- Stay Connected
Socialize
Abraham Lincoln
If given the truth, the people can be depended upon to meet any national crisis...
Guildford news...
for Guildford people, brought to you by Guildford reporters - Guildford's own news service
Anne Milton’s Sailor Daughter Nikki Tells of Yacht Crossing With ‘Captivating’ Greta
Published on: 4 Dec, 2019
Updated on: 7 Dec, 2019
Nikki Henderson
Guildford’s record-breaking international sailor Nikki Henderson, daughter of Independent candidate Anne Milton, landed teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg in Spain yesterday (December 3) to attend a UN climate summit after a carbon-free transatlantic yacht voyage with only one regret.
“I had to fly from the UK to Virginia to pick up the yacht,” 26-year old Ms Henderson told Radio 1 Newsbeat.
“In an ideal world, yes, I would have sailed there and sailed back.
“But this is a more symbolic trip. Greta wanted to sail because it’s a good way to send a message to the world that there is no real sustainable option to travel.
“She’s not telling anyone how to travel, she’s not telling anyone how to live their life.”
Earlier, Swedish-born Ms Thunberg, aged 16, had been taken to the US by yacht on a tour to raise recognition about the threats caused by climate change. For her return, she appealed for transit help.
So Australian You-Tubers Riley Whitlum and Elayna Carausu asked Nikki to join them on their yacht, ferrying Greta back.
“I helped because I wanted to see what Greta was really like, get to know her and be able to educate myself about what she represents,” Ms Henderson said.
Nikki, Greta, Greta’s dad Svante, Riley, Elayna and the couple’s baby Lennon set sail from Virginia, US on 13 November and spent nearly three weeks at sea on their 48ft boat.
“We had a couple of nights in a lightning storm which was both amazing and, I suppose, quite scary,” Ms Henderson said.
“I saw a couple of streaks hit the water and spark quite close to the boat so they were quite tense nights although most were staring out the windows and saying: ‘Wow’.”
Nikki with Riley Whitlum and Elayna Carausu and of course, Greta Thunberg (left).
After 19 days with Greta and her father at sea, Ms Henderson Nikki describes her as “friendly, quiet and kind”, adding: “Her passion comes across if you know her as a person as well as if you see her on stage or you see a setting aside parliament on the floor.
“She’s so captivating because she genuinely, authentically is true to her message in every way.”
Ms Henderson is returning home from Spain by train.
Share This Post
Responses to Anne Milton’s Sailor Daughter Nikki Tells of Yacht Crossing With ‘Captivating’ Greta
Leave a Comment Please see our comments policy. All comments are moderated and may take time to appear. Full names, or at least initial and surname, must be given.
See: Tumbling Bay Footbridge: National Trust Says It Is ‘Committed to Finding a Resolution’
Dave Middleton
December 5, 2019 at 10:14 am
Forgive me, but surely it must have been possible to have found a suitable crewmate to join ship in the USA, rather than have someone fly over from the UK as Nikki Henderson did?
As for Greta Thunberg not telling anyone how to live their lives, or how to travel, it seems to me that that’s exactly what she and her climate emergency campaigners seem to be doing.
David Pillinger
December 5, 2019 at 5:16 pm
I find Mr Middleton’s comment a little harsh. The plane was going to New York anyway and it was important from a marketing perspective that these young yachtswomen advertise their message effectively with a triumphant disembarkation in Spain for the summit. There wouldn’t have been time to sail out to New York, so why not fly?
No harm in Greta and Nikki trying to make their point. They may be right, after all, in what the say. There used to be people that thought smoking was OK, for example, but the evidence built up to the contrary. There were a hell of a lot of deniers about this too.
David Wragg
December 5, 2019 at 6:48 pm
The UK has been one of the leaders in cutting emissions, and even if we did more, it would not counter the vast emissions from China, building new coal-fired power stations, and Brazil, allowing farmers to burn down the Amazon rain forests.
Instead of lecturing us, Greta Thunberg should be heading for Beijing or Brasilia.
Dave Middleton
December 6, 2019 at 11:33 am
I fully agree that we need to look after our planet better than we have. Anyone with any common sense whatsoever must agree and the message is well and truly out there nowadays.
My point was more that there are no doubt perfectly competent sailors in the USA, that could’ve crewed the boat, rather than have someone fly out from the UK.
The argument that the aircraft was going there anyway and there wasn’t enough time to sail to the US, can equally be applied by the hundreds of thousands of people who fly to holiday destinations and fly on business every year, who are being portrayed as social pariahs and made to feel guilty for doing so.
Climate change activists and their various supporters, such as Emma Thompson, are telling us that we must change our current behaviours to reduce the damage that we may be doing to our environment, yet they seem happy to hop aboard aircraft when it suits them.
As for the “carbon neutral” boat that carried Miss Thunberg over the Atlantic, the only way that vessel, made of plastic, glass fibre, steel, aluminium, glass and other man-made components, could really be carbon neutral, would for it to have not been made in the first place.
After all, for the past few years, it has effectively been used as a seaborne camper van, by a family touring the world for their own pleasure. As far as I’m aware, it certainly isn’t a working vessel and carries no cargo to pay its way.
RWL Davies
December 9, 2019 at 8:06 am
Excellent summaries.
“Instead of lecturing us, Greta Thunberg should be heading for Beijing or Brasilia”
“As for the “carbon neutral” boat that carried Miss Thunberg over the Atlantic, the only way that vessel, made of plastic, glass fibre, steel, aluminium, glass and other man-made components, could really be carbon neutral, would for it to have not been made in the first place.”
Climate change is inevitable, its being going on since long before humankind existed and will continue long after its gone.
Of course we need to take proper steps to minimise our contributions to climate change, but not at the expense of ignoring realities and with much less posturing by individuals and groups.
Jim Allen
December 9, 2019 at 10:31 am
In reality the only way the young miss could have been carbon neutral would have been to sail the Atlantic on the Kontiki. But that would mean she would have to accept it is the younger generation who are not carbon Neutral – with their tonka toy cars and the like. The older carbon ignorant generation who had newspaper-wrapped fish & chips and ham off the bone were, more or less and survived without the polluting plastics of iPads and 12 million Christmas jumpers.