TOPtoTOP expedition reports

New sails from Victorinox

Prouille Catholic School, Wahroonga

We have event after event and school presentation after school presentation and nearly no time to write the expedition reports. Here our high lights from the last 2 weeks:

On the 22nd of April TOPtoTOP participated in a Panel Discussion about "The Use of Alternative Energy in Switzerland and Australia - How can both countries profit from each other?" organized by the Swiss-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: check pdf.

On the 26 and 27th of April we have done two presentations in the famous Power House Museum in Sydney and on Monday the 28th we had a media conference at the Sydney Yacht Squadron where the media was also able to see the expedition boat. We made already interviews to a Chinese newspaper and the Phoenix Satellite TV station from Hong Kong.
On the 5th of May we had a public presentation together with Kerry Tober in Canterbury organized by our friend Karen Rivers. Kerry crossed the Tasman Sea in a row boat from NZ to Australia.

The highlight was the test of the wonderful new Victorinox sails made by North Sails Australia and North Sails Switzerland. Here some pictures: knife , logo, Harbour Bridge and under sail....

Thank you so much Victorinox also for the new dingy cover!

PLEASE NOTE:

The Swiss Club of Victoria and the Swiss Academic Network Melbourne (SANM) jointly present

Global Climate Change - a presentation with ToptoTop

Date: Friday, 30th May 2008
Time: 7pm
Place: Swiss Club of Victoria, 2nd floor

TOPtoTOP (a non profit organisation of volunteers) is on a Global Climate Expedition under the patronage of United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and Switzerland. The Swiss TOPtoTOP Global Climate Expedition is the 1st expedition to sail around the world, and climb the highest mountain in each continent along the way, using only human and nature's power. The expedition has recently arrived in Australia after sailing from Europe via Alaska, South America, Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands. (see www.toptotop.org )

TOPtoTOP has chosen this expedition as an adventurous means to create awareness of global climate change and inspire the world to research and support lasting, environmentally friendly solutions. ToptoTop, Swiss couple Sabine and Dario Schwoerer with their two little children Salina and Andri (both born in Patagonia on the expedition) will talk to us about their experiences.

SGS is now a major sponsor of the TOPtoTOP Expedition. SGS is the Geneva based world's leading inspection, testing, verification and certification company employing over 50,000 globally, including over 1,000 employees in Australia operating from over 40 offices &
laboratories around Australia. (see www.sgs.com )

A free event. Enjoy dinner at the club before the presentation. Please book with the restaurant on 03 9650 1196.

Busy with presentations and Pachamama

Seline Marbach joined us to move Pachamama to the media event at Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron opposite the opera house. She has done an interseting speech about the TOPtoTOP expedition at her school, Bangor Public: download speech.

Look at the video: Pachamama was very slow! Here the reason (forunately the media did not see the underwater of the boat!):

Fortunately the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron (Tom, Tom, Scott) give us a hand to haule the expedtion sailboat. The Marbach family volunteer to look after Salina and Andri while we are painting.

Thanks to Malvina Pittin, from St. Moritz, who joined us this week, we made a lot of progress. Volunteers are more than welcome to give us a hand with cleaning and painting...

Here the feedback of the "our Lady of the Rosary School", Shelly Beach:

"Many thanks for coming to speal to us this morning. Our children were delighted to hear your talk. The way you presented the information was so easy to understand. you gave us food for thought. Good luck for the rest of your journey. We had about 420 children here today and about 30 adults ..."

Thanks to the article in the NZZ we got in touch with the Spragg family. They have been of big help while Sabine was ill with 39 degrees of fever during our 7th wedding anyversary on the 11th of May. Adrian Spragg is into bush regeneration and very active in the scouts. Here a feedback from Hans Gerber, the scout leader:

"Thank you for your inspiring presentation on Thursday the 8th of May 2008 at 1st Willoughby Hall Sydney. The scouts of 1st Willoughby and 1st Sailors Bay were intrigued by your achievements, so were the leaders and parents. On behalf of the 1st Willoughby we would like to stay in contact with you and help wherever we can, it would be a honour...."

Adrian wrote: "Many thanks for coming on Thursday night to talk to 1st Sailors BaySea Scouts and 1st Willoughby Scouts. The parents found your show inspiring and the scouts especially enjoyed the wildlife shots. Time will tell how much your story has raised consciousness of the pressing problems of global warming, climate change, water shortages - for your first hand experience is a powerful story..."

The young journalist Alissa Jenkins joined us at the presentation at the Sydney Rotary Club. She is the daughter of the deputy principal of Tumut Public School we visited in March: "I throughly enjoyed interviewing you. You throuly are an amazing family with a wonderful message..."

Check the "North Sails news" about the new sails sponsored by Victorinox: north-sails_newsletter.pdf

Pachamama shines again

Read more about theTumut report by Alissa Jenkins and the climate actions of our friend Benoit!

Thanks to the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron we were able to do our annual antifouling at Kiribili, just opposite the opera house.

Thanks:
- to Andrew McIntyre, Tom Giese and Scott Griffith mechanic of the Squadron,
- to David Brown from RESENE for the paint,
- to Hans Gerber from Minale Bryce Design for the SGS logo,
- to welder Philip Lucas from Mobility Welding for checking the rudder
- Family Marbach for looking after the children
- volunteers Malvina, Peter and Lionel to give us a hand...

It was hard work for Sabine and I and our kids were very ill with 41 and 39 degrees of fever! We needed 4 days to clean and sandpaper the hall and 4 days to put the 3 layers on antifouling paint.

We changed the anodes on the propeller and on the keel, controlled depth sounder and speedometer and cleaned all drains. We put a new baring and a new packing on the prop shaft. We fixed a leek of one of our tanks and reinforced the rudder... and many small jobs more... and there were still presentations going on, like on the Cercle Romand de Sydney where we got a super Raclette!

Here the result:

... much better than before:

Back in the water, we were gliding on Pachamama trough the water like on a dauphin!

Note: This Friday we have the SGS sponsorship announcement in Melbourne. A big step for TOPtoTOP: - with this partnership the Global Climate Expedition becomes even more efficient!