CLEANING OF THE BEACH AND MARINA DURING GDYNIA SAILING DAYS

  • 2023-09-09
  • Karolina Sołtaniuk
  • Magnus Ruciński
Sustainability and the whole #courseEarth project is gaining momentum. During the sailing festival Gdynia Sailing Days, ecology is extremely important to us. We educate, we promote, we speak, we act as well as we CLEAN! That's right, the recent beach & marina cleanup is one of the cherries on the cake of our activities.
During the ILCA 6 Class Youth Championships, a cleanup took place in the Gdynia marina and throughout the regatta area. Competitors, organizers, activists, volunteers of the WWF's #BeachPatrol did their best to clean up the regatta town. At first glance, the trash was not visible, but in the end several bags of trash were collected. 

- Many thanks to everyone involved in cleaning the marina. I am very pleased to serve as Green Officer of the Polish Sailing Association. I am extremely pleased that a growing number of sailors are interested in the main problem of the place where we live. This was my main goal of EKO activities - to increase our awareness," explains Martyna Rawicz-Rutkowska. 

The Sustainable Development PAS began its activities at the beginning of the year. Month by month the ideas were put into practice. The first activities were undertaken during the Polish Sailing Association Cup regatta in Krynica Morska.

- Despite the fact that the #kursnaEarth sustainability project started a few months ago I believe that together we have taken the first, most important steps of change for the better. We are sure that step by step the project will develop even more, especially with the help and cooperation of international sailing organizations," Martyna added.

During Gdynia Sailing Days, World Sailing President Quanhai Li and European Sailing Federation President Joseph Pla visited the regatta town. During the ILCA 6 regatta in Gdynia, we hosted the EurILCA Sustainability Committee, which oversees green operations to help earn Clean Regattas certification. Our event is getting closer to achieving this goal. 

- After two weeks, you can see how ecology is important in the hearts of sailors from all parts of the world - not just Europe. I feel the commitment and support of our work both in the Polish sailing community and in international federations. The interest of representatives of the most important sailing organizations - WorldSailing and Eurosaf added to my belief that our work can really bring the expected results. Common motivation and exchange of ideas gave me encouragement, and at the same time discovered that I am not the only one who is such an eco-crazy person," comments Martyna Rawicz-Rutkowska.