Finn sailors at the Finn European Championship in Athens took time out of their intense preparations this week to help clean up the marina at the Athens International Sailing Center, ahead of the start of racing next week.
Around 40 sailors and coaches joined the effort to collect a substantial amount of trash. In only about 45 minutes they filled three dumpsters and 15 garbage bags.
Luke Muller, from the USA, who organised the event, said, “There is a lot of trash that collects when the wind blows into the harbour and we managed to get a lot of it out.”
“The guys from the sailing centre here gave us nets to use and some of the locals working on their boats stopped what they were doing to help us clean.”
“It really was something special.”
This follows on from the clean up operation before the Trofeo Princesa Sofia in Palma last month, as part of the #sailors4thesea movement across the Olympic classes in an effort to influence the larger sailing world, and matches the commitment of sailors at the 49er/Nacra Europeans in Weymouth and the 470s in Italy to clear the water and the marinas of trash and plastic waste.
Olympic champion Giles Scott took part in the clean up. He said, “Spending an hour of your time cleaning up rubbish highlights how much there is in the water and we didn’t even really make a dent in it, but it is more about drawing awareness to the problem. So it’s good to get the word out as it’s obviously a massive issue at the moment and a lot of organisations have agreed that change needs to happen.”
Muller concluded, “Actions like this do bring a greater awareness of the problem and we hope it will not only lead to further clean ups but also make everyone more aware of their own impact on a venue and the local environment.”
