((PKG)) SCHOONER APOLLONIA DELIVERS SAIL
FREIGHT
((TRT: 10:00))
((Topic Banner: Sustainability in Simplicity))
((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor))
((Producer: Kathleen Mclaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Map: Hudson River, New York City - New York))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 female; 7 male))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
Hi, I'm Sam Merrett. I'm Captain and Team Leader of the
Schooner Apollonia which is the wonderful ship we're all
aboard right now. The Apollonia is a schooner, which is just
a fancy way of saying it's a sailboat which has more than
one mast and we sail freight and cargo throughout the
Hudson Valley from our home port, right back here in
Hudson, New York, all the way down to New York City.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
All right. Is everybody ready on their lifts?
((Speaker 1))
Yup.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
All right. Go ahead and pull away both lifts. Let's go. All
aboard.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
We’re using the wind to transport things sustainably, but with
the purpose of weaving together all of these amazing
producers throughout the Hudson Valley. So, we're
connecting people who make maple syrup right here, people
who make hot sauce right here with consumers down in New
York City and then we're even flipping things around. When
we turn around, we're sailing up cargoes like coffee and
things like that, that you can't really grow around here.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
Our primary cargoes on the Apollonia are brewers malt, oak
logs for mushroom cultivation, bulk flour that was grown and
milled right here in the Hudson Valley and other grains. And
those are what we consider the like bulk cargoes or the large
cargoes. We also have individual cargoes. We work with
small-scale producers delivering everything from honey to
maple syrup to hot sauce. The Apollonia is an old boat. She
actually turned 75 this year. She's from 1946.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
That's the Hudson Athens Lighthouse. That's from 1874 and
it's a fascinating little spot. But yeah, that is up until the
1940s, there was actually a family that lived there that had to
keep a lamp oil fire burning as the only means of navigation
there. Now, the coast guard runs it with a little solar panel
and it’s kind of a much simpler ordeal.
Matt, let's see if we can get a little speed up and then we'll
tack.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
The Hudson River's an amazing body of water. It presents all
of the challenges of sailing anywhere that I've ever sailed. In
some ways it's more challenging because it tends to be quite
skinny. There's lots of commercial traffic. There's lots of
shallow water, things like that. The wind is always changing
and always fighting with you, but what's amazing about the
Hudson River is the people that it connects. I think that's
what really makes it work for me, is that we're constantly
sailing past towns and people and we're interacting with
them, right? We see our jobs very much as delivering cargo
and also connecting people, connecting whether that's a
producer to a consumer or whether that's just someone who
lives in Hudson with the whereabouts of something cool that
just happened in Kingston. You know, like that’s what ships
were historically as they were messengers, not only of cargo
and freight, but also of news and weather and you'd send
something to a friend at another town. And so, I think as
we're trying to encourage folks to think about how the
Hudson River is a way to move things, understanding the
connection is really important.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Brad Vogel, Partnerships and Logistics))
This is definitely a new thing at the same time because it just
started within the last year to make these runs from Hudson,
New York, down the Hudson River, to here in Brooklyn, New
York,
((Photo Courtesy: Grain de Sail))
and really connecting a lot of different towns and
communities along the way and showing people that there's
a way forward on sustainable freights and cargo.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
Sail freight has been something people have done for
thousands of years,150, 200 years ago in the Hudson Valley
most of what was moved was moved by sloops and
schooners like this on the Hudson River. And of course,
today, there's this crisis we're having with the climate and
we're looking for some solutions and I feel inspired by the
past and feel like this is still a realistic solution. So, the
concept is to try it out and see how it goes. We are looking to
the past, but not in some living history kind of museum way,
just in what were practical solutions like horses, total
renewable energy. The wind obviously still exists. The
Hudson River, still a resource that's here. Once it was the
super highway of the region. Maybe it has a utility as such
again.
((Jamie Pierce, Customer))
Today, I came down to pick up some honey and some cider
that I ordered on the Apollonia.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
So, Lou right here, is riding our.....this is our standard
distribution rig right here and you can just take off whenever
you want.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
It is a Tern e-bike equipped with a Carla trailer. In the trailer
is 400 pounds of malt from upstate farms and Lou is about to
ride it for distribution. In addition to that, what we've got
today is some friends came out with a team of horses. I
mean, this is kind of, we've got in some ways reappropriation
of 18th century technology to be the green version of the
future and horses are obviously a renewable solution.
((NATS))
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
The next load is going to Van Brunt,
((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm))
Okay.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
which is the closest delivery. So, that should be nice. Nice
and refreshing load after last time.
((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm))
Yeah. Last one was a boatload.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
Yeah, totally. This one's right around the corner and it's the
rye, which is the unmarked bags. Same stuff we got you. So,
yeah, and he's using that to make a white rye whiskey.
((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm))
Oh.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
So, it should be good hopefully.
((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm))
Yeah.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
Actually, we will be ready by this fall. So, when we do this
again in the fall,
((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm))
Yup. We'll go back out.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
you can taste some of the products of our labor.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
And on the way up, we're going to bring whiskey from Van
Brunt Whiskey, and we're going to bring a bunch of mead
from Enlightenment Wines. We're also rendezvousing with a
French ship
((Photo Courtesy: Grain de Sail))
that sailed wine and chocolate over across the Atlantic
Ocean on Monday.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
So, we're going to have some wine and chocolate in our
northbound cargo. And there's probably something else I'm
forgetting, but that’s, you know, it's been a long trip, been
underway for about a week now. So, yeah, we're just trying
to get the boat unloaded and things being squared away.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Speaker 2))
Hoist up the John B’s sails.
See how the main sail sets.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
You have to understand that the people we work with are
very passionate about what they're making and very
thoughtful about that. And they've thought about the taste.
They've thought about the impact. They've thought about the
producers. The idea of supporting local farms to a lot of
these people is common practice, right? And the idea of
organic produce and fair trade and how the labor is treated.
And they're really trying to make the best product and that's
not just flavor. That's also story and impact.
And then I think, by and large, they all take the trucking part
for granted, right? You build it. You need to get it to
someone. You make it. You need to get it to someone. What
do you do? You throw it on a truck that, sort of, is how our
distribution network is set up. And so, when we approach
them with the idea that there was an alternative, I think at
first, they, sort of, didn't really believe us and then we've
been, sort of, demonstrating that that's the case and building
a network of people who have faith in us.
((Tanya van Renesse, Crew Member))
There's a lot of people who try and do something like this. I
mean, when he got this boat, it was just bare bones. There
wasn't no mast, no booms and in just a couple of years, he
put it all together. If it wasn't for his just like amazing like
drive and energy, it would never ever been able to take
place.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Speaker 6))
I feel so broken up,
I want to go home.
((MUSIC))
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
For us, part of this is that sailing and many of the, sort of,
traditional crafts, you can't preserve them in books. I mean,
you can write amazing stories about sailing. Obviously, you
could write down the goods. But the truth is, if you don't do it,
you'll never really know how to do it, right? There's an
experiential side to it. And so, to some degree, engaging
with people, getting them on boats, getting crew sailing
again, keeping this wisdom alive is the only way it's going to
persist, right?
((Matthew Soltesz, Crew member))
When people hear we're delivering by sail, they're first
confused and just, "No way." Like, "No, really. No fossil
fuels?" "Yeah, none." And then, "Interesting." And then their
second question is, "Well, do the numbers add up?" I was
like, "Well, that's the point. That's what we're working on."
And I think when we explain what we're doing, I think people
overwhelmingly just understand that, you know, the system
that we have working now just does what's not working. The
system that's in place right now is not working and it's not
sustainable. And it's just the power structure, trade structure,
everything. It's not sustainable. It's good for now. It's good
for maybe 10 years, but it's not going to be good in 50 years
and sure as hell not good for our grandchildren. So, there's
got to be a way to change things. And this is a small attempt.
It's a test case, but it gets the conversation started. So, that's
the point.
((MUSIC/NATS))
FREIGHT
((TRT: 10:00))
((Topic Banner: Sustainability in Simplicity))
((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor))
((Producer: Kathleen Mclaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Map: Hudson River, New York City - New York))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 female; 7 male))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
Hi, I'm Sam Merrett. I'm Captain and Team Leader of the
Schooner Apollonia which is the wonderful ship we're all
aboard right now. The Apollonia is a schooner, which is just
a fancy way of saying it's a sailboat which has more than
one mast and we sail freight and cargo throughout the
Hudson Valley from our home port, right back here in
Hudson, New York, all the way down to New York City.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
All right. Is everybody ready on their lifts?
((Speaker 1))
Yup.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
All right. Go ahead and pull away both lifts. Let's go. All
aboard.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
We’re using the wind to transport things sustainably, but with
the purpose of weaving together all of these amazing
producers throughout the Hudson Valley. So, we're
connecting people who make maple syrup right here, people
who make hot sauce right here with consumers down in New
York City and then we're even flipping things around. When
we turn around, we're sailing up cargoes like coffee and
things like that, that you can't really grow around here.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
Our primary cargoes on the Apollonia are brewers malt, oak
logs for mushroom cultivation, bulk flour that was grown and
milled right here in the Hudson Valley and other grains. And
those are what we consider the like bulk cargoes or the large
cargoes. We also have individual cargoes. We work with
small-scale producers delivering everything from honey to
maple syrup to hot sauce. The Apollonia is an old boat. She
actually turned 75 this year. She's from 1946.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
That's the Hudson Athens Lighthouse. That's from 1874 and
it's a fascinating little spot. But yeah, that is up until the
1940s, there was actually a family that lived there that had to
keep a lamp oil fire burning as the only means of navigation
there. Now, the coast guard runs it with a little solar panel
and it’s kind of a much simpler ordeal.
Matt, let's see if we can get a little speed up and then we'll
tack.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
The Hudson River's an amazing body of water. It presents all
of the challenges of sailing anywhere that I've ever sailed. In
some ways it's more challenging because it tends to be quite
skinny. There's lots of commercial traffic. There's lots of
shallow water, things like that. The wind is always changing
and always fighting with you, but what's amazing about the
Hudson River is the people that it connects. I think that's
what really makes it work for me, is that we're constantly
sailing past towns and people and we're interacting with
them, right? We see our jobs very much as delivering cargo
and also connecting people, connecting whether that's a
producer to a consumer or whether that's just someone who
lives in Hudson with the whereabouts of something cool that
just happened in Kingston. You know, like that’s what ships
were historically as they were messengers, not only of cargo
and freight, but also of news and weather and you'd send
something to a friend at another town. And so, I think as
we're trying to encourage folks to think about how the
Hudson River is a way to move things, understanding the
connection is really important.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Brad Vogel, Partnerships and Logistics))
This is definitely a new thing at the same time because it just
started within the last year to make these runs from Hudson,
New York, down the Hudson River, to here in Brooklyn, New
York,
((Photo Courtesy: Grain de Sail))
and really connecting a lot of different towns and
communities along the way and showing people that there's
a way forward on sustainable freights and cargo.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
Sail freight has been something people have done for
thousands of years,150, 200 years ago in the Hudson Valley
most of what was moved was moved by sloops and
schooners like this on the Hudson River. And of course,
today, there's this crisis we're having with the climate and
we're looking for some solutions and I feel inspired by the
past and feel like this is still a realistic solution. So, the
concept is to try it out and see how it goes. We are looking to
the past, but not in some living history kind of museum way,
just in what were practical solutions like horses, total
renewable energy. The wind obviously still exists. The
Hudson River, still a resource that's here. Once it was the
super highway of the region. Maybe it has a utility as such
again.
((Jamie Pierce, Customer))
Today, I came down to pick up some honey and some cider
that I ordered on the Apollonia.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
So, Lou right here, is riding our.....this is our standard
distribution rig right here and you can just take off whenever
you want.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
It is a Tern e-bike equipped with a Carla trailer. In the trailer
is 400 pounds of malt from upstate farms and Lou is about to
ride it for distribution. In addition to that, what we've got
today is some friends came out with a team of horses. I
mean, this is kind of, we've got in some ways reappropriation
of 18th century technology to be the green version of the
future and horses are obviously a renewable solution.
((NATS))
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
The next load is going to Van Brunt,
((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm))
Okay.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
which is the closest delivery. So, that should be nice. Nice
and refreshing load after last time.
((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm))
Yeah. Last one was a boatload.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
Yeah, totally. This one's right around the corner and it's the
rye, which is the unmarked bags. Same stuff we got you. So,
yeah, and he's using that to make a white rye whiskey.
((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm))
Oh.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
So, it should be good hopefully.
((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm))
Yeah.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
Actually, we will be ready by this fall. So, when we do this
again in the fall,
((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm))
Yup. We'll go back out.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
you can taste some of the products of our labor.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
And on the way up, we're going to bring whiskey from Van
Brunt Whiskey, and we're going to bring a bunch of mead
from Enlightenment Wines. We're also rendezvousing with a
French ship
((Photo Courtesy: Grain de Sail))
that sailed wine and chocolate over across the Atlantic
Ocean on Monday.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
So, we're going to have some wine and chocolate in our
northbound cargo. And there's probably something else I'm
forgetting, but that’s, you know, it's been a long trip, been
underway for about a week now. So, yeah, we're just trying
to get the boat unloaded and things being squared away.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Speaker 2))
Hoist up the John B’s sails.
See how the main sail sets.
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
You have to understand that the people we work with are
very passionate about what they're making and very
thoughtful about that. And they've thought about the taste.
They've thought about the impact. They've thought about the
producers. The idea of supporting local farms to a lot of
these people is common practice, right? And the idea of
organic produce and fair trade and how the labor is treated.
And they're really trying to make the best product and that's
not just flavor. That's also story and impact.
And then I think, by and large, they all take the trucking part
for granted, right? You build it. You need to get it to
someone. You make it. You need to get it to someone. What
do you do? You throw it on a truck that, sort of, is how our
distribution network is set up. And so, when we approach
them with the idea that there was an alternative, I think at
first, they, sort of, didn't really believe us and then we've
been, sort of, demonstrating that that's the case and building
a network of people who have faith in us.
((Tanya van Renesse, Crew Member))
There's a lot of people who try and do something like this. I
mean, when he got this boat, it was just bare bones. There
wasn't no mast, no booms and in just a couple of years, he
put it all together. If it wasn't for his just like amazing like
drive and energy, it would never ever been able to take
place.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Speaker 6))
I feel so broken up,
I want to go home.
((MUSIC))
((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner
Apollonia))
For us, part of this is that sailing and many of the, sort of,
traditional crafts, you can't preserve them in books. I mean,
you can write amazing stories about sailing. Obviously, you
could write down the goods. But the truth is, if you don't do it,
you'll never really know how to do it, right? There's an
experiential side to it. And so, to some degree, engaging
with people, getting them on boats, getting crew sailing
again, keeping this wisdom alive is the only way it's going to
persist, right?
((Matthew Soltesz, Crew member))
When people hear we're delivering by sail, they're first
confused and just, "No way." Like, "No, really. No fossil
fuels?" "Yeah, none." And then, "Interesting." And then their
second question is, "Well, do the numbers add up?" I was
like, "Well, that's the point. That's what we're working on."
And I think when we explain what we're doing, I think people
overwhelmingly just understand that, you know, the system
that we have working now just does what's not working. The
system that's in place right now is not working and it's not
sustainable. And it's just the power structure, trade structure,
everything. It's not sustainable. It's good for now. It's good
for maybe 10 years, but it's not going to be good in 50 years
and sure as hell not good for our grandchildren. So, there's
got to be a way to change things. And this is a small attempt.
It's a test case, but it gets the conversation started. So, that's
the point.
((MUSIC/NATS))
