Burling and Tuke inspired to build Live Ocean legacy
"Through our sport, we champion action for the ocean, taking this message to the world..."
(The story below references an interview with sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in Oceanographic Magazine that can be found here)
They've won Olympic gold medals, multiple world championships and the America's Cup, but their most important legacy may just be the work they're doing through their Live Ocean Foundation, as they told Oceanographic Magazine in a recent interview.
New Zealand sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke set up the foundation following their race around the world in the 2017-18 edition of The Ocean Race (known as the Volvo Ocean Race at the time). Peter Burling raced on Team Brunel and Blair Tuke was with MAPFRE - one of the rare occasions the two have competed against, rather than alongside, each other.
“We set up Live Ocean in 2019, supporting the work of exceptional marine scientists, innovators and communicators to scale up action for a healthy ocean," Burling told Oceanographic Magazine. "Through our sport, we champion action for the ocean, taking this message to the world.”
“We’ve never had a ‘single moment’ when we realised how urgent the issues facing the ocean are, but it became clear when we competed in The Ocean Race and saw the interconnectedness of the world through the ocean," Tuke added. "It feels a lot smaller than we perhaps thought it would and realised that we really need to do something to look after it...
“We both really enjoyed our experience doing The Ocean Race. It’s an awesome combination of adventure and competition.”
Burling says the challenge of the Race combined with a race course that takes competitors through some of the most remote waters on the planet is what makes the event so special: “Being out in the elements for prolonged periods of time, combined with fatigue. It’s such a mental and physical challenge. But for all the tough times there are amazing experiences too – we’ve been to parts of the planet that very few have.”
Read the full interview here - https://oceanographicmagazine.com/features/peter-burling-and-blair-tuke-sailing-for-conservation/