BELLA COLLINS: AN OCEAN (S)HERO
WE SPEAK TO FRIEND OF THE PINK HOUSE AND OCEAN ACTION-WOMAN BELLA COLLINS ABOUT HER MOVE TO CORNWALL, A NEWFOUND LOVE OF WILD SWIMMING, AND GOING FOR ANOTHER WORLD-RECORD OCEAN ROW WITH THE OCEAN SHEROES IN THE NAME OF THE SEABIN PROJECT.
You recently relocated from California to Cornwall, tell us about the move?
When I returned from California, I was looking to move somewhere with a similarly slow lifestyle that celebrates the outdoors. I was lucky enough to find the company I work for now, a start-up in the sustainability space called Flexi-Hex who originally made plastic free packaging for surfboards but are now renowned for their eco-friendly bottle packaging. So, I moved to Cornwall without much knowledge of what Cornish-life had in store and it has exceeded all expectations. The Cornish embrace the outdoors come rain or shine, they are always swimming, surfing, hiking, no matter the weather. I love that.
What’s been your favourite discovery in Cornwall so far?
I joined the Cornish Dippers, which is a group of female swimmers in Falmouth, but there are so many groups out there. Every Sunday morning, I get up and swim at sunrise and it’s the best way to reset your mind and body for the new week, as well as feel part of the community. Arriving at the beach as the sun changes the colour of the sky, controlling your breathing and focusing on the beauty helps you forget about the cold and hugging a hot water bottle when you get out while having a cup of tea with friends is what it’s all about! I am looking forward to a swim in the Bude Seapool when I visit.
If you’re not swimming, you’re rowing. You were a world-record breaking team rowing the Atlantic in 2016, tell us about your next challenge?
This May, I’m rowing across the Pacific with the team Ocean Sheroes. It’s a race from San Francisco to Hawaii and has only ever been completed by 60 people. To put this in perspective, over 4000 people have climbed Mt Everest and 566 people have been to space - so it’s fairly unexplored territory. It’s entirely unsupported and we’ll be rowing 2 hours on, 2 hours off 24/7 the entire way across. We’re hoping to break the current record of 50 days.
You’re supporting Seabin with an epic £60k fundraising target, tell us about the project.
The Seabin Project design and produce amazing “sea bins" to be placed in ports and marinas to collect waste (plastic, microplastics and oils etc…) before it ends in the ocean and damages marine environments. What we really love though, is that the organisation has a motto that they “don’t want to exist”- so they look into what waste is collected, where it is coming from and how they can prevent that waste ending back in the ocean time and time again. We aim to raise awareness of this huge plastic problem, how we can all make small changes in our lives that make a big difference and funds for the Seabin Project to install more bins in the UK.
How can people support you?
People can get involved in a few ways.
1) Become a change maker and reduce your own plastic use in one way this week
2) Donate to the Seabin Project via oceansheroes.com
3) Follow us on Instagram and spread the positivity @oceansheroes