Historic race, new standards: Team Spirit of Adelaide become first Ocean Globe Race entrant to commit to cleaner sailing
Team Spirit of Adelaide has been the first entrant of the Ocean Globe Race 2023 to commit to raising awareness of ocean conservation by partnering with Clean Sailors.
Team Spirit are sailing Outlaw, a Baltic 55 sailing yacht, originally built for the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1985/6 and, despite her remarkable age, is being renovated for absolute seaworthiness, ready to carry her full crew of sailors the 27,000 mile-circumnavigation of our globe.
The Crew are doing so in the name of Clean Sailors and clean sailing, to raise awareness of ocean conservation within our global sailing community. Spirit of Adelaide’s partnership with Clean Sailors will see the boat be painstakingly renovated, victualed, run and maintained with the highest regard paid to the health of our most important ecosystem - our ocean.
The Spirit of Adelaide Crew, which includes Skipper and two-time Clipper sailor, Campbell Mackie, as well as Clipper Race skipper, Mike Miller, were keen to raise awareness of cleaner sailing and to educate on the opportunities of reusing, upcycling, refitting, recycling and renovating their vessel with the environment in mind.
Through their partnership, Clean Sailors and the Spirit of Adelaide crew are aiming to demonstrate a successful clean sailing case study without compromising on the performance of the yacht.
Skipper, Campbell Mackie, comments:
“The oceans of the world are our special place and we care about their health. Our partnership with Clean Sailors will teach us how to make better ocean-safe choices. We are proud to be the first OGR team to partner with Clean Sailors and to use the opportunity to raise awareness of, and demonstrate, viable solutions.”
“The Ocean Globe Race represents one of the most adventurous team journeys there is on our planet, traversing the 27,000 miles of our great global waters. As sailors, our waters are our passion and playground, and we are super excited to be joining our friends, the Spirit of Adelaide crew, to promote ocean health and to showcase opportunities for cleaner sailing.” says Holly Manvell, founder of Clean Sailors.
About the Ocean Globe Race
The Ocean Globe Race (OGR) is a fully crewed retro race in the spirit of the 1973 Whitbread Round the World Race. It marks the 50th anniversary of the original event.
It’s an eight-month adventure around the world for ordinary sailors on normal yachts. Racing ocean-going GRP production yachts designed before 1988, there will be no computers, no satellites, no GPS, and no high-tech materials. Sextants, team spirit and raw determination alone in the great traditions of ocean racing are allowed on this truly human endeavor. These will be real heroes pushing each other to the limit and beyond – in a real race!
About Spirit of Adelaide and sailing yacht ‘Outlaw’
The Spirit of Adelaide crew is Skippered by two-time Clipper sailor, Campbell Mackie, with renowned Clipper Race skipper, Mike Miller, as First Mate. Together they will be leading their Crew in sailing yacht, ‘Outlaw’, around the 27-000 round-the-world Ocean Globe Race in 2023. Outlaw is a Baltic 55 sailing yacht originally built for the 1985/86 Whitbread RTW Race. She competed under the name ‘Equity and Law’. Built in Finland back in 1984 to a Douglas Peterson design and Lloyds of London specification, Outlaw is in a remarkable condition considering her age and the crew feel confident in her ability to carry them safely around the world.
About Clean Sailors
Clean Sailors is a not-for-profit, mobilising the global sailing community in conservation of our oceans. Launched in July 2020, Clean Sailors' mission is to set a new standard of sailing within our global sailing community: clean sailing, by raising awareness of ocean conservation opportunities within our sport, our passion, our pastime.
The crew's aim is to make an ocean ambassador out of each and every sailor around the world, and Clean Sailor’s already counts three-time world champion and four-time Paralympian Hannah Stodel, as well as CJ Perez, the youngest ever sailor to join the SailGP league, as ambassadors to their cause.
In 2021, Clean Sailors launched Cleaner Marina with industry partners including boatfolk, MDL Marinas, savvy navvy and Ecoworks Marine, to encourage better, cleaner standards across marinas, ports and harbours, globally.
In January 2022, Clean Sailors announced the launch of the Clean Sailors Youth Racing Team with three international Champion sailors; CJ Perez (18), the youngest sailor ever to join the SailGP league and the first latina, Lukas Hesse (22), German Champion 2020 and Swiss sailor Jann Schüpbach (20). 2022 will see the exceptional young champions compete together in the Persico 69F, at the very highest standard of foiling and as ambassadors for cleaner, healthier seas and a cleaner sailing industry.