Lisa Blair thought nature had thrown just about everything at her as she sailed the high seas.
That was until, somewhere between Australia and Indonesia, “I saw a kitchen sink float past.”
She’s been angered by the sheer volume of plastic and debris she’s seen in the ocean at other times while standing watch, or at the helm.
“It’s just disgusting to see,” the 35-year-old Australian skipper said.
“At one point, in the middle of the Southern Ocean, with no land anywhere close by, the nearest piece of humanity was about 3,000 nautical miles away, there was a Styrofoam box floating past with a bird sitting on it,” she added. “This is like one of the most raw, untouched environments on the planet, and there’s rubbish.”
Raising more awareness of environmental issues and encouraging more women to get into sailing will be two of Blair’s main goals when she joins Jackie Parry aboard the d’Albora Climate Action Now to be the first all-female, two-person team to race in the 49th edition of the Melbourne to Hobart yacht race.
The race starts Dec. 27, the day after the traditional Boxing Day start of the annual Sydney to Hobart blue water classic.
“It was really heartbreaking to see that,” Blair said of the pollution. “I wanted to utilize the platform that I’d get through my sailing to encourage people to make positive change. Inspire the next generation to think about what we can do as individuals.”
The 680-mile Sydney-Hobart tracks down the east coast of Australia and the southern island state of Tasmania. The 435-mile Melbourne-Hobart goes down the west coast of Tasmania, dips into the Southern Ocean, before winding back up to the finish in the Derwent River.
Blair was the first woman to sail solo around Antarctica, and the first woman to sail solo and non-stop around Australia.
Blair was a latecomer to sailing, having grown up near the hinterland town of Nambour on Australia’s Sunshine Coast, living on an off-grid property nestled into rain forest.
In her 20s, during university holidays, she got a job as the cook and cleaner on a charter yacht. She ended up doing the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and after that she was hooked. AP
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