:16,160 Sol. We were by the sea and I remember when I was a kid and we were taken down to this 14 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:20,480 sort of, it was called a nautical club, but it hardly had any boats. It was more a sort 15 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:25,680 of swimming pool just above the beach and all the kids of the area would go there and spend 16 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:30,560 some of their and run up and down and so on. That's where I first discovered that there 17 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:34,840 were some sailing boats. They just had two or three of some of the members of this club 18 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:40,800 and they would sort of drag them down past the sand down to the shore and get them ready. 19 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:45,880 I was absolutely fascinated by this. I remember, I don't know, I must have been six or seven. 20 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:51,320 As soon as I saw one of the boats being dragged down on top of these sort of fender rollers, 21 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:55,680 I would go and just sit on the sand and watch them put the boat together, put the sails 22 00:01:55,680 --> 00:02:01,480 up and go out to sea. I sort of secretly hoped that one day one of them would say, you know, 23 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:06,440 come aboard and we'll take you with us. That never happened. Then they started a proper 24 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:11,440 sailing club when I was about 10. My first experience wasn't really that good because 25 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:18,160 it was extremely windy. It was cold. I was cold and, you know, I was an optimist that 26 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:22,080 had about this much water in the bottom. It's like sitting in a bathtub, you know, with 27 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:28,040 cold water and the boom kept hitting my head. So I wasn't too impressed. But then I went 28 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:32,600 back when I was 12, 13 and I was a bit bigger and the weather was better and that's when, 29 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:34,880 you know, I absolutely fell in love with the sport. 30 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,520 That's a fantastic story. And I know our listeners won't be able to see me smiling at your story 31 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,920 of the optimist because although we've ended up in very different places, obviously, you're 32 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:47,600 an exceptional sailor, I too started an optimist and I absolutely hated it. It was exactly 33 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:52,520 as you described, it was wet, cold, lonely, never done it before, didn't have a clue. 34 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:56,920 And I didn't return to it. I carried on much later and turned to blue water cruising and 35 00:02:56,920 --> 00:03:02,080 yachting instead. So having the courage to return to something that ultimately became 36 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:07,320 not only a passion, but you have been internationally recognised for. You stopped short, however, 37 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:11,760 and I appreciate you're a humble person, but I am going to tease this out of you. You returned 38 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:16,600 to sailing and actually did incredibly well with it. So why did you stick to it and what 39 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,000 did you ultimately achieve? 40 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:23,080 I stuck to it because I didn't know something behind my mind obviously said, you're going 41 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:27,000 to like this. And I had friends also that were going and starting, you know, the sailing 42 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:31,880 courses and so on. When you're that age, 12, 13, you like to be where your friends are. 43 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:37,000 So yeah, I went back and the weather was incredible. So I started sailing again in optimist because 44 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,080 that's what there was. I completely agree with you that and I've always said it optimist 45 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:46,440 is not about to engage children because as you say, you're alone, you're just suddenly 46 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:52,360 sort of popped into a boat by yourself and you have to learn how to manage it. And if 47 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:56,800 the weather isn't that favourable or it's windy or it's cold, it puts lots of people 48 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,560 off. I much prefer sort of, you know, collective boats to start people in sailing, especially 49 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,560 when they're young children. And then they can go from there. In Spain, we do do a lot 50 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:10,760 of school sailing in optimist. And I think it would be so much better if we did it in 51 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:15,320 different classes of boats like they do in other countries, but that's the way it is. 52 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:20,280 So I passed on quite quickly to the Euro class because the national championship of the Euro 53 00:04:20,280 --> 00:04:26,240 class was going to be in my sailing club when I was 15. So I started sailing in Europe when 54 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:31,280 I was, you know, just under 14, I think. And I was quite small in fact, in size. It was 55 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:36,160 quite a challenge to be able to manage the boat. Then I never really had very good equipment 56 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:40,560 because my parents couldn't buy me boats. So I was just sort of using the leftovers that 57 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:45,360 were in the sailing club. And that's basically what I used until I went quite far ahead. But 58 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:50,000 anyhow, I managed to get hold of a decent boat for that national championship. And I ended 59 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,880 up winning the women's event of the national championship. And that really sort of gave 60 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:59,000 me, you know, sort of, wow, maybe I'm not so bad at this. And then I continued. But my 61 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,440 dream was to go to the Games, to the Olympic Games. When I was 11, I discovered the Olympic 62 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:08,560 Games through the TV. And I absolutely knew that day that I wanted to go there. And, you 63 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:13,120 know, I'd started sailing. And when I decided I wanted to go to the Games, it could have 64 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:17,440 been in any sport because I wasn't really practicing any sport at a high level. I had 65 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:22,600 done a lot of athletics. I was a pretty decent middle distance runner. I'd started paying 66 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,720 10 years. So, you know, I did quite a bit of, I was quite good all rounder, but I hadn't 67 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:32,200 really started sailing seriously. And when I did start sailing seriously, I thought, 68 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,960 what a pity, this is a sport that I love, but I can't go to the Olympic Games in it 69 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,960 because there were no women's events. If you did want to go, you'd have to beat the men. 70 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:44,240 And that was quite difficult. There are some sailors that actually managed to get there, 71 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:51,280 Paul Elstroms, Dora and Kathy Foster went in representing Great Britain in LA 84. But 72 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:56,840 I would never have beaten the men. And where I lived, there was no Olympic sailing anyhow. 73 00:05:56,840 --> 00:06:01,360 We didn't have Olympic classes. So it was just like impossible. But then in 1984, after 74 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:06,320 the LA Games, the 470 was included for women for the next Olympics. And, you know, when 75 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:12,040 I read about this, I thought, wow, this has been done just for me. So I think every woman 76 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:17,200 or every girl that sailed all around the world and had any kind of aspirations just automatically 77 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:22,040 jumped into the 470. And that's what I did as well. And I just put my whole life upside 78 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:26,760 down because I went to live in Barcelona, which is where the team was and which is where 79 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:31,720 I could progress because there were other 470 sailors there. Had I stayed in my hometown, 80 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:35,040 I wouldn't have progressed. You need to know what other people are doing. And so yeah, 81 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:41,720 I progressed quite rapidly. I won the trials to go to the Silver 88 Games. And the big 82 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:47,160 setback was that I was left at home. When the list came out of who was going quite unexpectedly, 83 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:51,840 my name was not on the list. And this was a real letdown. I gave up sailing for some 84 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:56,480 months and I was really upset and so on. And I always say it was the biggest letdown I 85 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:01,720 had in my sporting career. Then after a few months, I thought, well, my dream was to go 86 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:06,680 to the Games. It's still possible. And the next games are even in my home country. So 87 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:11,080 let's go back with a stronger mentality. I recognized that that setback really made 88 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:15,720 me a lot stronger. And the mentality from there on was like, okay, you're not going 89 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:21,040 to win. You're really going to battle all the statistics kind of mentality. And yeah, 90 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:23,040 that's basically what I did. 91 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:29,520 It literally is what you did at home in the 1992 Olympics. You took home gold. 92 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:35,520 That's right. I took home gold in 1992. Yeah, that's right. And then I continued four years 93 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:41,280 later, four years on, and I went to Atlanta in 1996. And I took gold again. And then I 94 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:47,680 was deciding whether I wanted to continue and go to Sydney 2000. And I was a mum after 95 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:52,960 Atlanta. So my daughter was born in 97 Olympia. And then I went back into sailing and I returned 96 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:57,440 to all the route, a year, and then Blake and all the big regattas. And yeah, I was really 97 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:02,240 happier of how I was performing because I saw that I was comfortable in the boat again. 98 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:06,400 And you know, in the end of the 90s, there weren't that many women that had been mums 99 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:11,400 and gone back into high level sport. So there was always like this question mark of, will 100 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:16,680 I manage to go back to my previous level? And I could see that yes, I was there. But 101 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:22,280 in Spain, we have a very sort of difficult system to be able to get any kind of help, 102 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:26,840 you know, financial help. And you have to be in the first eight in the world championships 103 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:31,960 to secure your financial help for the next year. So I had financial help for the year 104 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:37,240 that I went back because I had won gold in Atlanta. But then that year, I had to be in 105 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:42,040 the first eight. And I was ninth in the world championships by one point. And so yeah, it 106 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:47,840 was quite an interesting set up of events, because people started saying, well, they're 107 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,600 not going to take your financial help away because you're the only Spanish athlete with 108 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:56,640 two gold medals. And so I said, yeah, but we've been fighting for many years so that 109 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:02,240 a woman can be a mom or a man can, you know, be injured and not have the financial help 110 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:06,560 taken away. And this was something that we've been working on for quite a few years. So 111 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:11,720 when my issue came up, it was quite a big debate all around the country of what was 112 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,720 going to happen. And in the end, after two, three months, they sort of came back and said, 113 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:21,080 well, okay, we're going to make an exception with you. They said to me and so I turned 114 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:26,240 around and said, no, I don't want an exception. I want all athletes to be able to have the 115 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:30,680 same privileges, which I don't really even think as a privilege. I mean, if you can't 116 00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:35,720 go sailing because you're injured or you're a mom, I think we have to take this into account. 117 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:39,880 And it wasn't going to be taken into account. So in the end, I said, right, well, then if 118 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:44,200 this isn't going to be taken into account, I'm going to quit thinking that, you know, 119 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:48,560 they would sort of turn around and say, well, no, let's take it into account for everybody. 120 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:53,640 And it didn't happen. And so I ended up quitting. And it was, you know, a bit of a weird way 121 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:59,440 of quitting, to be honest. But I always say that a person has to have a goal in mind. And 122 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:04,760 as soon as I quit it from sailing, my daughter was one. And I decided I wanted to spend more 123 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:12,080 time with her. So I did. And I started setting up the foundation that is now 25 years old, 124 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:16,760 to be able to take care of the seas and to be able to sort of everything that I learned 125 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:22,720 during 20 years of going out sailing just about every day. I always say it's like going 126 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:27,920 to the cinema and having the first row seat in a film that the other people don't even 127 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:32,400 get to go to the cinema. The experience I had and what I'd seen, I had to share it with 128 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:36,960 everybody else to raise awareness that our seas are in danger and that we have to do 129 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:37,960 something about it. 130 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:42,120 Firstly, it takes exceptional courage, you know, back in the first instance, in the late 131 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:45,760 80s, when you mentioned about not being on the list of the Olympics, you know, it takes 132 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:49,880 a lot of courage to keep going because I think it's a very easy point. It's easy. It's actually 133 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:54,160 a very difficult point at times where many would drop out and say, okay, I'm not good 134 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:58,320 enough, I need to find something else. So that's testament to your resilience in that 135 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:03,000 sense to keep going. And ultimately, you then, I mean, it's almost poetic that, you know, 136 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:08,440 the doors open for the 470 in the Olympics, and that you were able to enter it. It was 137 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:14,000 at home and take home gold. It's almost everything's aligning. I mean, it really is quite special 138 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:18,800 and well deserved, obviously. But I appreciate it's fascinating to listen to you talking 139 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:22,320 about, you know, the circumstance by which you have Olympia, you've got this one year 140 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,880 old daughter, you're a professional sailor top of your game. And it's a conversation 141 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,800 that we're still having. And I won't mention names, but there's obviously two recent examples 142 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:36,360 whereby exceptional female sailors, optional sailors in this instance have been somewhat 143 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:40,960 penalised or otherwise by virtue of having become mothers. So it's a great pity that 144 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:44,640 it's something that still exists within our industry as in lots of industries. But the 145 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:49,560 fact that you turn this into a purpose and you mentioned a sort of new vision and new 146 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:55,000 goals with something quite exceptional. What was it about the foundation? What was the 147 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,760 sort of inception you mentioned having, you know, the front row seat, I understand you're 148 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:03,280 on the water, you're seeing the ocean, you're appreciating the ocean daily. How did that 149 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:08,280 translate into setting up a foundation? And what have been your vision and goals for the 150 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:09,280 E.K. Mar foundation? 151 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:14,400 Well, when I was a young girl, I remember going out to see one day in my hometown. And 152 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:18,320 there was a river that sort of came down into the sea quite close to where our sailing club 153 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:22,760 was. And it had rained heavily because in the south of Spain, when it rains, it pours 154 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:27,600 down. And so many things that were in this river ended up in the sea. And we went out 155 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:32,120 sailing and there was things floating everywhere. And it was like, what is all this doing here? 156 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:36,360 So when I went back into the club, I started asking all the adults, did you see that this 157 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:40,560 and that and that were floating? And they sort of looked at me saying, yes, you know, 158 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:46,320 as usual. And I said, well, where does it come from? And the truth is that many years 159 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:53,040 ago, I mean, we're talking of 1980 or end of the 70s, 40 something years ago, we used 160 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:57,400 to dispose lots of things into nature. And that's the truth. And we didn't do it, trying 161 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:02,680 to harm anything. It was just the way we acted. And so it was like normal. But I didn't see 162 00:13:02,680 --> 00:13:07,280 it as normal even when I was, I think I was 13 at the time. So I started asking, why doesn't 163 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:11,960 somebody do something about this? And that question of why doesn't somebody do something 164 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:16,840 about this? It just sort of came with me all my sporting career. So when I was coming towards, 165 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:21,000 you know, the end of my sporting career, I started thinking, well, I want to be somebody 166 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:25,520 that does something about this, because there still isn't any somebody around. And that's 167 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:31,240 when I started doing things before I started Ecomar Foundation, to be honest, I started 168 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:36,240 doing things with kids and in sailing clubs and in schools and so on, in a smaller way, 169 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:41,600 they didn't have that much time. And so when I decided to finish my sporting career and 170 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:46,000 you know, not continue in Olympic sailing, I came to live in Madrid, because that's where 171 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,600 my husband's work was. I mean, Madrid isn't the best place for sailing or for going to 172 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:54,280 the sea anyhow, because the closest spot is about 300 kilometers away. And so I thought, 173 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:59,880 well, it's also a way of staying engaged and connected to the sea in our way. And so that's 174 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:04,800 when I decided, okay, I'm going to start a foundation. It's not going to have my name, 175 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:09,480 the foundation, because many athletes, they start a foundation with their own name. And 176 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:13,760 basically it's to continue their legacy issue, we could say. I mean, here in Spain, we have 177 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:19,000 the Rafael Nadal Foundation or Paul Gasol, you know, the incredible sportsmen. But my 178 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:24,240 intention was, okay, I'm going to start this, but then maybe somebody else will get the relay 179 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:29,640 in a few years. And we can be quite a few people sort of pulling this cart along. So 180 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:34,960 it was like a generic name. And yeah, I do have athletes that sort of lend us their support 181 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:39,120 and do things with us. But it's true also that I've been sort of the, you know, the 182 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,560 visible head of this for the last 25 years. 183 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:47,160 And in terms of you work a lot on sort of education and young people and sort of children, 184 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:52,640 what's it about that sort of generation and grouping of let's argue, just demographic, 185 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:57,480 that's so important to helping achieve our visions for cleaner, healthier seas? 186 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:02,360 When you want to change the way people think, which is what we have to do because adults 187 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:06,320 or people, you know, my parents, for example, went to tool conscious that the seas were 188 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:11,440 in any danger, even the people from my generation basically weren't, you've got to go and work 189 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:16,400 with people that are receptive. And the most receptive people that we have on this planet, 190 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:21,960 children, and between sort of nine, 12 years of age is when they're most receptive. I'd 191 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:27,440 spoken about this a lot with teachers and people that sort of worked in this kind of 192 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:32,920 area. And so we decided to work with children at the moment in a coma, we have like four 193 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:38,720 main pillars of in which we act. One of them is in schools. And in fact, now all the information 194 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:42,960 that because that was the first pillar that we started, all the information that we did 195 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:47,960 in schools for the last 25 years, it's now on a digital platform. And you know, the children 196 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:53,160 can just go in with their school, go through the sort of 10 step course and know about 197 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:58,320 what are our oceans giving us. I mean, I think there are two things that are very important. 198 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:02,480 One is to be conscious that there's a problem. Because if you're not conscious, if you're 199 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,840 not aware that there's a problem, you're not going to try and find a solution. It's not 200 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:11,120 necessary. So that's step number one. And then step number two is why are our seas and 201 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:16,120 oceans important to us? Many people still aren't aware that more than 50% of the oxygen we're 202 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,960 breathing come from there. So, you know, lots of times when I speak with kids and so on, 203 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:24,680 and I say, Well, have you ever tried breathing half the amount that you're breathing? And 204 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:29,360 they sort of look at you and say, Well, obviously, no, I was asthmatic when I was a kid. So I 205 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:34,480 have had these issues where I had the sensation I was breathing less than what I needed to 206 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:39,520 breathe. And it's not nice. It's something that you definitely want to avoid. So we say, 207 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:44,320 Okay, well, if you want to go into that situation, let's continue as we're doing now, because 208 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:49,880 we're going to completely rot our seas in the next years, decades or whenever. And we 209 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:53,680 have a great example here in Spain, because I don't know if you know the Mad Menor, it's 210 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:59,040 like a very small part of the sea that's actually closed in, it just has a small entrance, it's 211 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:04,160 not a lake because it does connect with the Mediterranean Sea. And it's on the east coast 212 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:09,320 of Spain. And it's really a beautiful place that has been completely destroyed. It's a 213 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:14,440 big agricultural area close to that. And whenever it rains, everything just goes into the sea. 214 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:19,200 And it's just basically killed the sea. So that is the example of what will happen in 215 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:24,000 the Mediterranean in a few years, if we don't change. And so we always speak about this. 216 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:29,360 So anyhow, going back to our four pillars, we have the education, then we have a program 217 00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:35,200 that is like called Green Pole Icomar, Green Pole means purgy in English. Okay, so we have 218 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:40,360 this, we started with sailing schools, but now we're also in surf diving and all the 219 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:47,360 sports that are related to the water. And what we do is that we deliver them all the 220 00:17:47,360 --> 00:17:52,520 equipment they need, including a logbook, et cetera, and all the videos, a process of 221 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:57,760 how to go through. And we do meetings with all the teachers that are in these sailing 222 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:03,600 schools so that they can do workshops with the kids, also explaining them, okay, we're 223 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:07,360 going out to see what does the sea give us? What are we giving it back? What do we have 224 00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:12,320 to do? What do we have to change basically? And these workshops change every year around 225 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:18,240 so that kids don't sort of look at you and say, I've already done that. So we go changing 226 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:24,400 them yearly. And we're now about 120 schools all over the country, most of them on the 227 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:31,240 coast, evidently, some inland and on lakes. And we're also in Portugal. And we have 15,000 228 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:35,600 children in every summer going through this program that we have. Then our third program 229 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:42,000 is beach cleanups. So we go to many beaches. Our team goes to about 70 a year, and we 230 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:46,720 clean up the beaches. And we do this with kids from sailing schools, from schools. But we 231 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:50,800 also do it with adults. One of the things that we've done over the past years that we've 232 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:55,720 really grown this in the sense of corporate volunteering, because it's a great way to get 233 00:18:55,720 --> 00:19:00,480 the adults instead of spending their time on other issues in corporate volunteering, 234 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:05,160 coming and cleaning our beach and definitely learning what's important about our beaches. 235 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:09,880 Because again, the adults still aren't aware of what the sea is giving us. So every time 236 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:14,360 we go to a beach, and we maybe will collect a tonne and a half of trash, which is important. 237 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:18,200 But we always say the most important thing is that they've learned things today that 238 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,680 they're going to take home. And that's really the key. We always start with a masterclass 239 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:26,240 and we start speaking about, okay, we're going to find things like this, and we're going 240 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:30,880 to find things like this. Where does this come from? Why does it appear here? Should 241 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:34,880 never I mean, for example, you know, earbuds, why earbuds on the beach? We don't go to the 242 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:40,080 beach to clean our ears. Why are they there? So people get to understand the process. And 243 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:44,560 then we start speaking more about the materials that are used in all these things. For example, 244 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:48,440 a plastic bottle. Where does the plastic bottle come from? Everyone says the supermarket. 245 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:53,040 Yeah, but before that, where does it come from? How is this made? So we start speaking 246 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:58,000 about circular economy and how our resources are finite. And if we don't change, we're 247 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:02,920 going to run out. So we sort of do a global vision of the whole problem. And then we have 248 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:07,760 a fourth pillar, which I absolutely adore, which is scientific projects. Now we don't 249 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:14,160 do these alone. We have to do these in liaison with other associations, foundations, etc. 250 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:18,280 And we've done quite a few over the past, which are a really interesting one that didn't 251 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:24,280 get much feedback because it coincided with COVID. But all around the western part of 252 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:29,600 the Mediterranean, we went with a boat sailing around and we were getting pieces of water 253 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:33,840 out of the water column. And all of this has been analyzed to see what kind of chemical 254 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:39,080 contaminants exist in different parts of the med. And we compared where the rivers come 255 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:44,240 out to other parts in between. And it's really, really interesting. And we shared this with 256 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:49,120 all of the scientific community. And now we're in one that we've been working on for five 257 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:55,240 years and that hopefully this year will actually be under the water doing it, which is replanting 258 00:20:55,240 --> 00:21:00,440 marine plants in the Mediterranean. And that's going to really make a difference of the quality 259 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:01,440 of our waters. 260 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:06,520 The fact that you also placed on the Mediterranean is also quite poignant given that it's one 261 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:10,840 of the most popular boating sailing hotspots on the planet. I mean, for a good reason, 262 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:17,320 it's such a great mix of weather and wind, a lot of the time or lack thereof, and just 263 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:21,240 the scenery and the environment. But appreciating that it is one of the most polluted seas in 264 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:26,640 the world, if not the most overture it being captive, as you pointed out, what has been 265 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:31,720 probably the most alarming statistic or shocking statistic that you've learned in your time 266 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:33,200 about the health of our oceans? 267 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,880 Well, one of the things that I think is quite shocking and that we're still not really 268 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:41,600 talking about too much is the nano plastics. Okay, we've gone through plastics in our ocean, 269 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:45,000 then we've gone through micro plastics in our ocean. And there's tons of studies about 270 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:49,400 this and all the regattas, you know, around the world and so on, there's throwing nets 271 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:55,400 and getting samples and so on and so on. But there's so many pieces of plastic in our ocean 272 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:59,720 that are not collected in any net and that we're throwing it there every day. For example, 273 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:04,320 we're also working on another project that we're working with one of the major Korean 274 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:08,800 washing machine companies of having filters that are actually embedded into the washing 275 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:12,600 machine. And this is something that we've been working on for about 10 years, all the 276 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:17,360 studies of what happens when we wash our clothes. Every time we wash our clothes, we're throwing 277 00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:22,360 nano plastics into the ocean. And that's what we're eating, because you cannot collect them. 278 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:26,800 If you throw a plastic bottle into the ocean, well, hopefully it can be collected. This 279 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:32,520 cannot. There's no net that actually collects it up. And it's on our plate every day. And 280 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:36,640 that's why we're eating a credit card of plastic every week, because this is a reality. No 281 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:42,360 one discusses this anymore. And we have plastic in our blood, in our organs, in our body, 282 00:22:42,360 --> 00:22:49,720 in our skin. It's everywhere. And I'm on the board of a foundation that we tackle autism. 283 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:55,240 And there's studies now in the US that autism in kids that has grown exponentially over 284 00:22:55,240 --> 00:23:00,920 the last years is directly related to plastic. So I'm not against plastic. I think plastic 285 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:07,160 has brought many advantages to our lives, but I'm against the use of many types of plastic 286 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:11,480 and the disposal and the lack of recycling and all the like you said, plastic is fundamentally 287 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:16,760 revolutionized society. We build our boats to medical equipment, like you said, the cotton 288 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,320 buds that unfortunately we're finding on the beach. But appreciating, you know, whether 289 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:25,400 it's a single use type of plastic or whether it's the fact that we haven't really a significant 290 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:31,080 formal recycling capacity globally for plastic. And everything that we believe we recycle 291 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,520 goes into a bin actually the majority of it doesn't actually get recycled at the end and 292 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:38,920 does end up in landfill. So it's a complex issue, but it's still probably one of the 293 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:44,520 biggest proponents of environmental pollution for sure in our waters. In contradiction to 294 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:49,840 that, what's probably the most exciting, positively surprising statistic that you've come across 295 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:51,080 in your time? 296 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:55,720 I think the amount of people that are actually now engaged with the problem. I was in a school 297 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:59,560 last week and it was absolutely amazing. I don't think I've ever been so amazed at a 298 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:04,080 school. This is a school that's on the coast of Spain, near where this small sea that is 299 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:08,920 completely polluted is, it's a school close to there. And the engagement of the teachers 300 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:13,800 and the kids was absolutely incredible because they've been working on for the last years 301 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:18,800 to find ways and they're doing it with sort of sponges that they collect and new furs 302 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:23,000 and all this kind of stuff of sowing them together. And we can put it here where the 303 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:27,640 agricultural water enters the sea and this will absorb, you know, the phosphates and 304 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:33,160 so on. But we're talking about they do this with 12, 14 year old kids. And when I saw 305 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:38,480 that the actual level that they'd reached and what they'd done, it's obviously a way 306 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:43,560 of saying when these kids are adults, not all of them obviously, but lots of them will 307 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,880 probably be involved with finding solutions to these problems. And that's what we need. 308 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:51,520 We need people that actually, you know, come aboard and say, right, I'm going to work for 309 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:53,920 this because this is really important for society. 310 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:58,520 I think it's like you said, sort of young people and children are, they are magic. In 311 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:04,480 my experience, there is something so fundamentally exciting about working with minds who still 312 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:09,280 see things differently. Almost the cynicism hasn't crept in and the kind of risk mentality 313 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:15,120 hasn't crept into such a great degree. So there is something very still fresh and creative 314 00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:18,320 and imaginative about perhaps the way they think about things. Again, not all of them, 315 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:22,440 I appreciate, but I do hope that we foster enough of it that we can build, you know, 316 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:26,160 the society of tomorrow with those kind of young minds. And Theresa, given that you are 317 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:30,880 a sailor, what would be your one ask of sailors globally, given that we can be very natural 318 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:35,600 ambassadors for our waters because we use them? What would be your ask? 319 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,680 I think we have to spread the message. We have to spread the message. There are so many 320 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:44,080 people that don't know about the challenges that our oceans are facing. And we really 321 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:49,120 need to tell them about it. Because as I said before, if you don't know there's a problem, 322 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:52,320 you're never going to try and find a solution. And this is something that we really have 323 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:58,040 to work on. And sailing is a great sport, you know, we just go with the wind and we 324 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:02,320 don't contaminate while we're sailing. And another thing that I'm working on from a 325 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:08,640 Comad Foundation and also on the board of all sailing trust is the circularity of the 326 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:13,400 materials that we use. Because we have a big problem here in Spain that fiberglass is not 327 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:18,400 recycled and it's not accepted anywhere. You know, when you go to the sort of green points 328 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:23,200 where you can take used oil and so on and so on, they don't accept fiberglass. So where 329 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,240 do you throw it? And it ends up in nature. And this is something that we really need 330 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:33,840 to be able to use materials that can then have a second life or will not end up contaminating 331 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:35,480 nature when they finish. 332 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:40,320 And it leads on to my next question, which was then what would your ask be of the wider 333 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:44,920 marine industry itself? Would that again be around circularity and spreading the message 334 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:49,160 and just inspiring and educating our industry more broadly on the topics and how we can 335 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:50,160 change? 336 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:54,200 Yeah, I think circularity is part of the future. I mean, when you buy a car or when you buy 337 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:58,320 a washing machine, you're paying a certain amount of money when you're buying it to take 338 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:02,600 care of that equipment at the end of life. And in boating, we're not doing this. And 339 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:07,400 so part of it is legislation. It needs to be legislated so that everybody when they buy 340 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:11,240 a boat, they're taken care of what's going to happen to that boat when you finished, 341 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:16,520 you know, when it's not able to sail anymore. And then also invest, it's already known 342 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:23,080 how it can be recycled. This is done. People have done it. But now it needs to be implemented. 343 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:27,120 And you cannot implement it if we're not all on the same page. So I think we all need to 344 00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:28,960 jump onto the same page and make it happen. 345 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:32,680 And it's implementing it at scale, like you said, there are pockets. And it's time that 346 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:33,680 we join them all together. 347 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:34,680 That's right. 348 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:39,240 Teresa, I can only thank you for joining me today for this conversation. It's been an 349 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:45,120 absolute pleasure, not least because of your renowned and inspiring sailing history, also 350 00:27:45,120 --> 00:27:49,920 as a mother, but also obviously as an activist for our oceans and what we're trying to achieve 351 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:54,360 with conservation. So thank you so much for your time. I wish you all the very best with 352 00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:56,560 the Ecomar Foundation. Take care. 353 00:27:56,560 --> 00:27:59,640 Thank you, Holly. It's been a real pleasure to be here speaking with you and to spread 354 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:04,120 the message. And let's hope we have more and more people joining us on this journey, which 355 00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:10,440 is a really fantastic journey. 356 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:14,480 You've been listening to the Clean Sailors podcast. All relevant links to the projects 357 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:18,960 and people we talk to can be found with the podcast link for all episodes or to get in 358 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:24,080 touch. Just visit CleanSailors.com. We love to hear from you. We believe that great ideas 359 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:28,840 should be shared, which is why our podcast is free to appear on. So if you've got a project, 360 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:33,360 idea or topic you think we should be discussing, get in touch. 361 00:28:33,360 --> 00:28:36,920 In the meantime, thank you for listening and see you for the next episode.