Melbourne to King Island

Single use water bottles are discouraged from all ORCV events and boats are asked to use jerries or make use of their on board water tanks with reusable bottles instead. On shore at the race destination, crews were able to refill their water bottles at the kitchen if needed.

Straws were not provided at this event.

No plastic plates or cutlery were provided, instead the King Island Boat club offered hot food on paper napkins or crews were given dinnerware from the boat club to use. Metal cutlery was provided.

Plastic bags were not used at this event. Reusable and recyclable paper bags were used where needed.

Boats that received prizes were awarded locally caught King Island seafood (rock lobster), locally made cheese, hats and the overall prize is a perpetual trophy.

Social media was used to promote the ORCV Clean Oceans work and reminders to crews to race with sustainable practice in mind.

The King Island Boat Club were the partner organisation for the running of this race. The volunteer run organisation carry out all on ground efforts from berthing and coordinating the arriving boats to providing food and carpooling crews around the island. The ORCV also auction local King Island produce to the competing fleet to raise additional funds for the King Island Boat Club following the awards presentation. At the boat club the local Lions Club had collection bins for beverage cans to be collected and sent for recycling with the money obtained from the scrap metal supporting community projects on the island

Food for the event was prepared by boat club volunteers using local produce. The prizes for winning boats also included Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus edwardsii) caught by local island fishermen with very few food miles. The current stock assessment has the fishery classed as 'sustainable'.

Bins were provided on shore that included general rubbish and recycling, along with a specific metal can recycling bin (see #7). bins were signed appropriately and crews did a fantastic job of keeping each stream well sorted. Boat generated waste was kept on board and taken home to be sorted and disposed of in Melbourne to minimise any additional pressure to the island's waste resources.

Crews arriving on the island that needed to visit the township were carpooled by locals volunteering at the event. There is no public transport on the island.

An iconic species native to King Island is the Little Penguin, a small but rather vocal seabird that also conveniently serves as the welcoming committee for arriving boats at the finish line. This penguins often are seen waddling through the boat club grounds and are heard throughout the bay, so this race we highlighted them in our online "species showcase" campaign. The social media posts also speaks to recently published research that had involved the island population of birds, assessing the link to pollutants that threaten the ocean. The 'species showcase' is made in an effort to generate awareness of local species, equipping the fleet with a more comprehensive environmental awareness of the areas they are racing to, and also generating talking points of present issues that concern the marine environment. Links to sustainable yachting are also made.

In addition to the hot food served at the King Island Boat Club, an array of home prepared salads, soups and slices were also available to crews