Clean Regattas at the International Rolex Regatta

Congratulations to the 39th annual International Rolex Regatta hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club for being certified as a Clean Regatta.

2012 marks the 39^th year of the International Rolex Regatta with exciting racing and opportunities for every sailor, with beach cats, IC24’s all the way up to the IRC class.

The St. Thomas Yacht Club faces a unique set of challenges when planning to run a Clean Regatta. Much like the island of St. Maarten, St. Thomas does not have recycling and the tap water is not drinkable. Regatta organizers at the St. Thomas Yacht Club focused on reduction of waste and reusing items to reduce the events environmental impact.

Check out our slideshow to see the best practices in action. 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Best practices included:

• A green team cleaning the beach everyday.
• Trashcans were placed all over the beach and club to reduce party debris from blowing into the ocean.
• Lunch waste and was reduced from previous years and better materials such as tinfoil were used instead of saran wrap.
• Lunch bags are reused and made from recycled material, lunches were distributed in reused cardboard boxes.
• Almost every night dinner was served on recyceld paper plates rather than plastic.
• St. Thomas Yacht Club recycles all of their cooking oil for use as bio-diesel.
• They also use biodegradable detergents.
• Organizers reduced waste created from cases of water by purchasing bottles in crates that are reusable, and taken back to the distributor. This is instead of purchasing a normal case of water that is wrapped in plastic with a cardboard bottom, all items that would end up in the land fill.
• The USVI’s has its first pump out boat; race boats with heads on board were encouraged to use this service.  Congrats to the boat Bermuda High for being the first boat to use the pump out station at the Rolex Regatta!

In such a beautiful location it is truly inspiring to see sailors changing their habits to help protect the ocean. We would like to thank the race organizers for their hard work and creative thinking to find ways that they could reduce the regattas impact on the environment.

A special thanks to the U.S. Virgin Islands department of tourism for hosting Sailors for the Sea.