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“Speciically, the buoys will monitor sea temperatures at
various depths, the speed and direction of ocean currents,
salinity – that sort of thing. hey will help to identify changes
in climate and give scientists a better idea of how the
continent might be afected over coming decades.”
Checking for the presence of micro-plastics, says Koper,
was a little easier.
“Going through the convergence zone, the objective was
to check for micro-plastic particles. We chose 10 locations
staggered around the continent. We would slow the boat,
deploy a specialist net and drag it for 30 minutes to collect
the samples. hese have been sent to land-based laboratories
for analysis.”
Anyone who’s spent any time bluewater sailing will
appreciate that when a crew lives together in conined spaces
for an extended period, things can become – um, a little
brittle. How does Katharsis II’s crew stay sane?
“We typically sail with nine – me and eight crew,” says
Koper. “And I know many of your readers will think 100 days
together sounds like an eternity. I guess it helps that the
crew members are all Polish. And many of them are ‘core’Auckland’s most modern dry stack
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