After viewing a couple of videos on rising sea levels that will, before 2050, inundate the island nations Karabati and Tuvalu as well as many other Pacific Island States, either making them uninhabitable or completely washing them away, I began to wonder what could I and you as individual sailors do.

As sailors and cruisers we have all watched as another sailing vessel has passed by us under power with no sails up on a course where for them the wind was fair, while we were beating to windward.  From time to time I would speculate that we have all been accused of doing this to one extent or another.

So this coming year I would like to see who among us can cruise the furthest with the least amount of fuel and or gas, and I don’t mean just fuel for motoring but for all uses on board, like for the dinghy, generators, main engine charging batteries and so on.

Each gallon of gas we burn emits 19.6 lbs of Carbon Dioxide and each gallon of diesel 22.4 lbs.  Let’s do our part, however small, to reduce our carbon footprint.  We may be too late to save Pacific Islanders or Alaskans from loosing their ancestral homes but we may help make life better for our grandkids and their children and all the generations to follow.

So who is up for a challenge?  How far can you cruise this year without using your engine to cruise or generate electrical power?