Sailors for the Sea, Cruising Club of America team up to protect ocean

by Hilary Kotoun on 27 Feb 2015 Sailors for the Sea and Cruising Club of America will work together to encourage sailors to become stewards of the ocean. Sailors for the Sea, a leading conservation organization that engages, educates, inspires and activates the sailing and boating community toward healing the ocean, will partner with the Cruising Club of America (CCA), an international organization of over 1,300 sailors who voyage the oceans for adventure and recreation, to further both organizations’ commitment to protect the ocean.

This collaboration will build upon Sailors for the Sea’s Clean Regattas program, the world’s only sustainability certification for water-based events and CCA’s 'Leave No Trace' paper on dealing with trash at sea. This includes the work of both organizations during the 2012 and 2014 Newport Bermuda Races, which were certified as Silver and Gold Level Clean Regattas, respectively, and research into how the organizations might effectively encourage the reduction of single-use plastic bottles by sailors.

'I am very excited to collaborate with the CCA to further engage an amazing and passionate group of sailors to protect the ocean', noted R. Mark Davis, president of Sailors for the Sea. 'Their members have an amazing breadth of sailing experience and have experienced life at sea from all around the world. Their commitment to superior seamanship goes hand-in-hand with our passion for ocean conservation.'

'The CCA is committed to stewardship of the oceans and this collaboration with Sailors for the Sea will help us further this commitment. We are particularly concerned with the serious threat of marine debris and have worked with members to adopt a leave-no-trace approach to dealing with trash while at sea', noted Tad Lhamon, Commodore of the Cruising Club of America.