Bluewater helps 52 Super Series Grand Prix put sustainability words in action
by Bluewater 9 Feb 2023 23:47 NZDT
Dockside Bluewater water statios helps keep 52 Super Series crews and support staff safely hydrated with great tasting water while also protecting the oceans from single-use plastic water bottles © Bluewater
The thrilling 2022 edition of the 52 Super Series, the world's leading high-performance monohull circuit that takes place every year at key locations around the Mediterranean and European Atlantic coastlines, not only saw breath-taking completive sailing but also increased effort to create awareness of the threats to marine ecosystems.
Sweden's Bluewater, a world leading water purification and beverage company, helped the sailing grand prix put its sustainability words into action by providing a unique hydration station to help end the need for single-use plastic bottles and to ensure sailors and support staff drank great tasting water as pure as nature intended.
The Bluewater filtration system, placed on site at each of the five 52 Super Series regatta's, proved hugely popular, according to the race organisers and was used by all sailing teams, organisers, and local operatives for their daily drinking water requirements. During the 2022 season over 16,600 litres of purified water was produced locally at source by Bluewater, which translates into having removed the potential need for over 30,000 plastic bottles.
"When Bluewater was founded ten years ago, we enshrined removing the need for single use plastic bottles and their shameful transportation at the very heart of our business mission," said Bluewater founder and CEO Bengt Rittri. He noted how over one million single use plastic bottles are produced every minute, with most ending up in landfill or being dumped in the oceans.
Sustainability was a central pillar of the 52 Super Series 2022 season, which collaborated for the first time with the Spanish multi-sport NGO Kick Out Plastic. The initiative brings together leading exponents from many different sports to speak out with one unified voice to help halt the climate emergency.
The Series tie in with Kick Out Plastic engaged a wider audience, creating an awareness of the threats to our marine ecosystems around the racing venues that the circuit visits in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic Coast - and internationally as the wider threat to the world's oceans are highlighted.
At each of 2022's five venues, the 52 Super Series sought to work with or publicise keynote local initiatives. One example was in Baiona, a fishing community in the province of Pontevedra in Galicia, Spain, which saw the circuit spotlight a project where the local fishing community work to remove debris from fishing nets, most typically plastics and metals, for later repurposing.
The organisers of the Series additionally ran regular information and education seminars for young sailors and water sports users at each venue demonstrating how to make environmentally responsible choices at home or about and about friends. Beach clean ups and a strict recycling policy ensured the 52 Super Series always left venues and towns in a cleaner state, better informed, and more motivated for the future as a positive lasting legacy.
As longtime advocates for sustainable sailing events and leaders by example, in Cascais, Portugal the 52 Super Series became the first major sailing series to be recognised by Sailors for the Sea as running to their Platinum Level Clean Regatta standard. Bluewater has a permanent hydration station installed at the Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Academy (Clube Naval de Cascais) for use by students, staff and the general public.
"We are proud of what we have achieved during 2022 with the 52 Super Series. The messages we deliver highlight the need for individual actions and shared initiatives, and we take our responsibility seriously." said Lars Bocking Sustainability Officer for the circuit.