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Triple gains for climate on board of Ya

Last Monday the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued their annual report. 

The consequences of the climate change are more serious than earlier expected. The tone has changed from ‘gently warning’ to alarming.

  • The Earth’s temperature has already risen 1.1 degree Celsius.
  • The consequences are here and already noticeable. We have more extremes: heavy rainfalls, long periods of drought and massive forest fires.
  • If we don’t act in the next 9 years, we are going to get some serious problems (because of the ‘tipping points’).

But there is an up-side. We, you and me, can still make the difference for our children. We can reach ‘drawdown’. But we have to do it now. How? We think we set a good example at ‘Ya’. We use only what we need. And because we think really carefully about how much energy we need, we use less. A staggering 70-80% less. And because of this, we can live fossil free. 

Energy production causes one fourth of the greenhouse gasses in the world, making it the biggest polluter. So, if you reduce your energy consumption you really help solving the problem. And if you also abandon the fossil fuels, you double your gain. Or actually: triple. Because you also gain in quality of life.

How does this work? Our top 3.

1: Heating

Heat is the one of the best ‘tell-tales’ for energy consumption. What is hot in your house or boat? The stove. Obviously, this is where you can make a major difference. So, we cook our food on an induction cooker. We cook our food until it is really hot and then we turn off the heat. The pan goes into a ‘hay box’, a simple drawer with insulation. 

The pan goes into a ‘hay box’, a simple drawer with insulation. 

The food cooks in about 2 to 3 times the normal cooking time, but without using any energy. In addition, we use a small pressure cooker that greatly reduces cooking time. It enables us to cook dried beans and stews in 25% of the time that we previously needed.

raw pumpkin in the pressure cooker
pumpkin after 10 minutes high pressure cooking. We put it in the haybox so it would be really tender for the soup
and after half an hour, we had a delicious pumpkin soup

You can start using these methods on any stove. It saves 70- 80% of the energy. Easier, safer, healthier and tastier.

2: Cooling

Cooling requires lots of energy. In most boats, the refrigerator has to work hard and is a constant source of trouble. If it is not broken, it uses a lot of energy. On board of Ya it can also break down, but the chance is smaller. Because it is not working overtime. The compressor, the ‘cooling machine’, is very small. It does not use much energy. All of this because it is completely insulated with a thick layer of top quality PIR-foam. This way, it can even run a freezer. No generator needed for cold drinks. Cool.

Vinho verde is best served chilled. As you see, we can enjoy cool drinks even during a heat wave.

3: Speed

Speed is a major energy eater. We motor only 20 or 30 percent slower than most yachts, but that reduces the energy consumption with about 50%. The physical law: speed equals the square of the resistance.

As you can see in your car, energy consumption goes up exponentially when you pass a certain level. The same goes for our electric engines. If we motor slowly (say 2 knots) we can do it for 2 days. If we motor full speed (say 6 knots), we use up our entire battery bank within 5 hours. Just like most people like to travel in a car, we like to travel in our boat. Traveling can be relaxing. So, we plan carefully. We always check the weather forecasts, while you could check the delays of traffic jams for a relaxed travel. And leave in time. It saves you money and energy. You could try an electric car, like we have electric engines in the boat.

Electric engines are small, but like all engines, they consume considerably more when you make more speed. It is physical law.

Enjoy the relaxed and silent ride. Oh, and we would almost forget. If we don’t need to motor because we have enough wind, we use this speed to generate energy. Silently and efficiently. You could experience the same if you could walk or bike instead of taking the car. This gives a boost to your energy level.

So, changing to a sustainable lifestyle is not only good and necessary for the climate, but it also improves the quality of life.

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Renewable energy on Rio Guadiana: hydropower

Sailing to Pomarao on Rio Guadiana, we passed a huge hydropower dam on the Rio Chanca. 

Hydropower provides 13 to 18% of Portugal’s renewable energy. Wow.

We also passed this hydropower dam on our way to Pulo do Lobo.  

Barragem do Chanca, Pomarao
The Location Barragem da Chanca near Pomarao on satellite (red line indicating the border between Spain and Portugal)
Barragem da Chanca on satellite, showing the wider area (red marker indicating the dam).

The Alqueva Dam was completed in 2002. The dam creates a large reservoir from which the water runs throughout the region. Its’ strategic water reserve has sufficient capacity to last at least three successive years of drought. Also, it enabled the introduction of 120,000 hectares (300,000 acres) of new irrigated crops in the Alentejo region. Finally, it was also aimed at improving the employment situation in the region (for example in tourism).

The biggest hydropower dam in the Guadiana itself is the Alqueva Dam,, a 518.4-megawatt power station. It is located some 135 km further north of Pomarao

The Alqueva Dam is the largest dam and artificial lake (250 square kilometres) in Western Europe.[2] Unfortunately, the dam also caused side effects, such as the loss of prehistoric engravings and habitat of rare and endangered species including eagles, kites, wild boars, and the Iberian lynx. A Roman fort was submerged.[4] Also there are doubts on the efficiency of the irrigation project, like we saw at rio Mondego. 

The dams greatly contribute to Portugal’s renewable energy sources (between 13 and 28%). Renewables account for 72 percent of Portugal’s consumption in the first 5 months of 2021. Thanks to these efforts, Portugal drastically brought down the number of coal fueled power stations and greenhouse-emissions.

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Work on your own paradise

We learnt how you can work on your paradise, right here and now. It started with a knock on the hull of our boat. “Hi guys, would you like some fresh vegetables?” Off course we do! Sailors quickly learn how to really appreciate fresh food.

 You would expect the man on the boat with the straw hat and his dog offered us his lovely vegetables on a tropical island. But it is Rio Guadiana, ‘el Paraiso natural’.

Chris once was driving instructor. Now a fellow sailor. For 20 years he has sailed around the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. He has found his paradise here. He grows his own vegetables. When he has more than he can eat, he prepares it for wintertime. For example, he dries some of his vegetables. And, if there is more than he can handle, he exchanges them for ‘non-vegetables’, for example pasta, oil or vinegar.

We exchanged Chris’s cherry tomatoes, courgette and ‘pepino’ for rice and lentils.

We wish we could share this bowl of delicious cherry-tomatoes with you. But we can share some of his wisdom. For example: “Since I once had no money, I hardly use or need it anymore.” “Working on the land is hard, but it is so rewarding”. Our favourite: “Search your piece of paradise and work on it, every day.”

We couldn’t agree more.

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Fado and Flamenco

The most sustainable living is to sail globally and to act, buy, and enjoy locally.
We enjoy both the village Alcoutim on the Portugese border of the Guadiana river, as well as Sanlucar de Guadiana on the Spanish side.
Now the two sister villages prepared a special night of Fado and Flamenco.

Cuadro Flamenco Pura Esencia in Alcoutim on July 10th, 2021. Superb!

Fado singer Marta Alves and also the flamenco show with Cuadro Flamenco Pura Esencia offered high class performances. If you liked the Flamenco, also check out Marta’s fado  here. Travel globally, enjoy locally!

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Fossilfree Around the World: publicity in Spain

Fossilfree around the World had lots of publicity in Spain lately. We did a great event with Sail-a-Future. And, we were very fortunate, because Marta Perez wrote good articles for Huelva24 and El Correo del Golfo. Thank you Marta! Also, our friends in Sanlucar de Guadiana sent Canalsur on our way. As you might know, this is the TV-channel of Andalucia. Andalucia has 8 million inhabitants, so this is quite an audience.

In the video, Inge shows Rossio the sustainable yacht. Rossio is really interested in the kitchen. We agree this is an important part of our sustainable lifestyle:) If you want to see more detailed information on what makes Ya a sustainable yacht, check out Youtube or www.fossilfreearoundtheworld.org

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Pulo de Lobo

Our friend Philip urged us to go see the Pulo do Lobo. He was right. It is magnificent. The waterfall is located north of Mértola, in the Lower Alentejo. Pulo the Lobo means “wolf’s leap”. And when you stand there, you realise the wolf has to be pretty desperate to jump this fierce current.

Pulo de Lobo means Wolf’s leap; make sure you hear the sound as well. We did not go swimming.

Pulo do Lobo is the most dramatic stretch of the Guadiana , where the “river boils between harsh walls, the rushing of water, hit, flow and wind gnawing a millimetre per century per millennium, a nothing in eternity” wrote José Saramago, one of Portugal’s most famous writers (source).

We were also impressed by the boardwalks like we saw in Alvor, designed to enable tourism without damaging nature.

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Preparing for Christmas

On board “Ya” Hetty van der Linde of Sailafuture got the brainwave to turn ‘sailafuture’ painted sails into Christmas bags with the children’s wishes. The bags can contain regional products and make lovely and sustainable Christmas gifts. 

We introduced Hetty to the Mayor of Sanlucar de Guadiana, she described the idea and he was enthusiastic right away. 

So, we asked two young future artists to test the paint on Ya’s glasses first. See here:

Future artists paint glasses on board of ‘Ya’ to see if this can work for making Christmas presents.

Thank you for those lovely drawings and we think the Christmas painting is also going to be a great success!

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Children Sail a Future

The children of Sanlucar de Guadiana learnt about climate change. Now they paint their future on a sail. They paint their images of their village and surroundings, their Paraiso Natural (Nature Paradise).
See how they paint the sail, hoist it, and…. sail with it on the Ya.

Thanks to Sail A Future, AMPA, Talens, Puro Arte Huelva and all children of Sanlucar de Guadiana.

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From copper mine to sailing cargo ship in Guadiana

We sailed the Guadiana river with friends. The Ya arrived at Pomarao, just next to where for nearly 100 years, the sailing cargo ships were loaded with copper ore from the mines. We started hiking along an old deserted railroad track, through rough nature. It led to the former copper mines. On the summit of the exploration about 1000 Portugese men worked there. But in the early 60s the English bosses closed it down from one day to another and shipped all gear with them. Now you can only find the railway sleepers. Here an impression in some images.

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Fossil free fellows

We met fossil free fellows. 

You build a large catamaran, you make a great and well thought technical system in it, including an efficient energy consumption, and then you discover you can live fossil free!

That is what Adrien did. 

We stepped on board their catamaran dinghy -fossil free of course – and they brought us to their ‘Kata Lind’.

Adrien and Thelma built a 15-meter catamaran, they sailed her to the Mediterranean from Iceland, where their son was born. Then they bought a piece of land along the river Guadiana. This is when we met them. 

Their ‘Kata Lind’, a 15-meter Caroff catamaran, lies well anchored just next to their land.

On the outside you can see this 15 m catamaran is designed and built to sail. Adrien tells: “we have built her light but very strong (thanks to the sandwich material and simplicity inside) and sailing with her is just…” – Adrien’s eyes start rolling in his head as he tries to find the best word and then shouts in French: “…Formidable!”.

Thelma is perhaps not such an enthusiastic sailor, but she likes the life around it. The freedom, always your home with you, with your own comfort, your own space. Space? 

The space inside is enormous in comparison to our Ya. You see the ceiling? Adrien printed and painted the chart of the world on it. 

There is so much space, you could organize a table tennis tournament in their saloon. And there are also 2 spacious bedrooms in each hull.

The development of the energy system

Adrien and Thelma built the ship in Iceland. We all know, it is cold up there. If you start thinking about energy systems in such a place, you think fossil, without doubt.

So did Adrien. He made a complete central heating system in the ship. He installed a water heater on propane gas. Very efficiently, he even wanted the hot air from the heating system to flow along the exhaust pipe to get back the wasted energy.

He wanted to make his own water. He found out that the little water makers are expensive and the industrial ones are cheap, especially in maintenance. But these big things need a lot of power. So, he uses the boat’s diesel engines to get this job done. And the engines can also propel the boat. 

The electrical system is all 24 Volt. So, all wiring can be rather thin. He took a LiFePO4 battery bank, so there is nearly no inefficiency in storing. 

All lighting is LED. 

He wanted a big fridge and a big freezer. Everybody who has been on the ‘Ya’ knows what Adrien also knew: on cooling (and heating) three things are important:

  1. Insulation
  2. Insulation
  3. Insulation

So, he insulated the refrigerator well and the freezer very well. They hardly take energy compared to all manufactured fridges and freezers, which are still very poorly insulated. 

With over 15 centimetre of foam the fridge is well insulated. Now it hardly takes energy, so they can have a big fridge. They also have a large freezer, with even thicker insulation.

Growing to fossil freedom

Now the Kata Lind lies anchored: not in Iceland, but in the Algarve. With the solar panels to the south and a good wind turbine.

They bought an induction cooker, to replace the gas cooker. No problem for the batteries, plenty energy left.  

Adrien behind the marble sink in the kitchen, and: with an induction cooker on it!

Adrien is an engineer in automatization and when you come aboard you can see he loves his job. So, he uses nearly 1 square meter on clocks and meters and so on, including an autopilot for further development. No problem for the batteries. 

There is even a washing machine. And it runs on fossil free electricity and water. Still no problem for the energy system. 

Their household is running on 6 to 7 m2 solar panels, flat on deck and standing, next to the windows. On a good sunny day, they can deliver up to 8 kWh or energy. You can consume the world with it! When the weather is bad, there is a good wind turbine to get the energy.

There are 6 to 7 m2 solar panels and a wind turbine.  On the background you see the stairs leading to their piece of land.

Energy for the irrigation

They have a piece of land here and it needs to be irrigated in the dry and hot summer period. So, there is a strong pump, delivering some cubic meter of water. In the sunny weather the solar panels always deliver enough energy to keep the pump running. 

A strong pump under the stairs (see inset) delivers the water for the very efficient drop by drop irrigation of the land. In the background you can see the mast of the Kata Lind.­­­

The land will deliver their own vegetables, oranges, avocados and all. The freshest, and without any transport. This is the ultimate fossil free consumption.