Mike and crew sail Pangaea once again into the International Cruise Terminal of the fantastic Chinese city of Shanghai. The boat needs a little TLC after hitting the tail end of a typhoon while sailing north along the Taiwean Strait. Strong winds uplifted the liferaft and smashed it into the railings and conference room windows. Luckly damage is minimal and will be quickly repair.
This morning was an exciting morning for Mike and the crew as they hauled up Pangaea's new sails for the very first time. The Mercedes-Benz new logo now replaces the old and stands out brillantly with Officine Panerai and Geberit.
“9th of October 2010 – this was the day that the Pangaea Young Explorers Program held their first ever cleanup in Singapore. Twenty youth from across the island as well as volunteers from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore gathered at Lim Chu Kang Beach, one of the few places in Singapore with mangroves left. It is unprotected and doesn’t get cleared off debris – a perfect location for our cleanup!
After a rather tough journey from Hong Kong, Pangaea and her crew arrive safely in Koahsiung Harbour, on the southern tip of Taiwan.
Mike reports, "We bobbed up and down for the last few days, heading Northeasterly into head-on winds. Not the most comfortable of trips.
It took us the whole day today to deal with the customs procedures and now, at long last, we will be able to get a good sleep. We'll clean the boat tomorrow and get ready to welcome the guests of Officine Panerai onboard.
Seems like a great spot here and we are looking forward to discovering a little bit of Taiwan before we head north to Shanghai."
Around the 2010 National Day of the Peoples Republic of China, Shanghai citizens and visitors can find a aluminiun boat parked on the Shore of the Huangpu River. The dreamy boat is gently breathing with the waves of the river in the fresh air of Shanghai Mooring. Mr. Mike Horn onboard is doing final cleanup work – today he and his Pangaea team are going to welcome the first Chinese VIP groups invited by Geberit China.
In the white tent, 18-year old Young Ecplorer, Jun Lee, is standing on the blue carpet under the blue-white roof as if she is sailing with Pangaea in the ideal clean world. Jun was the first and the only Chinese young person to be selected to join the project up until now.
The General Manager of Geberit Asia Pacific Mr. Michael Schumacher briefly introduces Geberit and Mr. Mike Horn to the guests. Mike presents his story of Pangaea with great passion. The audience are fully impressed by his sustainability aspiration as well as his expedition story. After that, Jun introduces herself and her significant experience in Château d’Oex and Pangaea Expedition in New Zealand. Her introduction shows a deep understanding of sustainability which is far beyond her age.
The sailing experience on Pangaea along the Huangpu River gives our guests an unforgettable experience. This is the first foreign boat to roam in Huangpu River in the past 10 years.
The next day, Mike’s team and Jun visit the Geberit China office and plants in the morning and the Tongji University in the afternoon. Both Geberit employees and University students show high interest in the Pangaea project. Tongji students also receive their first impression of Geberit from Mr. Manfred Koenigslehner – the Training Director of Geberit Asia-Pacific.
In the evening, guests and students arrive at Shanghai 2010 Expo. Mike visits the Swiss Pavilion and introduces Pangaea and Geberit to Swissnex.
One person from the faculty of Tongji Environmental Science College explains: "Today’s activity reached far above my expectations. It was big surprise to me. Thank you Geberit for organising this."
Two American photo-journalists, Chase Jarvis and Christopher Jerard, embarked on their visit to Pangaea on Friday, October 1st. They met up with Mike and the boat on Saturday and are well-into the first part of their journey which will conclude Oct 8th or 9th.
Here is a link to Chase's website so you can keep up with their adventures via their blog, twitter feed, or Facebook page.
Mike reports, "After a few days in Shanghai we are now sailing SE with Northerly winds pushing us along at the fast rate of 11 to 12 knots The weather has finally improved and the rain is at long last behnd us.
Past political strife has made it virtually impossible to sail directly between China and Taiwan so we will be forced to make a stop-over in Hong Kong. With 423 nm to go and good continuous winds we are expecting to arrive in Hong Kong on the 6th.
Tirza reports, "Over 100 people came, a lot of people that knew me and were now curious because I was twice in the newspaper… I got many compliments, I think they really liked it! =)
I talked for 45 minutes, and then they asked questions about Mike and my experience and the program for more than 20 minutes!!! I didn't expect that, but they were so intrested what made me feel really good =).
The adults wantet to know more about the black market, my feelings when I came back, temperatures, about next steps and the story when the pedal of my bike broke off, about illness, the economical situaton in Mongolia, about poverty in UB, about noises at the night in the desert,and much much more, and in middle of these serious questions little boy asked me: "I ask me – If sand is like snow, can you go sledging in the sand dunes? " That was so cute …!"
The Mike Horn Team and jury have gone through hundreds of applications and after much deliberation they have finally chosen the best candidates to attend the next Selection Camp in Switzerland.
On the 10th of October, 16 youths from countries all around the world will come to Château-d'Oex in the Swiss Alps to attend a 10 day camp with the Mike Horn team.
The youths will have a fun time and will be put up against some interesting challeges during their stay. Not only will they study the region of Kamchatka with our Scientific Advisor,Dr Roswitha Stolz, they will undergo many exciting tests and challenges in Nature and will learn about new technologies and how to live towards a sustainable future with our dedicated and motivated team and partners.
"During the trip up from Hong Kong, we have had strong head winds and big waves all the way up the coast. There is a lot of traffic everywhere with many fishing boats – there can not be a lot of fish left in this part of the ocean.
It has been cloudy and grey every day with brown murky water as we get closer to Shanghai. We are now 140 nm from the pilot station. From there a pilot will jump onboard and sail with us to our mooring spot at the International Terminal in Shanghai Center."
We have had a great response to the T shirt competition and have received some super designs on the 'Stop Shark Finning Theme'. Only a few days left and we will see which ones you have voted as the top three designs and find out who will win some great prizes.
Have you placed your vote???? If not, we need your vote now!! The competition closes at midnight on Sunday the 30th of September.