The first fully-electric fossil free fuel yacht to ever compete in the Rolex Fastnet Race is Nazca, an upcycled 1984 Contessa Offshore One Design 34. Her crew – Wayne Peters, Bee Woodland and Oskari Alho – have adapted the yacht to be pure electric and biocide-free working with the Ocean Conservation Trust and Seaful Charites raising awareness of a changing ocean.
As part of their “Leave No Trace” campaign, Nazca has been fitted with a Wavestream bilge filter to ensure that no pollutants are emitted overboard. The Wavestream’s specialist filters ensure that any traces of oil, as well as pollutants such as microplastics and microfibres are trapped within the Wavestream cartridge, capturing particles to a smaller diameter than that of a human hair.
Wayne Peters says: “With a fully electric propulsion system, we know Nazca’s bilges will be much cleaner than those of a yacht using a diesel engine. However, there will still be traces of oil, as well as other pollutants from the bilges, such as paint particles and microfibres and microplastics which are washed down from clothing, fabrics and ropes on board and all of which would be pumped overboard if we did not have the Wavestream filter fitted.”
The Wavestream bilge filter is easy to install, and once in place, only needs to have the filter changed annually. It ensures that any yacht using a Wavestream adheres to the strict anti-pollution requirements that less than 5 ppm (parts per million) of pollutant in water is achieved. For comparison, a single drop of diesel in half a litre of water is about 40 ppm.
Nazca has spent the past four years as a marine science research and development platform. Powered entirely by nature using solar, wind and hydro-generation, the electric propulsion, Oceanvolt ServoProp and Victron Energy power management systems have been fully tested over more than 5,000 miles of sailing entirely reliant on renewable energy.
As an off-grid architect and engineer, Peters is using the experience from Nazca for his work with Oceanvolt, which advises on how owners can adapt from fossil fuels to all-electric boating. His desire to be environmentally-friendly goes deeper though, and he lives off grid on a farm in North Devon, powered by solar, hydro and wind generation.
He says: “I live in a UNESCO biosphere reserve, but we’ve got some of the worst water quality in the UK. We have one of the largest tidal ranges in the world, a tourist shore on the English side of the Bristol Channel and the industrialised coast of Wales on the other which makes home a really interesting area to study ocean impact. We have long-term plastic pollution monitoring in place as well as helping with initiatives like beach cleans.”
By fitting a Wavestream bilge filter, Peters is one of a growing number of sailors who are actively ensuring that no pollution, microfibres or microplastics enter the waterways from their yachts – truly meeting their “leave no trace’ promise.
