Low Carbon Lifestyle Tour

2007 Low Carbon Lifestyle Tour

Mukti Mitchell: Sailing around Britain in a zero-emission microyacht to promote low carbon lifestyles.

Visiting forty UK ports including Swansea, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, London, Southampton and Exeter.

Never has there been a more pressing global challenge than climate change ? and we can do something about it! That’s the message that the Low Carbon Lifestyle tour will be taking around the coast of Britain in the spring and summer of 2007.

Endorsed by all the great and good of the environmental movement from Jonathan Porritt and Zac Goldsmith to Prince Charles, the Low Carbon Lifestyle Tour will see carpenter Mukti Mitchell sail in to more than forty British ports with the message that low carbon living is fun and easy.

In each destination Mukti, who will be sailing his hand-built boat, ‘Chance’, will host talks and events displaying low-carbon products from insulation to bicycles, public transport, local food and low-energy holidays - all the elements of a low carbon lifestyle. There is a guidebook on low carbon living and lots of ways to join in with the tour.

A lot of the best things in life are low-carbon by nature — exercise and socialising are good examples — and the really good bit is that low-carbon activities save money and make you feel good - says Mukti.

Find out more about the 2007 Low Carbon Lifestyle Tour

2005 Low Carbon Lifestyle Tour

In 2005 Mukti Mitchell sailed the Explorer 'Chance' round teh south west peninsula of England.

Environmental designer Mukti Mitchell circumnavigated the South West coast in August 2005 in his zero-emission microyacht, Explorer, which has no engine. Mukti?s intention was to prove the microyacht, with its revolutionary keel design, at the same time as promoting Low Carbon Lifestyles. The tour was successful, visiting 19 ports in 28 days, and reaching 1.2 million people via regional newspapers and sailing magazines.

What makes the Explorer so special is the Swing Bulb Keel, invented by Mukti whilst crossing the Atlantic by sail in 2000. Its parallelogram configuration forms a retractable keel with a lead bulb of much greater depth than conventional keels. Finalist in the Amateur Yacht Research Society 2003 yacht design competition and Nominated ?Innovative Boat of the Year? at the IPC Media Marine Awards 2005, the keel provides an unprecedented stability-to-weight ratio. This gives the Explorer dinghy-like size with yacht-like stability. She is probably the only production yacht in the world that is both seaworthy enough for coastal cruising yet light enough to row. The Explorer is available from Mitchell Yachts.

Mukti also promoted the concept of Low Carbon Lifestyles, of which his Explorer yacht is a part. He distributed fliers to sailing clubs and councils, explaining how to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions created by one?s lifestyle. This works in conjunction with Mukti?s ?personal carbon dioxide calculator? (first in an independent survey of carbon calculators on-line). The calculator measures the annual emissions from each part of your lifestyle separately, including electricity, coal, gas, wood, car, train and air travel, and ?industry share?. Therefore you can see which areas are creating the most emissions, and which are easiest to reduce. After a year you can go back and see exactly how much difference your efforts have made. The national average is currently 10 tonnes of CO2 per person per year, in the UK. If you can reduce your personal carbon emissions by 20% by 2012, you will have done your bit to reach Government targets, and avert climate change with it?s associated freak storms and floods.

During the tour Mukti had to take shelter three times from bad weather. He was becalmed several times, rowing up to six miles with the help of the tide. This forced him into some of Cornwall?s prettiest secluded coves, with turquoise waters and bounteous fish. Rounding Land’s End went very smoothly on 10th August, but on the 17th he went too close to Dodman Point, and had to row out of nasty overfalls. The worst conditions of the trip were encountered at Start Point the day after a Gale 8, which had left 9ft seas behind. “Sometimes a wave picked the boat up and there was a gaping hole in front, but we never went down it. However, I never felt too worried for my life as the Explorer can capsize and self-right without taking on much water.” Apart from these few instances of rough weather, there were days of blissful sailing and silent rowing, beholding a coast of breathtaking beauty and changing colours. And heart warming entrances into some of Cornwall?s tiny coves and ports inaccessible to larger vessels.

Exciting sightings included Seals, Dolphins, Basking Sharks and Sunfish, the Architect David Lea’s beautiful wooden Tumlare yacht, and a broadside collision during the Royal Fowey Regatta. A warm welcome was received from sailing clubs and others along the way, and a great deal of interest in the Explorer microyacht and low carbon lifestyles.