Gatherings ranging from Allianz Sailing World Championships to blue energy festivals, seaweed farming to artificial reefs are taking place at the city coast this summer. The common denominator? They are all powered by outspoken protagonists of action for healthy oceans.
The Ocean Race, with a sustainability agenda rooted deeply into its fibers, attends The Hague in June. The Netherlands has a long history in this race and in sailing. One of the toughest sports challenges in the world, Ocean Race, powered by the wind and using the ocean as its race track, uses its platform to raise awareness and advocate for more action to protect the ocean, people and the planet overall. The competing teams are increasingly supported by research centers and companies. As a result, the race serves as an innovation lab that develops solutions that are relevant beyond the sport itself. For example, data analysis collected by a Dutch team during the previous Ocean Race, was used to optimise shipping routes. The Hague is its last stop before the grand finale that runs from The Hague to Genova in Italy.
At the North Sea & Ocean Summit on June 14th, companies, research institutes and government representatives with interests concerning the North Sea come together to share knowledge, advance existing projects and start new initiatives and discuss interim results. The topics of this one-day summit are: energy at sea, safety at sea, clean and healthy waters and data science. An example of a break-out session is named ‘That foiling feeling’, and dives into the potential of using foiling technology, a century old technology only recently popularised in the sailing community, and using it in shipping. The technology lifts boats off the ocean surface and thereby drastically reduces surface friction, potentially leading to vast reductions in fuel consumption in shipping. Other discussions of the many topics that this summit will handle are optimizing sailing routes to save energy and how to make wind farms at sea more deployable with solar panels, seaweed farms and wave energy collectors.
Oceanovation is a two-day festival that celebrates innovation, with the purpose of accelerating solutions for a thriving ocean. The festival brings together the most forward-thinking minds in the ocean space to identify, implement and scale the technologies we need to grow the blue economy in a sustainable way as well as how to finance that blue economy.
The Allianz Sailing World Championships are taking place from August 10-20 this year, turning Scheveningen into the capital of competitive sailing. The North Sea will provide a stern test for the world’s best Olympic class sailors participating in the Sailing World Championships. Conditions on this sea vary within a short period of time ensuring competitors will encounter a true test on the water with varied wind conditions and challenging tidal patterns. Unique this year is the hosting of the first Para Sailing Championship. Dorian van Rijsselberghe, ex Olympic Champion, is excited to connect the sport with the ‘City by the Sea’