Here is a great idea from member Paul Thornton - Operation Beach Clean -

Don’t you think that as cruisers we have a very fortunate position in life? This has always made me think, as a sailor, I should return something for my good fortune. We know the oceans are increasingly polluted with rubbish and especially plastics, this in turn harms wildlife and ultimately reduces dolphins, turtles, albatrosses and the list of beautiful creatures goes on.

One way we can improve on this situation is to reduce plastics and rubbish on our beaches. The idea of beach cleaning, anything from picking up a plastic bag to a beach clean can help. A lot of you already do this, so all we are saying is the power of many makes a big difference. Suppose we pick up a bag of rubbish each time we anchor and take our tenders ashore (caution with sharp objects). This might sound like a drop in the ocean, but if one boat cleaned-up 10 bags of rubbish this year and then everyone you knew did the same then all of a sudden you have 1,000 bags of rubbish removed, if we then promote the campaign with yacht clubs, organisations, social media etc…, then suddenly 1,000,000 bags becomes realistic. If we share this idea with fellow sailors then there is no limit to the contribution we can make. We could ask clubs to nominate beach clean-up organisers and have annual beach clean BBQs.

Share your clean-up activity on the facebook group – Operation Beach Clean - (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1573683352914866/)

We believe a target of a million bags of rubbish removed from the beaches is achievable, every little helps, help the oceans, help marine wildlife, help the planet.

Vice Commodore, OCC