The fleet of VOC boats of adventurer Edwin ter Velde will depart tomorrow from Hoorn to Sète in southern France, to participate in the ‘French Sail’. There the boats, made by hand from waste plastic, sail between the international tall ships. “Our message is unchanged: to show that throwing away (plastic) is a sin.”
To the nautical event Escale a Sete tallships from all over the world will arrive in the south of France next week. From the Netherlands, the Morgenster and Oosterschelde travel to the far South.
“Here we know Sail Amsterdam, Sète is an event for the entire Mediterranean, actually for all of Europe. There are people – really – who have spent months sailing through the canals to get there,” emphasizes the Dutch coordinator Thedo Fruithof . According to him, at least about 300 to 400 visitors come to the seven-day festival.
Netherlands guest of honour
The Netherlands is guest of honor this year and has its own domain near the main stage where all kinds of parties show the maritime history of the Netherlands. “The Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen is present and the Arnhem Open Air Museum shows the ‘wooden’ shipbuilding. In contrast, Edwin also stands with his ‘plastic fleet’. Herring smokers join in, Gouda cheese The Netherlands is represented in all kinds of ways,” says Fruithof.
Edwin ter Velde’s foundation, Clean2Anywhere, participates with its three VOC workboats and a rope mill. Edwin: “Thursday is the ‘Holland Day’. Then we will go ‘admiral sailing’ with all ships. That means that we sail in formation, with us in front. And with the rope-making on the side, we show the French children how to make ropes from waste plastic.”
But above all, Edwin wants to spread his message: throwing away plastic waste is a shame. “We are not only there from a historical perspective, the ecological aspect is also discussed.” For example, they will discuss a local nature reserve with a lagoon, to tackle the plastic problem there. “It is badly needed. It is very bad for the environment in that area.”
Farthest trip so far
A few years ago he could not have imagined that he would make the trip to France. In August 2020 he sailed with the first VOC workboat De Lankhorst off to Amsterdam† The fact that Sail was canceled due to corona did not stop Ter Velde on his mission.
In the meantime, the fourth workboat made of waste plastic is being developed, on which many volunteers and people with a distance to the labor market are working hard. And work is underway on the construction of a much larger ship: a play yacht.
flute ship
“Eventually we are going to build a real flute ship. Even though I still don’t know how”, Edwin says with a laugh. Building ships from waste plastic is an experimental process, as Ter Velde knows better than anyone. That’s how it went bending the plastic ship’s bow still wrong under high temperature.
But the ship will get there in time, anyway. Because the first two loads of goods have already been sold and must be delivered. “We have to go to northern Spain to get olivine (a mineral that absorbs CO2 from the air during weathering and converts it into lime, red.) to take away. And to America to deliver 200 tons of lifting belts.”
Edwin and his crew are leaving on Sunday. The ‘French Sail’ will start there on Tuesday.