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The Today Show, not easily enjoyed unless you work from home or set the "record" button, however it may be worth scoping it out this week. Matt, Ann, Al and Meredith are exploring the "Ends Of The Earth" and reporting live from Kilimanjaro, Iceland, Belize and Sydney. Shedding more light on the impacts of climate change to some of the worlds exotic locations. Today, no punn intended, they bring up an interesting thought on "eco-tourism." A good topic for later discussion!

Furthermore, they highlight one of Oceana's Olympic supporters:

The following is from Team Russia Volvo Ocean Race Team, press release sent today, enjoy!

With Hermanus, one of the best land based whale watching spots in the world less than two hours from Cape Town, Team Russia’s racing and shore team were invited to learn more about these fantastic animals yesterday in a trip to this whale watching hot spot.

Local Cape Town resident Mikey Joubert, a regular visitor to Hermanus, joined other sailors in finding out more about Team Russia’s “We Sail for the Whale” environmental campaign. Noel Ashton, local whale sculptor and expert marine biologist was on hand alongside WDCS (Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society) specialist Dr. Karsten Brensing, to act as guides.

Corals, lobsters, and many other ocean creatures are unlikely to withstand the increasing acidity of the oceans brought on by global warming, according to a new report from Oceana.

Our new report, "Acid Test," examines the far-reaching consequences of the accumulation of heat-trapping gases, particularly carbon dioxide, in the world's oceans.

High levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in seawater deplete the carbonate that marine animals need for their shells and skeletons. Creatures that are at risk if trends continue include corals, commercial fish, including shrimp and lobster; and pteropods, or swimming sea snails, which are an important part of the base of polar and sub-polar food chains.

We are calling for a reduction of CO2 emissions in industrialized countries by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

The key findings of the report include:

As part of an initiated series on being sustainable sailors, in a recent interview with four of the Under 30 sailors of Team Telefoncia I posed the question:

Where DOES the garbage/rubbish go?

The crew:Antonio "Neti" Cuervas-mons; Daryl Wislang; Pablo Arrarte and Mike Pammenter share the team's efforts to bring as little non-biodegradble items as possible. All plastics and items the ocean can not naturally "compost" (i.e. food) is stored in bags in the bow; where one hopefully does not have to go! This keeps them company till arriving in port for proper disposal.

Owner of the J35 Dakota Girl, Stephanie Reuer, is one of my favorite people to coach and sail with.  She is talented with the right attitude about winning and improving.  She attracts great people to her crew with an effervescent positive attitude and a commitment to becoming better.  What more could you ask for?

She is also a great example of what it means to be a member of the OCYC.  This spring Oceana and the OCYC were part of the Sailing World/Sperry-Topsider NOOD Regatta's. 

The editors at Scuttlebutt do such a great job of pulling together reports from racing events - such as the Volvo Ocean Race - that it is hard not to just cut and paste from them.  And today, as your editor/commodore recovers from post election frivolity that's exactly what I am going to do.

From the great writers at Scuttlebutt:

DOCKSIDE ASSESSMENTS
With all eight boats competing in the Volvo Ocean Race now in Cape Town following the finish of the 6500nm first leg from Spain to South Africa, teams will be focusing on three areas: repairing the boats, assessing performance, and making adjustments. During the leg, most of the information that is available on the race website is not made available to the teams. While the positions for each boat are available, the performance and weather data are not, nor are the emails or videos that are being sent from each boat. However, the onshore teams have collected all the data, and now is the time it is used to raise the level of each team before the start of the 4,450nm second leg from Cape Town to
Cochin, India begins November 15th. Here are some of the early dockside reports:

* Johnny Smullen, Green Dragon Shore Manager, regarding the collision that took the boat speed from 25 knots to a virtual standstill: “We immediately asked ourselves, what did they hit, was it a container on the surface? Perhaps a log or the whole tree! As we stood on the dock in anticipation this morning, we were somewhat relieved to see that structurally we survived. The steel keel and bearings were intact without any crazing and/or cracks; what didn’t survive was the carbon fibre fairing which fairs the leading edge of the keel. In short, the keel is milled out of a single billet of heat treated steel, and the forward and trailing edges are added later as these shapes would almost be impossible to machine. We added pre-shaped fairings to these areas and fortunately the forward one also doubles up as a sacrificial leading edge or simply put a bumper.

"Unfortunately once you lose this you have a flat section across the front of your keel which really impacts your speed! We also lost the keel pin fairing; this is a conical fairing, which does exactly that, it fairs the 150mm keel pin, and without these we have a very unfair underwater profile. It would have the same effect, if a Formula 1 car lost all its wings and the nose!” -- Photos: http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/image_gallery/category/C19

It is election day here in the states and if you are registered to vote you should take your ocean conservation mind and head to the polls.

In other news the Washington Post is reporting an important story about the environmental legacy of the Bush Administration.  While widely criticized by conservation groups, President Bush and the Administration have received praise for their marine conservation initiatives.  Check out what the Washington Post has to say:

One of the interesting things about sailing is how it can teach one to live a sustainable lifestyle. Living aboard a boat is like living on a small island, and resource management becomes an import component of day-to-day activities. It's a mindset easily forgotten in today's lifestyle when a supermarket is a drive away and we can easily toss our trash with little thought of its impact.

Events like the Volvo Ocean Race, Vendee Globe and other long distance sailing venues which take place over multiple days push the concept of being sustainable to an extreme. These offshore racers bring only what they need from one spoon, one set of clothes, enough food to last XX number of days and strip everything down to minimize trash and access weight.

Ericsson 4 skipper Torben Grael was in no mood for brash
statements after winning the first leg on ysterday morning. “Is this race over?”
he asked. “No chance whatsoever. It is impossible to say who will win at this
stage.” It flies in the face of the stat which shows that the winner of the
first leg in the last five races has gone on to win overall. “It was such a
close race,” he added. “Our speeds between the boats are so close. We had visual

Winter is approaching, and for this sea (and seafood) loving foodie that means Oyster season.  But as with all our lifestyle choices seafood is something that we need to think long and hard about - even if the gooey goodness is calling our name.

There is quite a panoply of issues when it comes to sea food choices - including oysters.  Some of these include, mercury contamination, overfishing, and destructive fishing methods - including aquaculture.  It is enough to drive a seafood lover straight to chicken dinner.