S/V Aldebaran sailed from her home port of Santa Barbara in March 2015 and pointed her bow south towards the tropics. This was the beginning of a years long (and ongoing) adventure that would take her and her crew to some of the most beautiful and remote locations on the Pacific Ocean.
The float plan: Aldebaran would cruise the coast from Mexico to Ecuador and then loosely follow the “Coconut Milk Run,” a popular trade wind route from the Galapagos across the South Seas, sailing downwind between tropical islands. But Aldeba-ran would do things her own way and she would be cruising with a cause.
You are probably familiar with the idea of a Sharing Economy (think Airbnb and Kickstarter). Green Coconut Run founders Kristian Beadle and Sabrina Littee had the vision of applying that concept to cruising aboard Aldebaran. The dream was a crowd-sourced adventure that would share the cruising experi-ence with friends while aiming to care for ocean resources.
To realize this dream co-op members pool resources by chip-ping in cash and sweat-equity (at the boatyard and at sea) in exchange for the opportunity join Aldebaran for weeks or months at a time as she sails the “Green Coconut Run,” the modified trade wind route that prioritizes layovers at marine reserves, Biosphere Reserves, World Heritage Sites, and other locally protected areas. Along the way, Green Coconut Run participates in environmental research and conservation pro-jects such as collecting micro-plastic data, distributing solar lights, tracking shark and manta populations, and restoring coral reefs.
To see more about S/V Aldebaran’s journey to French Polyne-sia, check out www.greencoconutrun.com