What happens to boats when they reach the end of their life?

As thousands of vessels across Europe (and indeed, the world) face retirement each year, the marine industry is confronting an important question: how do we rethink waste, materials and the future of boat building?

In this episode, we’re joined by Igor Kluin, Co-founder and Designer, and Nienke van t' Klooster, Co-founder of VAAN Yachts, a Dutch boat-builder taking a different approach to yacht design through circular thinking, recycled materials and a commitment to reducing environmental impact.

We talk about the challenge of end-of-life boats, the opportunities that come with designing differently, and what it means to build sailing catamarans with sustainability at their core. From recycled aluminium to changing perceptions around luxury and performance, this conversation explores how innovation and environmental responsibility can work hand in hand.

There’s a quiet contradiction at the heart of modern sailing.

We head out onto the water because we love the ocean - its freedom, its beauty, its power. And yet, in the most routine moments, whether washing down a deck or cleaning a hull, we may be contributing to the very damage we care about.

Not through negligence, but through habit and through products labelled “marine safe” or “eco-friendly” without really questioning what that means.

Because the reality is this: many everyday cleaning practices in leisure boating could already be non-compliant and most of us sailors have no idea.

This all comes back to International Maritime Organisation and MARPOL, the global convention designed to prevent pollution from ships - not just major spills, but the small, cumulative impacts of daily life on the water.

And that raises an uncomfortable question: are we cleaning our boats…or polluting our oceans?

Tune in to hear host Holly Manvell speak with Sarah Wallbank, CEO of August Race, a MARPOL-aligned marine cleaning brand.

We are obsessed with the weather. This obsession has served us very well over thousands of years - ultimately for the purposes of survival - food - crops, grazing, water, safety etc.

The weather shapes our days, our moods, our plans - often without us noticing.

At sea and on the water, it’s a different story. Weather is our focal point. Every decision, whether cruising or racing, flows from the wind, cloud patterns, pressure, the waves and swell - however localised.

The weather is something you read, you feel, you live in and optimise for.

The weather can be predictability and uncertainty, and in many ways, us sailors and seafarers have front row seats to the magnitude and at times, the extremes, of the weathers that governs our planet.

In this episode we’re speaking with sailor and meteorologist Tom Harrison, to explore what the weather can teach us if we know what to look for and how to read it.

For most of us around the world, wetsuits are a necessity to getting out on and staying in or under the water. There’s an emotional element too - these slippery suits allow us to spend hundreds of hours doing what we love - our pleasures and past times - surfing, supping, diving, snorkelling, foiling, kiting, body-boarding and sailing.

But like many modern textiles, neoprene doesn’t come with an easy end-of-life solution.

Our old wetsuits are rarely recycled, often burned or ending up in landfill.

So what happens when someone decides that isn’t good enough?

Let’s speak with Emma and Peter from Circular Flow — a team working to crack one of the watersports industry’s toughest waste problems by collecting, recycling, and re-using old wetsuits with the aim of creating a genuinely circular material.

In this episode, we’ll dig into why neoprene has traditionally been so hard to deal with, what it takes to build a closed-loop system, and how we, us sailors, surfers, divers etc, can get involved.

Connecting young people to water, the sea, is a topic so close to our hearts. As the bodies of research around ‘Blue Health’ in particular have grown, we better understand that time spent on or near water has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, promoting emotional resilience and improved mental well-being.

For children and young people - it can be teamwork, confidence-building, inclusion and self-esteem and bigger still - dreams, hopes and ambitions.

Here’s Greg Bertish, Founder of The Little Optimist Trust & Sailing Therapy Academy in Cape Town, to help us understand more.

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Sir Robin Knox-Johnston made history in 1968-69 as the first person to sail solo and non-stop around the world, an achievement that secured his legendary status in the sailing world. He then co-founded Clipper Ventures, established the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in 1996, transforming ocean racing by making it accessible to everyday people with no previous sailing experience. Through the Clipper Race, he has introduced thousands and thousands of people to offshore racing —an accomplishment he considers among his greatest achievements.

Beyond Clipper, Sir Robin's personal sailing achievements continue to be extraordinary. At 68, he became the oldest yachtsman to complete a solo round-the-world voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race; he won the Jules Verne Trophy with Peter Blake in 1994; at age 75, he finished third in the Route du Rhum solo transatlantic race in 2014, proving that his competitive fire and seamanship has remain undimmed.

As a life-long ocean appreciator, Sir Robin's strong penchant for high latitude sailing, namely around the reaches of the Arctic Circle, continues to expand his lifelong, exceptional insight into our changing oceans and climate.

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This sailor and podcast guest needs no introduction, but he deserves one.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston made history in 1968-69 as the first person to sail solo and non-stop around the world, an achievement that secured his legendary status in the sailing world. He then co-founded Clipper Ventures, established the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in 1996, transforming ocean racing by making it accessible to everyday people with no previous sailing experience. Through the Clipper Race, he has introduced thousands and thousands of people to offshore racing —an accomplishment he considers among his greatest achievements.

Beyond Clipper, Sir Robin's personal sailing achievements continue to be extraordinary. At 68, he became the oldest yachtsman to complete a solo round-the-world voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race; he won the Jules Verne Trophy with Peter Blake in 1994; at age 75, he finished third in the Route du Rhum solo transatlantic race in 2014, proving that his competitive fire and seamanship has remain undimmed.

As a life-long ocean appreciator, Sir Robin's strong penchant for high latitude sailing, namely around the reaches of the Arctic Circle, continues to expand his lifelong, exceptional insight into our changing oceans and climate.

When it comes to sustainability, sailing and marine has faced scrutiny like most other industries, notably on the topic of end-of-life materials.

Since 1996, Quantum Sails has been working on sail design, technology and production, now with more than 60 sail lofts around the world.

Tune in to hear Lara Poljšak, Director of Sustainability at Quantum Sails discuss the progress and obstacles in being a sustainable sailmaker today.

We've explored the changing Arctic in a couple of our our Clean Sailors podcasts to date, but what about Antarctica and the Southern Ocean; what is it like and how is it changing?

There is no other sailor to ask than Skip Novak - from Antarctica, Patagonia, South Georgia, the Northwest passage, Falklands, Atlantic, Pacific to the South Sandwich Islands, Svalbard, Spitsbergen: you name it, Skip has sailed it, and has sailed the most sea miles of any other sailor, alive or dead.

Tune in to this episode to hear more on Skip's lifetime of sailing and, importantly, how the southern-most, at times most-formidable region of our planet, Antarctica, has been shifting.

The marine industry, and superyachting in particular, is renowned for cultivating exceptional skills and high standards. In this episode, Holly sits down with Sam Stewart, founder of the Relief Crew Foundation. After a successful career in superyachting himself, Sam began bridging the gap between skilled yacht crews and impactful humanitarian and environmental projects around the globe.

Discover how a life-changing experience inspired Sam to create incredible opportunities for sailors and superyacht professionals to give back with purpose.