The Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe is something akin to unfinished business for 64 year old South African Donald Alexander. A former dinghy racer, windsurfer and kitesurfer and extreme mountaineer, he completed the course in 2018 but only after having to stop in La Coruna, NW Spain to have repairs made to main bulkhead cracks.
He finished 23rd in Class 40 on Power of One after 26 days and 1 hour but this time his main priorities are to sail a good race without stopping and to promote Save Soil, a global movement to reduce dangerous soil erosion and return organic content back to soils.
Huge damage caused by soil erosion and flooding in his home village near Durban is the catalyst that has brought him back to the Route du Rhum-Destination. He is promoting global initiatives and ideas through Conscious Planet. Awareness of his initiative has been piqued so much since he started this campaign that he has been asked to address the COP27 climate summit from his Class 40 yacht.
Alexander explains, “What is driving me is promoting safe soil. It is a cause I believe in. My village in South African Umdloti Beach got devastated by floods in April and May because of soil degradation after centuries of cane agriculture monocropping. So when the rain came the soil did not hold on to the moisture. And so blocks of flats, homes, big buildings slipped down the hillside. So I am really trying to raise awareness about the degradation of soils globally and what is happening, and to draw attention to what happened in my village and raise money for them to rehabilitate because there are billions of dollars of damage caused in the Durban area. And the local and national government don’t have the money.”
The availability of a competitive boat, formerly Aymeric Chapellier’s Mach 40.3 which took second on the last Route du Rhum and third on the 2019 Transat Jacques Vabre, was really what set the wheels in motion. The boat was supposed to be in turnkey condition, ready to go…..
“It has a modified bow and the way was sold to us is that it just did the TJV and was ready to go. I said to my wife ‘don’t worry sweetie it is ready to sail I just need to get on it and go. And it so was not. We have had to refit the whole boat. Paul Peggs has done that and I have had fabulous help along the way.” Alexander smiles.
He describes his cause, “I am unsponsored and I am merely supporting the cause Conscious Planet which is driven by the Isha Foundation and that is driven by and amazing individual Sadghuru. It is very interesting. I have committed myself to the cause and it has drawn a great level attention. And so I have been invited to talk to an audience at COP27 from the boat in the Atlantic, supporting Save Soil, on the 16th of November. The Save Soil are putting a whole lot of images together from the start. It is all gaining traction.”
And despite the challenges of getting he boat ready and the logistics and delay, he is looking forwards to giving it all another go, “Last time I had no wind instruments from east of the Azores because they got blown off the mast. So I had only compass mode and I stopped in La Coruna because the main bulkhead sheared. So this time I want to enjoy it. It is in my nature to push and push hard, but last time it took me six months to recover, I was a mess. This time I want to push and I want to spend time promoting Save Soil, that is what has been driving me. I have had so many problems with the boat there were times I would have stopped. I like the challenge that is coming. As long as I can tack on to starboard around the Azores I will be happy.”
But he adds, “I have a real inner conflict. I think competition is silly in the big picture….. but then competition is in my nature, I am naturally competitive.” Go figure…..