Helicopters will circle overhead starting at 6 a.m. to spot any floating rubbish. Below, trash-collection boats receiving GPS coordinates will sweep up debris before each day of Olympic sailing kicks off in Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay.
Andy Hunt, the head of sailing’s world governing body World Sailing, acknowledged to the Associated Press that Rio is difficult. He raised an unfavorable comparison with the yacht-filled New England harbor of Newport. “We wouldn’t be out sailing in Newport with spotting helicopters and eco-boats,” he said.
Hunt ran off a list of other stop-gaps to sail in Guanabara with the Olympics opening in just over four weeks: floating barriers to keep rubbish from entering the bay, using naturally-occurring microbes to break down pollutants, and hygiene briefings for sailors and staff.
“Over the last couple of years they’ve mapped where the rubbish tends to collect,” Hunt said. “And a lot is based on tidal flows and wind conditions. So rubbish typically collects in certain places.”
Hunt said he’ll cancel racing – or move to courses in the open Atlantic – if, for instance, heavy rains flood the bay with tree branches, animal carcasses, or plastic bags washed down from the surrounding hillside slums.
“We will take tough decisions,” Hunt said. “If we go out and we’re not confident that a field of play can be absolutely clear, it will be moved. If there are no safe racing areas, we will just postpone racing until we can get confident.”
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