THE WHIRLWIND CHARITABLE TRUST BLOG

Categories: Blog 21

The Whirlwind Charitable Trust is proud to sponsor the Secchi Disk Project

further funding for marine environment research is availablePhytoplankton, or microscopic marine algae, account for approximately 50% of all photosynthesis on planet Earth. Crucially, they underpin the whole marine food chain. The Secchi Disk Project is a long-term research initiative to record the distribution and abundance of phytoplankton across the world’s oceans, using easily made ‘Secchi disks’ to measure the clarity of the water. This is something anyone can do, so the project offers young people a highly accessible introduction to the importance of the marine ecosystem.

An interactive project

Participants not only contribute worthwhile data to the project but, in the process, become better acquainted with both the hidden wonders, and the fragility, of the oceans. We see these as important steps towards a more enlightened and sustainable relationship with the marine environment for the coming generation.

Secchi Disk is already the world’s largest marine ‘citizen science’ project.  It has benefitted from funding for marine environment research, with participation from numerous seafarers including global cruising sailors, commercial seafarers, fishermen and research organisations. A number of the Whirlwind Trust’s partner charities have already committed to supporting the project. They were quickly able to appreciate the potential participation in the programme offered to enriching the activities they provide to young people.

The greater the number of contributors to the project, the more reliable will be the data set used by researchers around the world to provide solid evidence on the state of the oceans. And the wider the participation, the greater will be the interest in and commitment to the marine environment among our future generation of leaders.

Please take part!

By taking part you will join a large community of motivated, environmentally aware, citizen scientists, recording phytoplankton levels in a simple, practical and enjoyable way from aboard a cruising yacht. Please visit secchidisk.org to see just how easy, interesting and inexpensive it is for a group of young people on a sailing experience to make their own Secchi disk, take measurements at sea and upload the data via the free Secchi phone app.

The Secchi Disk study’s first scientific output was published in December 2017 in the journal The Public Library of Science ONE also known as PLOS ONE. You can download the pdf directly here. The paper is Open Access, so it is free to read, download and distribute, and there has been broad coverage in the sailing press.

Further funding for marine environment research is available

Are you passionate about this?  Further funding is available for the right project.

Further reading

Click here for another article about our marine environment.

Can a week at sea change your life?

Can a week on board a sail training vessel really change your life? People sometimes wonder what difference can really be made in such a short time; but anyone involved in sail training will have stories about young people whose prospects were transformed by the experience.

In recent years, parents and teachers have seen a surge in teenage mental health problems, particularly anxiety, which can drastically limit the chances of a young person leaving school with the qualifications and social skills to move forward in life and fulfil their potential. So can sail training tackle this issue?

In 2024, Ocean Youth Trust South ran a school voyage including a student who was only attending a couple of days a week, on a very reduced curriculum, because she wasn’t coping with anything more. The only subject she really liked was sport – so the school persuaded her to sign up for sailing. The voyage, and particularly the friendships formed on board, gave her the confidence to start attending full-time, which she has sustained for two complete terms since coming sailing. She can now tackle as many GCSE subjects as anyone else, with her results and achievements determined by her ability not her anxiety. Her voyage may have helped to change everything for her future.

But this was only possible because OYT South was able to subsidise her voyage – otherwise she could never have afforded to take part. Every time the Whirlwind Trust makes a donation, such as helping us to buy a new sail, that’s a cost that doesn’t need to be passed on to the people booking our voyages. The Whirlwind Trust helps us to keep our vessel Prolific in a good and safe condition so that we can run as many voyages and help as many young people as possible – and, crucially, keep our voyages affordable. When that makes all the difference to whether someone successfully completes their education, that’s priceless. Thank you!