350.Niue
Niue .The Smallest Democratic country in the world.
Niue is certainly doing it’s bit to lower the greenhouse gas emissions when 27% of our tourists arrived in the “cleanest and greenest” possible way, by using the Trade Winds. In 1774 one of our earliest arrivals, using wind power, was Captain Cook. He tried to “parley with the natives” and leave them trinkets, but our ancestors didn’t want to parley and didn’t want his trinkets either. They threw spears at him and so Captain Cook rowed back to HMS “Endeavour” and sailed away marking Niue’s location on his map as “The Savage Island”.
However, today we aren’t “savage” any more and in fact we are down right friendly as our many cruising friends say in our visitors book.
Being true sailors, and making long sea voyages, just as our ancestors so skilfully did, modern sailors use renewable energy such as solar panels and wind generators to provide electrical power for daily use on board. It is only on rare occasions that they have to resort to diesel engines, because they are noisy and of course use expensive fossil fuels.
Perhaps the Age of Sail is not dead but will grow in use, as more and more people discover the joys of gliding through sparkling South Pacific seas with just the noise of the water as it passes down the hull, the wind whistling through the sails and being accompanied by the humpback whales on their annual migration.
The motto of the Niue Yacht Club is, “Arrive as a visitor, leave as a friend.”
Although Captain Cook didn’t, maybe one day,you dear reader, may discover the “True” Niue.
Keith
Commodore
Niue Yacht Club
The Biggest Little Yacht Club in the World.
HYPERLINK "http://www.niueyachtclub.com" www.niueyachtclub.com
Supporter of 350.Niue
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