Greta Thunberg is set to head into a stormy Atlantic Wednesday on board the "Malizia II," a no-comfort, high-tech ocean racer skippered by a champion yachtsman and a member of Monaco's royal family.
Sixteen-year-old Thunberg — who has long refused to fly due to planes' carbon emissions — is setting sail on a zero-emissions yacht to New York for a UN climate summit.
The Fridays for Future star's voyage is skippered by round-the-world sailor Boris Herrmann from Hamburg and Pierre Casiraghi, the grandson of Monaco's late Princess Grace Kelly.
Critics will find fault with its 18-meter-long, carbon-fiber hull — derived from oil — but otherwise relies on its sails and autopilot, hydrofoils for underwater dynamics, a solar panel and water-driven turbines for electricity.
A mandatory diesel motor is sealed away for emergencies.
Dozens of Offers
Thunberg announced mid-June that she had no intention of flying to avoid the "enormous climate" costs of aviation, and soon after she received dozens of trans-Atlantic sailing offers, deciding on "Malizia."
The 16-year-old plans on September 23 to attend a New York "climate action" summit called by UN Chief Antonio Guterres.
Deafening Hull Acoustics
At 15 knots, every wave resounds deafeningly through the hull and can toss crew off balance. On deck safety lines are essential, reported the German Jacht magazine. In the pantry is merely a gas cooker.
Herrmann, who in 2015 sailed heat-thawed Arctic waters and helps run a climate-awareness sailing program for school pupils, said the exact route to New York depended on avoiding the Atlantic's equatorial hurricane season.
"Perhaps we'll sail northerly around one of other lows (air pressure zones)," said Herrmann
"I can imagine that because of her impressive understanding of climate issues she'll bring a strong curiosity for the weather and navigation," he added.
Also due on board were Thunberg's father and actor Svente, and Norwegian filmmaker Nathan Grossman.
Ocean Novice
At a Plymouth dockside briefing last Sunday, Herrmann said Thunberg had assured him she was upbeat despite being a maritime novice, the risk of seasickness and spartan equipment.
To his question whether she was scared, she answered with a "clear no," said Herrmann, who yacht at top speed does 25 knots (46 kilometers per hour).
Efforts "Fading," Warns Guterres
While visiting worried low-lying Pacific island nations in May, UN chief Guterres decried "fading" efforts to keep global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius as agreed in the UN's 2015 Paris agreement — and aimed a net-zero emissions by 2050.
Already, the planet's surface has warmed by 1 degree on average since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century.
Passenger Ship Demise
Upwards of 2,500 flights take place daily across the Atlantic, with each one-way trip estimated to emit about one ton of carbon dioxide per passenger.
In some 50 countries — from Burundi in Africa to Paraguay in South America — the average resident emits less carbon dioxide in a whole year.
Compared to mainstream trans-Atlantic crossings that brought migrants to the Americas in the 19th century, passenger shipping was overtaken in the 1950s by jetliners.
The few current maritime passenger alternatives across the Atlantic are the luxurious Queen Mary II and several hundred container and cargo ships that carry but only handfuls of paying passengers.
Reposted with permission from our media associate Deutsche Welle.
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