empirical Ocean Ambassadors Club

Equity membership opportunity in a members club that will acquire the iconic sailing yacht Athena that will be used as a clubhouse where

members can join together with VIP guests at superyacht regattas and ports of call throughout the world of a circumnavigation and

documentary that will drive awareness into ocean conservation initiatives

Members and their guests will be invited to join sailing events and cocktail parties at superyacht regattas and at ports of call during the circumnavigation.

Numerous ocean conservation organizations will be invited to also conduct research into plastic pollution while circumnavigating the world and filming documentaries on the five gyres, plastic pollution, and ocean conservation. The documentaries will aim to raise awareness, and promote action to address, the degradation of the ocean and help restore it to full health.

The major points of Club Equity Membership.

1. Club Equity Membership (ownership interest) is an all-inclusive lifetime membership.

2. Equity membership may be sold back to the club after 10 years for full return of capital.

3. Club members benefit by claiming an ownership in the club that acquires some of the world's greatest superyachts.

4. Club members enjoy the lifestyle of the sport of regatta competition and social events, and are able to invite guests onboard during and after regattas, use yachts for promoting their business, invite VIP guests onboard, and schedule private use of yachts for entertaining at regattas and club rendezvous locations.

5. There is no financial burden of overheads. Membership includes all yacht management and operating expenses, permanent crew, insurance, surveys, repairs and maintenance.

6. Members have nothing more to pay other than expenses such as flights to the superyacht regatta or yacht location, on-shore accommodation and contribute towards personal onboard food and alcohol and when entertaining private guests.

Empirical Ocean Ambassadors Initiative

The idea for the Empirical Ocean Ambassadors Club is to bring together superyacht owners, business leaders, philanthropists, and entertainment icons that have a personal passion for the ocean so as to support and draw public attention to the urgent need for ocean protection.

By working with and leveraging the work of other ocean conservation organizations, Empirical Ocean Ambassadors will encourage, endorse, and champion their ocean initiatives.

The goal is for Empirical Ocean Ambassadors to form a global alliance of individuals, organizations, businesses and policymakers working toward an ocean free of plastic pollution and its toxic impact on the ocean, sea life and humans.

The Ocean Ambassadors Initiative will bring together club equity members that will be dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans by supporting ocean conservation organizations dedicated to reversing the trend of destruction of ocean environments around the world.

Empirical will focus on projects and campaigns that support organizations that take a solutions-based approach and focus on initiatives that promote awareness and provide tangible and lasting benefits to the world’s oceans, contribute to eradicating plastics pollution and enhance the wellbeing of the oceans.

Empirical will support organizations such as Oceana, The 5 Gyres Institute, The Ocean Foundation, Clean Oceans International, The Ocean Cleanup, The Plastic Oceans Foundation, The Global Ocean Commission, Ocean Elders and support research or educational projects that are capable of attracting significant public attention and that, as a result, may genuinely increase public and government awareness of the urgent need to protect the marine environment.

Plastic poisons our food chain. Even plankton, the tiniest creatures in our oceans, are eating microplastics and absorbing their toxins. The substance displaces nutritive algae that creatures up the food chain require.

Plastic affects human health. Chemicals leached by plastics are in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and other ailments.

Videos supporting ocean conservation initiatives may be viewed at www.empiricalpremium.com

The Future of the Ocean Depends on You

As yachtsman we are all (or should be) concerned with the state of the world's oceans. Maintaining the health of the oceans is critical for the future of people and the planet. Yet, our oceans are suffering from the compounding threats of plastic pollution.

When the adventurer Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific by raft in 1947, he saw no trash. Today, garbage patches the size of small countries rotate in the centers of various oceans. A study of ocean trash in 2009 found that cigarette butts were the most common debris, with plastic bags second.

Of unknown danger are the much smaller pieces of plastic that infuse the seas and probably will forever. Marine animals ingest plastic fragments and die. Lost or discarded nylon fishing nets and monofilament longlines drift endlessly, catching and killing hundreds of thousands more every year. According to another study, part of the Pacific holds six pounds of floating trash for every pound of natural plankton.

Plastic never goes away.

Plastic is a substance the Earth cannot digest. Plastic is a durable material made to last forever. Disposed plastic materials can remain in the environment for up to 2,000 years and longer. More than 5 trillion plastic pieces weighing over 250,000 tons are afloat in the ocean.

For years, fish have been feeding on tiny pieces of plastic in the ocean, mistaking them for food. These microplastics, sometimes thinner than human hair, are now in 85–90 percent of some fish populations, albeit in relatively small quantities.

Eleonora, the 160ft replica of racing schooner Westward

Athena . Built by Royal Huisman. One of the most impressive and luxurious sailing superyachts in the world.