Greta Thunberg arrives in New York after 14 days crossing the Atlantic aboard Malizia II
by Isabelle Andrieux 29 Aug 2019 16:04 AEST
28 August 2019
Team Malizia and Greta Thunberg arrival in NYC © Jen Edney
The racing sailboat Malizia II with Pierre Casiraghi, founder of Team Malizia and sailor Boris Herrmann, arrived Wednesday in the bay of New York with Greta Thunberg on board.
After 14 days at sea, the IMOCA 60' crew sailed up the Hudson River, tired but buoyed up by the satisfaction of a job well done. The boat faced complex weather conditions with no less than six depressions, winds up to 30 knots, several cold fronts and rough seas in the Gulf Stream with troughs several metres deep at times. Designed for racing, Malizia demonstrated her potential, reaching speeds up to 30 knots. The average speed was 11.2 knots for the 3,711 nautical mile trip completed in 13 days and 18 hours from Plymouth via the Lizard on the Cornish coast to the Ambrose lighthouse.
"I am full of praise for Greta's courage and determination; her attitude on board Malizia II was exemplary despite the extreme living conditions. I would like to thank everyone in the Malizia team and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. It was a very emotional moment sailing past the Statue of Liberty, and I thank everyone for all the support we received during this amazing adventure crossing the Atlantic," said Pierre Casiraghi, Vice-President of the Yacht Club de Monaco on his arrival in New York.
"We are proud to have had the opportunity to bring Greta across the Atlantic emission-free and safely. Her mission to highlight the climate change crisis is very much in line with the Malizia Ocean Challenge where we work with scientists and are actively involved with educating young people. The mood was very good on board all the time and nobody felt really seasick. Greta as a non-sailor before this trip kept up very well in all conditions and I would say she's quite an offshore sailor now. We had some very constructive and interesting discussions, all five crew together, often about the oceans and their role as a CO2 sink, as well as on other topics about nature and the climate. I wish Greta all the best for her actions, strikes and speeches in America. We will go back to our racing programme to prepare for the Transat Jaques Vabre later this year and the main goal, the Vendee Globe in 2020," said the German Skipper Boris Herrmann.
The young Swedish girl, a symbol of the battle against climate change and accompanied by her father Svante Thunberg and filmmaker Nathan Grossman, has just completed her first Atlantic crossing to take part in the United Nations Climate Action Summit organised by UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, in New York on 23rd September.