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What about cruising in the air?

An English company made a Hybrid Air Vehicle. It is like the old Hindenburg, but then filled with Helium, so it cannot explode. The double body makes its nickname, the ‘flying bum’.

The airship lands and lifts off ‘sur place’. That saves a lot of space, compared to an airplane. Also the aire and noise pollution is incomparably much less than an airjet.

You think it is slow? Well it is not fast, but only the two propellors can create a speed of 145 km/hr. It needs relatively such a little energy that this airship is hybrid-electriccally driven. Taken into account that on the right height it floats with the wind, a speed of 250 km on longer ranges is possible.

The one shown here can take 10,000 kilograms on load and make about 4000 miles. It can stay four to five days in the air. But this desigh can change significantly with its purposes.

This airship is developed for mid ranges. You could go from Paris to Vienna or, what the company is arranging now: making luxury cruises from Saint Tropez to a Mediterranian island.

Different cruising

The current jets try to transport as much people as they can, and as fast as you can. We are packed like sardines, under a permanent noise. On a current short or medium range trip, you spend most of the time on the arrival and departure procedures. What about an easy cruise to take a rest from that? Why not wine and dine while you fly? This looks possible with such an airship. It also saves a lot on fuels, because the propeller is way more efficient than the jet. Also, the airship takes more profit from the winds on the different altitudes, because it cruises a longer time on the heights with the following winds. It is a bit like sailing: the winds will bring you to your destination.

This Airlander could also be designed for the long ranges. Then it will be like the old fashioned cruises on cruise ships at sea. You step on board, you lift off, and after a day or so you land in -let’s say- Amsterdam. From there you go to Reykjavik. And from there you go in two or three days to New York. Slow, but comfortable.

a look into the future, check this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjBgEkbnX2I

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Sue’s first impressions

Hello, I am Sue Smith and the newest crew member on S/V Ya – of Fossilfree around the world. My sailing career started when I asked a solo sailor what it was like to do an ocean passage. A few months later I was invited to sail with him in the Canary Islands for three weeks. We didn’t do an ocean passage, but I was hooked on sailing. My first ocean passage was in Patagonia no less, several years later!! I loved it. After that trip I bought my own boat and lived on it in Bermuda. I became a boat owner and all that entailed. But most of all I just loved sitting in the cockpit and feeling the motion of the ocean underneath me. Over the next 20 years, I went on several sailing adventures in different parts of the world. The most notable was on the tall ship “Europa” to the Antarctic and a few neighboring islands. It was the most fascinating trip, the wildlife was amazing, seeing the icebergs and glaciers from the rigging was spectacular. I didn’t think that trip could be surpassed until I met Peter.

I was introduced to Peter Hoefnagels through a mutual friend. I was curious how he could be complete fossil free on a sailboat. I did my research and indeed he had already circumnavigated the world. An amazing accomplishment in it’s self but to have done it fossil free was an added achievement. After several emails and zoom chats, Peter offer me a chance to crew on “Ya’. I jumped at the opportunity. I thought this would be a fantastic way to see and experience sustainable sailing. These are my first impressions after a week on Ya.

When I arrived in Panamarina I was taken out to the boat in a kayak. So the sustainable sailing extends to the transport to and from the boat, not just the sailboat. My upper body strength is definitely going to get a workout on this boat! Even in the dark that first night, I could tell this was special boat. The cockpit is laid out differently than most. The solar panels provide the shade, instead of a canvas Bimini. There was ample space for people to stand in the cockpit. The seating is non conventional arrangement in that that there are two levels of narrow seating. The companionway is wide and low just three steps to the interior, which is spacious and well thought out.

I have the job of cooking onboard. I am familiar with a regular propane and electric stoves. However, Ya has an induction cooker which is far more efficient to heat cookware directly instead of indirectly. Induction is able to deliver roughly 80% to 90% of the electromagnetic energy to food in the pan. Compared to gas which converts a mere 30% to 40%. A pressure cooker is used a lot on board in conjunction with a insulation box. This method takes longer to cook but saves about 20% of energy. As I understand it, the pressure cooker is brought up to pressure for a few minutes then transferred to a insulation box for the rest of the cooking. What I am figuring out is how long the remaining cooking time is in the insulation box! Also there is a bread making machine and a microwave. My first attempt at bread making was not very successful, due impart to the old yeast and unusual sugar substance. I found some newer yeast and different sugar so hopefully my next loaf of bread will be better.

I have had a tour of the boat outside. However until we actually sail I am not in a position to comment. I do know that it is going to be different in some ways from other boats I have been on. So stay tuned.

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2023 of Ya in 5 minutes

Sailed a regatta in Bocas, did repairs, cleaned the bottom with the fishes, kayaked against Tomas’ original Ngobe canoe (and lost), Andre joined, Kathryn joined, Genaro joined, did maintenance, did the Bocas sailing regatta, wrote the book ‘Duurzaam Varen’, Inge joined, met fossilfree soulmate Jack of SV Alcazar, maintenance, sailed with an original San Blas sailing canoe, went in the Tatacoa desert, been screwed by DHL, was blocked at roadblocks, did maintenance and repairs again, and much more, In this movie the images of 2023 on and around ‘Ya’.

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SY Alcazar converting into a fossil free catamaran

About one year ago Jack called me. He is skipper of the Alcazar, a catamaran sailing with individual people, forming a collective.

Jack thoroughly studied the website fossilfreearoundtheworld.org and asked some specific questions. The answers made him decide to convert the Alcazar into a fossil free catamaran. Here Jack shows us the ship in the middle of the conversion process.

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The tide brings nature into the city

This is the Keilehaven, a part of a canal in an old industrial area in Rotterdam. Once the cargo ships were coming in and out for loading and unloading, but the industries went to larger scale places. Now, the trucks do that last bit of transport, driving on the road from where the picture is taken.

There are pavements, but nobody uses them. Well, nobody – in the night you can find hookers who are chased away from the neighourhood. And once a month you can see some workers of County of Rotterdam to ‘clean it up’, by using chemical weed killers.

The ecosystem consists of tiles, grass and water. That’s it.

Now we give nature a change….




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Orientation: check the yellow puppet; that’s from where the picture is taken. See the inset to check the positioning in Rotterdam and surroundings, till the sea.

In the picture above you see that these old harbours are all connected to the Nieuwe Maas, the big river going through Rotterdam, and is connected to the sea. Every day the tide comes in and goes out. This is a great environment to bring nature back here. The water is mostly brackish. Or better: this water will vary in its salination; it will be fresh at the dead ends of the harbours, to near sea water closer to the sea. This great variation can create a very diverse eco system.

So if you would do nothing, you give nature a chance.

…or even help nature a bit

The County of Rotterdam set out a tender to get ideas of landscaping this area. The Urbanists (Dutch: Urbanisten) are now developing nature. Or better, they are going to let the ecosystem do its work.

From there they help nature a bit, by making terraces on different heights, creating different depths of water. It brings even more variation in the ecosystem, so a larger diversity of flora and fauna.

Source: Urbanisten.nl

By giving it some scale, there is room for paths to walk, and for leisuring. Hence, it will end up in a park, nice to live by. The area will be converted from a creepy shabby place to a park where you want to walk in, and live close to.

Source: Urbanisten.nl

In the city of Rotterdam will be not a regular park, but a living one, a tidal park.

Such a specialty, would it be not more expensive than a regular park? No, it is cheaper to maintain.

It will be there, just because nature gets all chances.

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The new book Duurzaam Varen ‘Sustainable Sailing’ is for sale from now

As of today, you can find the book Duurzaam Varen in the bookstores and online. Sorry, it is in Dutch, so here it is described in English

The book covers a about all actions you can take to prevent and reduce fossil fuel emissions, from diesel, gas and petrol.  Every chapter starts with the small things you can do right now. Like tricks to reduce the use of your diesel engine, or your devices in your galley. Step by step it builts up to a complete sailing and living in fossil freedom.

There is also an eye for other aspects, such as the use of water, and how to stop your water pollution. Think of the e.coli bacterias we emit in the water. Think of the ecocides we use in our bottom paints and are spread in our ambient water. With some changes this is unnecessary.

The content of the book tries to be complete on all matters of sustainability on sailing yacht and motor yachts.

Everything is systematically built up, starting with the question what you can prevent. Prevention is mostly the cheapest. Since the best energy is the energy you don’t use, or not?  Second is if one can reduce, then reuse/repair, or if not, recycle. When these options are covered, you use about 70 to 80 % less. The remaining 20-30% of the energy can be taken care of by solar panels, wind and propeller alternators.

https://www.donner.nl/zoeken?keywords=duurzaam+varen
https://www.broese.nl/zoek?q=duurzaam+varen&b=#
https://www.athenaeum.nl/zoek?b=&q=duurzaam+varen#
https://www.vanderveldeboeken.nl/zoek?q=duurzaam+varen&b=#
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A traditional built canoe is beautiful, but can it sail?

Ever seen how a canoe is built? You need the right tree, you need to saw it in the right piece, and from there it is a lot of gouge work.

Of any vessel, anything that floats, even a garbage bin, I think: would it also sail? Indeed, it is fast, see the regatta we did some months ago and the video. But the sailiing capacities? I really wonder.
In Balerup, San Blas archipelago, Panama, Ivin’s brother Pedro introduced us on his sailing canoe for a short ride. Check the movie!

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Happy electricity in Rotterdam

The Netherlands is bubbling with all kinds of sustainable initiatives. For example, in Rotterdam, a group of five enthusiastic volunteers has now filled 5 rooftops in the neighborhood with solar-panels; each rooftop delivers from 38.000 to 71.000 kWh per year. The rooftops were not theirs, they had no money, but they managed.

A Blijstroom initiative. Opening of the solar roof in the ‘Ackersdijkstraat’ on top of the ‘SKAR’-building, with all proud participants holding their electronic equipment.

How?

Well, in the north of Rotterdam there are lots of flat roofs, mainly apartment buildings, schools and some companies. For households, small enterprises and schoolboards it’s usually too big an investment budget to buy the solar-panels, or there are administrative issues etcetera. The volunteers fix those problems by using their head, and by using the power of the collective. They call it ‘Blijstroom’ (happy electricity)

Larger scale, bigger ambitions

‘Blijstroom’ (happy electricity) is now part of ‘Energie van Rotterdam’ (the energy of Rotterdam). In the first few years, together with the other cooperatives, they focus on developing 90 cooperative solar roofs in the city. Each district will have its own solar roof. They should be ready by 2025.

‘Blijstroom’s logo: Happy energy for optimists

Finance: participant’s money and available grants

‘Blijstroom’ uses the Cooperative Energy Generation Subsidy Scheme (SCE), also known as the “postal code rose scheme”.

Example for the ‘postal code rose’: the most recent ‘Blijstroom’ solar roof is located at the orange dot in ‘Liskwartier’, the centre of the ‘postal code rose’. The surrounding neigbourhoods in dark gray are part of the rose.

The most important is that per project a minimum number of participating members:

• must live or be established in the same area (the ‘postal code rose’)

• and receive power via a small-scale consumption connection.

More sustainable opportunities

‘Blijstroom’ also generates investments from people who want to invest in sustainability, but for example cannot put panels on their own roof. They can invest in roof panels in their neighbourhood. The minimum is 200 Euros, the maximum is 20.000 euros. Moneywise, the investors get 2,5 % interest on their loan and after 15 years they get the initial sum of money back. Of course, the real profit is in the improvement of the neighborhood. In the future, it no longer has to rely on polluting fossil fuels, which will create a healthy and resilient community!