Ahoy, first of all. No ZERO is not in the Bahamas. I was! But just for a few days to visit a friend on my way to Germany. ZERO is still in San Diego and the ...

Closed Captions (CC):
all right hello glad to have you aboard

the boat thank you for having me aboard

here and giving me the chance to learn a

little bit more about your organization

which is IRG right international rescue

group Oh in fact here we go was the logo

for me so I don't have to learn it I can

just read just read it what is I edgy so

international rescue group is a disaster

relief and humanitarian aid

non-government agency and disaster

relief by sea to remote island and

coastal areas so with disaster you mean

hurricanes earthquakes exactly any kind

of disaster at all and I suppose I can

give you an example in 2015 in October

tropical storm Erika hit the island of

Dominica which is about halfway down the

Caribbean chain and Dominica got pretty

much devastated you know when you think

about their entire domestic water supply

was out and it turned out to be knocked

out of action for over six months and

bridges the bridges in the north of the

island were knocked out so then the

entire north of the island could not get

any transportation at all the airport

was knocked out and basically houses

were swept down mountains 32 people were

killed so it's a big disaster and we

just happened to have this particular

boat on standby in st. Lucia so this

build maybe you're right on the boat

we're on right now here in the Bahamas

on number five Thunderbird 5 and we were

in st. Lucia at the time which is just

two islands south of Dominica yeah I

know the area great so how many gates

are really undeveloped Island it is it

is well you know compared with Saint

Lucia of course so we were signed on

with Nemo which is the national

emergency management organization and

there's a Nemo in just in every

Caribbean island because let's face it

in the Caribbean your island might be

the next one hit and you may know no you

know and so st. Lucia

you know launched into action with one

Coast Guard patrol boat which didn't

carry very much very much in the way of

supplies yeah we filled every cab

to the ceiling all the way down the

gangway we filled we're sitting right

now was filled to the ceiling and we

also filled fill the deck up as well

with debt cargo and target down then we

typically what we do is we fill my cabin

first so that I can demonstrate that

I'll be the first to sleep on the floor

and then the crew don't complain when

they lose their cabins a few minutes

later and we just fill the boat up so an

organization sent us in an emergency 179

boxes of water filters that's where the

cockroaches came from we have to get rid

of those after the mission but but but

um you know the rest of the area was

filled with sleeping troops because we

were carrying the entire Armed Forces of

Saint Lucia to Dominica and this was in

2015 this is 2015 we ran two missions

like that so we just sailed straight

back to st. Lucia once we've done a

drop-off and did it all over again so

you know that's typical of the kind of

thing we do we are learning from some

experiences though and in fact that very

experience we learnt that getting there

faster with water is the most important

thing and when I say water it turns out

that if we can just run a powerful

reverse osmosis water maker and make

water from the sea that's actually more

sustainable than taking one and we can

take tons of water but bottled water has

got a problem because then you've got

massive stocks of plastic right the

island has to get rid of and they don't

do it very well sometimes as we know

right and so on this particular boat we

can make 8,000 liters of water a day we

have two big water makers we can turn up

on we can just turn on the taps and

provide fresh clean water for people and

we can run for about two months non-stop

so we can run a generator and basically

okay you might say we're turning diesel

fuel into war so you sail over there

yeah bring goods in your anchor or dock

more as a boat somewhere where it's

possible you never know because after a

hurricane whatever maybe everything is

destroyed yes and then you turn into the

base station for water yes water and

communications and crew also medical

staff because very often in disaster

zones you get medical staff

sleeping on a dirt floor in a tent yeah

so you you you host them right you

probably have somebody who cooks or

whatever so it sees them and you how do

you supply energy for the water maker

yeah on this particular boat we have

1600 gallon tanks so we can act we've

actually calculated that we can run a

generator and keep our water makers

running 24 hours a day we have two

generators as well so we just turn one

off and turn one on yeah and then we can

serve as a generator they gonna keep

going nonstop so we are able from this

one boat to make enough for 4,000 people

per day this is part of water so I spits

a fairly big village in the Caribbean is

this town it's a decent size I mean

don't mean occurred probably doesn't ask

more than five or ten thousand people

living there and that's in Roseau which

is the biggest town the next biggest

town is Portsmouth on the north of the

island and that's a lot less than 4,000

and it's kind of you know a very

interesting thing we learned a lot of

lessons so yes getting supply medical

supplies and medical staff and

volunteers is very important but also

getting the ability to make water can be

very important as well yeah especially

you know when the children are getting

dysentery or even worse drinking from

the taps and like Oh what is your idea

to found IRG yes it was some we founded

the organization in 2010 so you're a

founder and active member actually yes

well I prefer to be on a boat you know

doing the work but you only you don't

only have your own sweet boat so you

were recruiting volunteers

oh yes exactly any cruiser exit so

anybody of you can sign up for it and in

case you are close you can do this yes

you can go online anywhere in the world

and join the IRG Reserve and the

Americans may remember the Coast Guard

has a thing called the US Coast Guard

Auxiliary auxilary we can't spell it so

we've decided to use the word Reserve

instead okay so I like anything here on

the website so if you got a look if you

got a www.internationalwomenshealth.org

please join in because once you're in

the network these days for the first

time ever you know boaters are getting

emails instantly and we can we can

direct people to help you know hospitals

can give medical supplies if people sign

up they don't have to do something no

not at all it's just that you it in case

something happens you contact them and

then you can say okay if I can do

something and they can decide how much

they can do whatever it is so it's no

pressure on it no pressure but some when

the Dominica disaster hit we had four

IRG reserve both sign up from various

places including st. Maarten and Grenada

and Trinidad Tobago and so those both

joined in and actually ran multiple

missions also to two boats from st.

Lucia so we had quite a few IRG reserve

both joining the exercise so it wasn't

just us an hour boat in action you can

actually cut me in

what great I'd love to have you sign up

I would be on the Pacific side and you

have a 50 foot Hudson 450 450 which is a

beautiful William garden design Thank

You classic ocean cruise or I used to

have one no I would love to do

whatever I can do in case I'm close to

any disaster right off I will never be

but I'm looking forward to seeing you

sign on and also the boat next to us

maybe you catch a shot of them it's

called second chances but anyhow so he

came in he came in and on channel 68

about a week or so later he said hey my

infant's broken down I've got all this

stuff on board needs to go to Haiti I'm

looking for you both that are kind of

going that way and we've been batting

around are we going to go straight to

Puerto Rico we're going to go to Haiti

advantage so we just kind of got

you were signed up already know so you

just spontaneous signed up with your

health and yeah

here you are alongside loading cargo so

approximately how much cargo are you

taking to Haiti

once the same probably twenty twenty or

more sales you sales for the subsistence

fishermen is that the only way they get

better medical supplies for the

orphanage add some label air beds for

the orphanage we could compare

extinguishers to help out some other

boats that are out there there was a day

oh yeah being present available thingy

yeah so it really completely fills up

the beaver and then it will fill up

forward decks for 20 hours in the now

and they are the fourth boat to just

come alongside accept supplies from us

and in fact they've taken the very last

of our load for Haiti on this particular

mission yeah and so this they will be

our seventh IET boat arriving the after

Hurricane Matthew yeah that's actually

very good that you say that we under

Bahamas we on Exuma Georgetown in two

moment what are you doing

um it's not Haiti no it's not ID in fact

we were we were yes we were loaded with

supplies out of Florida and we got into

into the middle of the Bahamas and

suffered a major engine breakdown and

one of the amazing things about the IRG

reserve is that I put the message out to

say that you know we're disabled and

we're trying to get these supplies to

iet or haiti and before we knew it

and for IRG reserve boats just

volunteered and said we're sailing by

were signing in or some of them had

already signed in and came alongside so

our boat and accepted the cargo this

would be a typical job reserve board

would do could well be for example yes

you put you load on four other boards

right four boats total yes yes so we

probably had a hundred recycled sales

from an organization by the way if

you're a sailor and you have a boat

anywhere in America and you're trying to

get rid of an old sail please call your

local yacht club or just contact sales

for sustenance org and they'll accept

your sails and these things we've been

doing this for years we take sale after

sales with IE d and give them to the

subsistence fishermen and if you've ever

seen pictures of the fishing boats in

in that country you know they don't that

they don't have outboard motors they

can't afford fuel they're the most

outstanding sailors you've ever seen and

but they sail with old beer banners and

towels and tablecloths and anything they

can get hold them stitch them together

so if you know a lot of charities you

know are still learning that and it's

becoming a more common knowledge now

finally that if if money can get into

the economy or an ability to work can

get into that local economy

then they'll recover a lot faster than

just be receiving free goods but with

the sails the fishermen can you know

effectively repower the boats a lot

better than they used to be able to yeah

I saw a man unless you we loading the

cargo today from the customs dock yes

which was quite an adventure for you so

yeah what happened the last three days

tell the people what what you did the

last three days well actually the last

four days I elevation the last four days

I've been in jail in fact it wasn't just

the jail it was a stinking unventilated

mosquito ridden hard concrete bench in a

police lockup in georgetown Exuma and

the reason I was there is because the

local customs and immigration saw us

with boats alongside and thought the

worst and came along and summarily

confiscated all our cargo and took it to

the Customs House and threw me in jail

as the captain but at the moment we're

at Georgetown dock and one of our I

argue reserve vessels running in fact

isn't one of a good run through Emma

Thank You Emma

Emerson New Zealand and

come all the way here to help keep our

supplies on to Haiti and here we are

with customs having confiscated our

supplies because they thought that it

was illegal supplies

now they've admitted they were wrong and

they've reversed there of course and

they're giving us our supplies back to

carry on the sale on the IEP and now we

have to reload the supplier back onto

our ship yeah you need a hand oh yes we

like waiting it to you have you got - I

have two hands okay good okay let's go

all right

[Music]

me

you

[Music]

right neon lights form so nobody else in

the jail and they wouldn't turn them off

because the rule was light stay on till

midnight and then I got four hours sleep

and honestly and then they turned the

bright lights on for a I mean it is

designed as a cross or going to matthew

manners among so the new captain of

Thunderbird 5 very clear regaining its

role of the goomar has been my home and

now I'm leaving with the pearl

Thunderbird 5 taking it back to Miami to

refitted the Charter and I'm at this

moment I'm seriously questioning whether

or not I even want to come back and

Georgetown when I come through waiting

at this all went down it just is really

sad it did part to me I'm sure I'll

change my mind and the people here are

great there's a few bad apples that are

messing up the whole thing you know the

whole the whole relief effort I mean

it's not like we're a bunch of pirates

like stealing stuff or trying to sell or

this Anatomy superiority facial the one

thing i one thing i didn't even notice

on my my passport and this is something

everybody should watch out for it can

happen to anybody but after after our

breakdown

we checked into spanish wells which is

in northern Eleuthera the one of the

most northern islands we had not

intended to stop in the bahamas we were

intending to sail straight through to

Haiti but anyway we broke down and

dropped anchor and checked into the

country and when I checked in I got a

one-year cruising permit for the boat

and I thought well that'll solve any

problem what I didn't realize was the

customs man had only put 14 days on my

visa which is pretty bizarre stupid and

I didn't even think to look so by the

time we got

boat sailed down to Georgetown where the

some infrastructure and ability with

with IRG supporters to help fix the boat

I'd overstayed my visa but you know in

the whole world over when there's an

existential emergency like a disaster

response so every country offers

considerable leniency and leeway to a

disaster relief organization when

delivering aid and as an example when we

left st. Lucia we were part of the

government operation and all customs and

immigration was waived and so for an

immigration officer to go nuts and whole

halt you know the executive director of

an organization like ours an NGO the

whole whole off into jail and say we'll

sort it out in court on Monday that's

completely unheard of now basically it's

an international incident and it's going

to continue to be an international

incident especially as the Georgetown

judge without listening to any of our

credentials slapped us with the three

thousand dollar fine and said if I don't

pay it by the day is a two-year jail

sentence I got hit with the maximum

possible final jail sentence so help me

in the jail all right there was a

hurricane here two couple years ago

right well hurricane Mathieu hit the

Bahamas pretty badly just sit yes ago so

didn't they get any help from any

international group maybe from you group

this one yes they got help from us they

don't remember you oh good gracious

obviously not yeah the judge wasn't even

interested in listening to my

credentials gavel down three thousand

dollars or two years in jail so how do

you fund I mean how do you get $3,000

well that's at you know we're not very

good at fundraising we usually operate

with a very low cash reserve all over

all of our boats are donated and

disabilities donated they use this boat

was donated and we make some money

whenever we can when you know when

there's a writ when there's a relaxation

in disasters occasionally were able to

take people for a charter sail but we

usually operate with almost zero cash

reserve so so international rescue group

did not have the $3,000 available in arc

it came out of my pension money

everybody in the organization by policy

is unpaid volunteer we on our website we

do have a fundraiser donation link and

so if anybody has you know a couple of

million dollars we'd be very grateful

we're not asking for a couple minutes

but everybody has one dollar and maybe

this video will be shown by watched by

10,000 people 10,000 3,000 people if

everybody puts $1 on to your account you

bet we'll pay the fine that would be at

least and then we start on working it

would be yeah you know I don't want

people donating to international rescue

group because I was subject to a fine

but you know to donate for our missions

then that would be great I'm gonna find

my own way of getting the money back out

of the Bahamas modeling around like the

old days no I think it'd be more like

political persuasion good enemy Thiago

yeah I'm from originally Brazil and I'm

the captain I'm good run for my name is

Zack I'm from California and EMS from

New Zealand so I saw you guys today at

the captain's cargo door yeah

you're not on the radio you may need to

couple heads to load cargo yeah I was

like well why this guy you know and

suddenly you are rock out with a huge

strike of stuff so I was like a 4G with

roof yeah I came across iig like pretty

much like Janis actually we we shared an

idea of of doing this this trip to Haiti

from there so you guys W to help before

you heard about Irene really we're so

honored to be in a position in our life

to be able to do this and we have the

backing of so many loved ones friends

and family and we really sell their good

energy along the way most people that

can't do this kind of thing in their

lives they support us meeting the

organization was great because they have

been doing this for quite a while yeah

they could give us endless guidance to

to get there and and we wrote ray and

Ray say now just sign up in our website

and so we did and became a reserve

vessel for AIG yeah here we

pretty much loaded to go to Haiti so

here's where your cargo is yeah that's

part of the cargo yeah I'm feeling like

there's a little bit of too much weight

in that corner of the boat I step in

there putting things wherever we can and

then I'm dinner and books and yeah stuff

like that some some of those things to

paint cameras on a couple say it

yeah I feel soon there's probably five

or six sails there

I'm a table so I would working table saw

generator like the one below around and

a twelve sail here

I bought two boxes full of tools power

tools and hand tools

because you know we love the ocean and

we love to see it and explore it and you

know why not to learn to pick a few

people hand where we passed by you know

yeah so did they bother you at any I

mean well one day I was relieved but we

didn't ask permission to the captain

another person came aboard and I'm glad

I was but it doesn't affect you

personally cruising I would actually

take it confiscate our passport so

receiving good sailor yeah yeah and this

was because it was over the weekend

right yeah couple yeah yeah we're there

and exactly you're their investigation

basically we're still so and deckhand is

completely new to sailing so it's a new

experience as well we're really grateful

for the opportunity tiagotavares

employers how long do you do failure we

make North Carolina it's like try not to

go

you're too much kneeling no good yeah I

like it yeah it's amazing it's amazing

lots to learn yeah also communication

with IAD going it's been great we've

been together pretty much F a few weeks

now it's very personal

they're straightforward and yeah very

supportive raised inka yeah just

communicating with people in Haiti and

he

he added me to his his emails with the

organization and orphanage down there so

when do you learn you be lady we're

living on Thursday I think your armies

with hers and Sunday so and they didn't

want to give us an extension because

when they bought it us early in the next

morning and we missed the weather and

then we had to wait now for the second

wind

yeah yeah thanks for the talk I wish you

good luck yeah and I hope you don't have

any other issues on the way down there

yeah hopefully I think yeah yeah from

now on the people are gonna yeah I just

open it us with yeah wait for us in open

on okay good yeah that was really

interesting and I like you boat it's

awesome I mean I know this boats from

from the Netherlands yesterday I would

say I grew up with them but they are my

neighbors we're in the Netherlands wave

I I said all over the Netherlands and

all that not all the lakes they have a

plenty little bit so many the legs is

especially the Isola Mia yeah which a

big one or sneak mare or Higa Muir yeah

well especially didn't do much skiing

there no I just said with might a lot I

missed over there oh yeah yeah yeah yeah

and these big boats we're always there

usually with Ali bored not easily bored

yes yes I know they say very good

sideways and not so much halfway so

that's that's true but somehow they

managed to get around the the North

Atlantic and around the English Channel

which let's face it is a pretty tough

patch of ocean we go see a mayor they

can handle it of water not a lot of

women they can handle serious weather

and this boats no different from the

others except she doesn't have Lea

boards she has a stubby keel which means

that she goes sideways even better than

the one cigarette much fun interview

you're very welcome and I think coming

in your boat got yeah I've always wanted

to do that