Jack continues his round Britian sail to raise funds for MCS
Canadian sailor Jack Lee is continuing his circumnavigation of the UK coast to raise money for MCS.
Jack, who set sail from St Katherine’s Dock over the Easter weekend, expects to finish his 3,000 nm journey in early July. He’s currently off the west coast of Scotland where the changing weather has led to towering swells followed by calm seas.
On his travels Jack has spotted a dolphin pod off the Scilly Isles, climbed to the top of his mast in calm seas off the Welsh coast, saw hundreds of puffins on Puffin Island, and the abandoned lighthouses on the Calf of Man.
Jack also managed to organise a beach clean - here's his story on the event:
"Knowing the great work the Marine Conservation Society is doing through their beach cleaning program I decided to take action. I contacted MCS and with their help and the local BBC, organized a beach cleaning party to help with the collection of rubbish. A few days later a group of us – Jen, Martin,Tes & myself – met at the ferry and set out on a mission!
We donned our gloves and got stuck in, spending about 3 hours combing the small beach for bits of refuse. In total we managed to bag five industrial sized garbage bags that we organized to have picked up by dingy (thanks Karen!) and brought to the dump.
I would love to say that the clean was a great success and that we managed to rid the beach of garbage, but the reality of it is that the majority of the plastics had been broken down to pellet size shapes that were almost indistinguishable from the sand and stone on the beach. If we keep using the ocean as a giant trash can, all of our beaches are going to turn out just like this little ‘paradise’ – littered with our waste and robbed of its natural brilliance.
A special thanks to Jen, Martin, Tess, Karen, MCS and the BBC for your help."
He’s also managed to steer his 50’ Bavaria boat, Bonobo through the Gulf of Corryvreckan without incident. The area is renowned for having the 3rd largest whirlpool in the world and waves of over 30ft in flood tides!
Many of the places that Jack is sailing through are areas that MCS is recommending should become marine protected areas by 2012 – to ensure that habitats and rare and vulnerable species are protected. You can vote for these sites or suggest your own here
You can follow Jack’s daily blog here and help him raise funds for MCS by visiting his giving page here
