S.Georgia : South Georgia Experience Leads To Dame Ellen Retirement
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 13.11.2009 (Article Archived on 27.11.2009)
Sarah Lurcock tells us of the affect South Georgia's magic had on Dame Ellen Macarthur.
South Georgia Experience Leads To Dame Ellen Retirement
Dame Ellen MacArthur has announced her decision to retire from competitive yacht racing, citing her experiences at South Georgia as the cause. Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's programme 'Desert Island Discs', the record breaking single-handed round-the-world yachtswoman spoke of how camping on Albatross Island, in the Bay of Isles, became a life changing experience.
Ellen joined Sally Poncet of 'South Georgia Surveys' as a Field Assistant to help with seabird census work in the summer of 2005/6, including the wandering albatross census on Albatross Island. Ellen says on her website that the trip "gave me my first real breathing space for a decade and time to think and reflect." During this time her attitude towards her life and her view of the world changed and she gained a new understanding of environmental issues; she now wants to focus on environmental campaigning. "It inspired me to learn more about living in a more sustainable way. I am now on a mission to reduce my own energy and resource consumption. Sharing and communicating this journey to a more sustainable future is one of my big goals for the coming years."
Ellen broke the record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe in February 2005. She said : "I never thought that anything in my life could eclipse sailing, I didn't think it was possible. But after being in South Georgia, after learning these lessons I suppose, and the more I researched into it, the more frightened I got and that has really scared me to the point that I can't go back to sea and go around the world again because this really matters."
On her record breaking attempt she took only the absolute minimum with her. She learned to manage her resources because if she ran out of anything there was no way she could stop for more. "I realised that on land we don't see things as precious any more." she said, "We take what we want. And it started to make me think. This world...is not that big. And there's an awful lot of us on it. And we're not managing the resources that we have as you would on a boat because we don't have the impression that these resources are limited."
Dame Ellen said "I still sail, I love sailing, I'll still sail for pleasure, I sail for charity - but as long as this challenge is there to be communicated, will I invest four years of my life to sailing round the world - no," she said. "This new understanding for me has become far more important."
Info BBC news website and http://www.ellenmacarthur.com
From the GSGSSI monthly newsletter. at www.sgisland.gs.
|
