Ya and it’s crew are getting ready to transit the Panama Canal. As with other sail boats we have filled out endless forms, decide how to accommodate 3 extra people (line handlers) for the night as well as feed them 3 meals. These preparations are all part of transiting the canal. However, Ya -a fossil free boat has a few extra preparation
Firstly, the authorities require a minimum speed of 5 kts. Ya best speed verses use of power is 2.3 -3kts, where 300watts. To achieve a speed of 5.0kts, triple the amount of power is required, see diagram below.
Relationship of speed versus the necessary power
This increase in speed over 10-12 hrs would be a considerable drain on the power. Therefore Peter is renting a generator so we can maintain the minimum speed and keep the batteries happy.
Secondly, Ya relies on the 3 aft solar panels to provide energy. Any damage to these panels would significantly reduce our power. The line handlers on land throw lines with a monkey knot on the end of the line to handlers on the boat. If the monkey knot lands on the solar panel, we have damage .
Monkey KnotLine Handler with a Monkey knot in his hand.
may occur. Peter has three pieces of old ply wood to cover the solar panel, preventing any possible damage to the solar panels.
We need 4 line handlers per boat excluding the captain that is 6 people on the boat including the pilot. Once the line handlers and pilot transit the canal, they are transported by taxi back to the start area approximately I hr. In the world of sustainability, the amount of fossil fuel used to take the line handlers up and down the canal by road is considerable. Fewer line handlers would reduce the fossil footprint. Numerous boats have transited the Panama canal. Ya being fossil few has a few different considerations than most.
2023 is a special year for the fossil free energy. The International Energy Agency has calculated that Europe’s use of energy from sun and wind, saved nearly 100 billion Euros on our energy bills (source).
For the Netherlands it is 2.5 billion each year. Three years after each other. This is not a single year, this is continuous. Without any subsidies or any other extra profits. The new reality is that renewable energy has become cheaper.
This graphic shows the change in competitiveness of solar and wind by country based on global weighted average LCOE, 2010-2022. All sun and wind generated energy beat the competition with fossils now. (source)
Now, if we consume from sun and wind only, it is 16 cent cheaper than our consumption from fossil and other unsustainable fuels (like nucleair energy) (before taxes). So the renewables have beaten the fossil energy sources by competition. From now, we only need the non-renewable energy sources when there is no wind or sun.
The beauty of it is, that everybody takes a profit of it. OK, the private people with fixed contracts take the least and the bigger users with variable contracts, especially the companies, take the biggest profit. But in general the economical outcome is clear, sustainable energy is a joy in everyone’s wallet.
Or?
The big bucks
Sorry, not for everyone. Especially not in the Netherlands. In 2015, the Netherlands signed the Paris Treaty to cut on fossil fuels and convert to renewables. One year later a Member of Parliament asked the Dutch government if the fossil fuel companies like Shell, Exxon-Mobile, Q8 and others, still get subisidies and tax exemptions.
No answer came. After one year of pushing and pulling, the State came up with the number of 4.5 billion. But later, an investigation showed a number double as high: more than 30 billion of tax payers money would go to the big fossil companies. The government didnot give an answer or any accountability.
The differences got worse. In 2023 it became clear that the oil companies made a great year. For example, Shell realized a profit of 34 billion Euros. Still the flow of tax exemptions and subsidies continued. This also happens in many other European states.
Now, nearly nine years after the Paris treaty The Ministry of Economic and Climate Affairs published an appraisal of 39 to 46 billion of subsidies and tax exemptions flowing annually to fossil fuel companies. About 70% of the Dutchmen want to stop this money drain. The discussion is polarizing. The protest group Extinction Rebellion demands clear answer from the State: Why is all this money flowing to fossils, despite the Paris treaty? They organized a series of highway blockades on the road going into the Hague (between the Ministery of Economic and Climate Affairs and the Parliament building). Every time they are supported by a growing number of people.
The police tries to blow the peaceful blockade of Extinction Rebellion away with water canons. The remaining people has the chance to be arrested. They accept it, they want their answer to their question why so much tax money is flowing to the fossil industry. On the viaduct there are supporters.
2.500 Euro for every Dutchman each year
So can we not economize this and make it sustainable as well? Yes! Here is the example if you do that in Holland, with its 18 million inhabitants.
If we give solar and wind energy equal opportunity to fossil energy, 42,5 billion is saved. Plus 2.5 billion we gain already. This equates to 45 billion for 18 million Dutchmen. Or alternatively 2.500 Euro per inhabitant each year.
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.
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.
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’.
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.
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….
<!– @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } –> 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.
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.
