Captain Kathy from 35.6-metre Abeking and Rasmussen superyacht Tiziana and her crew have spent a summer in the Mediterranean leaving beaches and anchorages in a better condition than which they found them in. The classic sailing yacht and her crew have been doing what they can to help the environment by removing rubbish and cleaning up beaches wherever they go.

“Tiziana’s owner has always come back from her kayak trips with bits of rubbish and plastic, and so one day we just started cleaning an anchorage where we were and since then have not stopped! I love the fact that the owner encourages us, and all the crew enjoy it,” says Captain Kathy on how their mission started.

Speaking on Monday, Kathy reckons they have removed unsightly rubbish from around 12 beaches, with intentions to reach a few more before the summer season ends.

The crew are well organised and the more helping hands there are, the quicker the process takes. “There’s no standard time. It depends and takes anywhere from 1 – 2 hours for the average small beach, but changes depending on how many people can help and how much rubbish is on the beach,” says Kathy.

The rubbish on the beaches consists of a mixture of household rubbish and detritus from the fishing industry. “Plastic and polystyrene – plastic bottles, straws, lots of plastic bottle lids, fishing nets / line, plastic bags are the most common things we find,” explains Kathy. “When we walk away from a clean beach it feels awesome! It’s a fantastic feeling.”Tiziana and her crew have no slow down their efforts, and are keen to get more yachts involved in their good work. “Our main aim is to try get every yacht, big or small, power or sail, to do the same as us. If we can try and create more awareness, it may help in the long run.”

Kathy and her crew feel strongly about their privileged position of being able to enjoy some of the most beautiful locations in the world, and their respect for the ocean drives their mission. “The ocean is our livelihood and her shores are our play ground,” says Kathy. “We are very privileged to visit some of the most beautiful places in the world and when you see all the rubbish littering the beach and coastlines, it ruins it for everyone on board as well as for future visitors. So if we can clean it up and bring it back to what it should be, my crew and I very happy to be a part of that.”