Entry Date: 01.04.2022, at 10:00:00 hrs (local)
Milford Sound - Whangarei
Infected
| PRID: | 12433 |
|---|---|
| LegID: | 336 |
| LegNo: | 83 |
| Latitude: | S035°51.87' |
| Longitude: | E174°36.07' |
| Day#: | 1189 |
| Log (Day): | 46 nm |
| Log (Leg): | 828 nm |
| Log (Total): | 58433 nm |
milesDistance to destination: 19 nautical miles
Weather: light winds, sunny
Some time ago we had heard for the first time about the research of a team led by the Japanese scientist Shosuke Yoshida. This group of scientists discovered the bacterium Ideonella sakaiensis in 2016. The special thing about this bacterium is that it likes to eat plastic.We were initially super excited about this report, because these microbes seemed to be an elegant solution to the serious problem of plastic littering the world´s oceans. Today we are devastated. A group of environmental activists have been conducting an action here in the South Pacific with the name Clean Ocean, releasing large quantities of a genetically modified variant of the bacterium into the ocean near the Minerva Reef. The special thing about this genetically modified variant is that on the one hand it can live well in sea water and on the other hand it can metabolize plastics at a gigantic speed. If these plastic killers find plastic somewhere, they multiply explosively. It may be good for the ocean, but it´s a disaster for us. Apparently, these highly efficient plastic killers also reached the sea areas around New Zealand with the ocean currents, where SuAn unfortunately became infected. With the oncoming sea, these voracious microbes got to the foot of the head sail and infected it. Immediately they began their destructive work. Nowadays, sail fabrics and sewing threads are of course made of plastic. Nowadays sail fabrics and sewing threads are mostly made of plastic. The killer microbes obviously find the polyester sewing thread particularly tasty. But the Sunbrella sun protection in the lower area of the sail already has holes.
We are very happy that SuAn´s hull is made of aluminum. We dare not even think about the consequences if SuAn had a polyester hull and the killer microbes ate it with ravenous hunger. SuAn might have already sunk. As an immediate measure, we first extensively sprayed the lower area of ??the sail with a disinfectant solution. We hope to prevent the worst. However, we cannot be sure whether this measure will actually stop the bacteria, or whether they will gradually eat up everything that is made of plastic on board. A repair will also be difficult, since the sail maker will certainly refuse to take a contaminated sail into his workshop. Another major blow will come when the New Zealand authorities quarantine our entire ship. Let´s hope it doesn´t come to that.
