Earthrace Conservation organisation
Saving Animals. Saving Marine Life. Saving Habitat. That´s my mission being a wildlife and conservation activist for over 12 years. How did I end up here? After leaving my profession in traditional oil industry, my goal was raising awareness for alternative fuels as biodiesel. I sold my house, build the trimaran boat “Earthrace” and set the World Speed Record in circumnavigating the globe in 60 days. Later, this boat was renamed into Ady Gil, and I joined Sea Shepherd´s mission to disrupt Japanese Whaling activities, where my boat got cut in half from a Japanese vessel. In search of justice, I spent 4 months in Japanese prison, but our actions were a crucial success to stop illegal whaling activities. In 2011, I founded “Earthrace Foundation” with a team of former military personal to work in fisheries enforcement, anti-poaching and other environmental crimes (e.g. illegal mining, wildlife smuggling) in Asia, Central America and Africa. Many of the missions have been filmed and made into the TV series “The Operatives”. In Public Speaking activities such as my Ted Talk “A Cause worth Dying For”, I am promoting our mission and raising awareness for conservation, leadership and purpose. Since 2019, our boat “MY Modoc” is the homebase for several wildlife conservation missions throughout the Central American Pacific in cooperation with Government and joint patrols with local wildlife rangers. With our famous anti-poaching dog “Appa” and a crew of over 20 people, we are detecting and preventing illegal fishing in protected nature reserves in Costa Rica. (Upcoming: Panama) Thank you for supporting our mission to make the world a better place.
Earthrace Conservation is a registered non profit in USA, UK and New Zealand, and also has chapters in Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Sweden and Faroe islands. The organisation assists countries and NGOs with wildlife protection, anti-poaching and illegal fishing. It also has a TV Series "The Operatives" that follows the team's work, and that airs in about a dozen countries. The team is currently developing a new 60m (195 ft) vessel to become its base of Operations.
Captain of MY Modoc, assisting government agencies in monitoring Marine Protected Areas, and supporting scientific research projects to remote marine locations.
Just a few days after being knifed in Brazil while following the illegal pet trade, I was asked to do a TEDx talk in Auckland. An hour before the talk I nearly backed out, still reeling from nearly losing my life, and worried I wasn't prepared enough to do the TED organization justice. Thankfully I fronted up, and the talk is likely to be the best I will ever give.
Maritime Captain of MY Earthrace. Set world record for powerboat to circle the globe in 2008, and running renewable biodiesel fuel. Also made a port tour calling to 186 cities around the globe, and having over 250k people board the vessel.
Company Founder and Managing Director. We develop automated camera systems (Machine Vision) for Robotic Control and Production Line Automation. Sold my shares in 2006 to help fund Earthrace.
Project Manager with a team of Technicians. Mostly we developed coding and marking solutions for automated production lines throughout New Zealand.