SailGP was back in Plymouth for the second year running and we were delighted to partner with them once again, bringing free activities to connect people with the Ocean, as well as hosting some special VIP guests!
We had lots going on in the build up to and throughout race weekend, take a look below…
Public Engagement and Conservation
We were very excited to once again be hosting an Ocean Conservation Zone during SailGP weekend. Our team of Ocean Discovery Rangers were on hand to engage and enthuse crowds with fun, hands-on Ocean activities including interactive rockpooling, examining interesting ocean artefacts, Ocean arts and crafts, and interactive games to learn about the impacts of plastic pollution in the marine environment.
Marine Mammal Spotting
We were very excited to be leading on the important task of marine mammal observing over the weekend. Our trained observers were situated at Jennycliff and on Drakes Island coordinating the effort to mitigate ship strikes on marine mammals during the race and act as a central point of contact for all the boats which were in Plymouth Sound watching the action!
Schools Team inspire at STEM GP
The excitement of SailGP was brought to a unique classroom on the waterfront with a host of activities at Tinside Lido. Our Schools Team where there and engaged with hundreds of children, teaching them about the Ocean’s wonder plant, seagrass, through hands on activities. At the Ocean Conservation Trust we have been working on restoring seagrass for nearly a decade, so it was great to share this knowledge with young people using fun games! Pictured below are some of the school children firing seagrass seeds from a seagrass cannon.
Team GB visit our Centre of Ocean Excellence and the Duchess of Cambridge helps us plant seagrass seeds!
In the lead up to race weekend we hosted Team GB for an afternoon in the National Marine Aquarium. The team were able to enjoy some down time with a tour of our wonderful exhibits, as well as taking part in some team building activities to prepare themselves for race weekend!
We were also delighted to host The Duchess of Cambridge, Royal Patron of the 1851 Trust. The Trust works to inspire young people to take action to protect nature, people, our Ocean and the planet with their climate education platform, Protect our Future. 13 young people from both the Protect our Future programme and our Ocean Squad programme joined us alongside Her Royal Highness for a seagrass planting activity. Each planted a tray of 100 seagrass seeds, which will be grown in our seagrass cultivation laboratory ready to be planted into Plymouth Sound National Marine Park.
