Mar 23, 2012
On the sixth day of the Fuerte Wave Classic the wind was very light with gusts only up to 10 knots. All riders met at 10:00 am at Majanicho to run a beach cleaning. Wim Geirnaert and his crew from the Clean Ocean Project were there and had organized bags and gloves. The plan was to collect rubbish, but predominately oil.
Wim stated: "During this beach cleaning, we focused on the oil due to the plans of the Spanish government and Repsol to build oil rigs out on the ocean. Repsol plans to use these for drilling 616,060 hectares of the east coast of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote — an amount of nearly 2.5 times the size of these two islands. The local politicians who were here today were really shocked about our full bags of trash and oil."
 The riders and some other helping hands filled up many bags and bucket with rocks, which were covered with fresh oil.
Wim explained: "We wanted to focus on the petrol this time. It comes from the big tankers, which get cleaned out on the ocean instead of cleaning them in the harbors. The reason is the higher costs in harbors. But it's getting better as the ships, which are moving around, get controlled via satellites. We wanted to show how much oil is already at the beach of Majanicho and I guess we delivered the proof. The beach is full of oil. In between the lavastones the black viscous oil covers big areas. Also, when the tides goes down, parts of the reef are fully covered with a black shining material."
Wim and his team have been working on the Clean Ocean Project for 10 years, following their passion of a clean ocean and beach. They all live close to the sea, surf the waves and enjoy every moment out in nature and they are feeling responsible to protect and preserve this unique playground.
After the beach cleaning the Clean Ocean Project invited all participants of the cleaning session for a nice barbecue directly at the beach.
 Later in the afternoon, when the tide went down and the waves improved some riders went out for surfing or standup paddling. Manu Taub, who is running a SUP, SURF and Tow-in rental at Corralejo, called Line Up, supported the riders with first class equipment.
One more day is left to finish the 2012 Fuerte Wave Classic.
     
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