Six Senses to Host Annual Watermen Event in the Maldives

 Six Senses Resorts & Spas will host Six Senses Watermen, the Maldives’ first gathering of water sports icons and the world’s leading water conservationists, between 30 September and 4 October 2011.

Watermen, from legendary surfers, windsurfers and kite surfers to divers and free divers will offer clinics to Six Senses Laamu guests while renowned musicians jam on the sandbanks. Conservationists will lead dialogues and debates on the most pressing marine and drinking water issues facing our planet today while chefs keep everyone sustained with ethically sourced gourmet food, best enjoyed with biodynamic wines from Australia’s Margaret River.

Palm fringed and postcard perfect, the Maldives boasts an array of breaks that have lured international surfers for more than 35 years and a rich, kaleidoscopic underwater eco-system. Global industrial growth, most of it very far away, has brought the Maldives to the frontline in the battle against rising sea levels. What happens to the Maldives and its 400,000 inhabitants may foretell the future of coastal regions around the globe.

For fifteen years, Six Senses has been part of the effort to protect these precious 1,190 islands draped like a delicate necklace over the equator.

From this year forward, Six Senses Watermen promises to offer an innovative, meaningful opportunity to play in the Indian Ocean among living legends while playing a unique part to move our global community, in the words of Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed and Time magazine Hero of the Environment, “from apathy to action”.

This timely gathering will take place at the new Six Senses Laamu, the only resort in remote Laamu Atoll, 150 km north of the equator and famed for its ultrafine soft sand. The closest neighbours on Olhuveli Island are frolicking dolphins and a full Technicolor spectrum of tropical fish living along Laamu’s pristine coral reef.

Laamu’s ninety-seven responsibly luxurious villas sit back on the beach nestled among the lush indigenous vegetation or over the clear turquoise lagoon. Each offers complete privacy along with Six Senses signature creature comforts. Using local, sustainable materials allowed Six Senses to make only the lightest footprint on this otherwise untouched paradise.

Word has already spread around the world, luring passionate legends and world leaders in conservation to become Six Senses Watermen, including:

Pascal Bronnimann (SUI, +H2O long time pro wind surfer and Diamond Head Pro-Am winner) Levi Siver (USA, +H2O windsurf wave riding champion and surfer) Jake Miller (USA, +H2O windsurf wave riding and freestyle rider) Keith Teboul (MAD, +H2O long time pro wind surfer) Herbie Fletcher (USA, Longboard surfing legend and artist) Chris Garrett (AUS, Gold Coast eco-surfer) Archie Kalepa (USA, Legendary watermen, Hawaiian lifeguard captain) Buzzy Kerbox (USA, World Cup surf winner, co-inventor of tow-in surfing with Laird Hamilton and longtime face of Ralph Lauren Polo Sport) Kai Lenny (USA, Maui born 17 year old stand up paddling world champion and Naish protégé) Takuji Masuda (JPN, Kamakura born longboarder and surf documentarian) Bob McTavish (AUS, Australian surfer, storyteller and short board inventor) Tripoli Patterson (USA, surf champion and New York gallerist) Terry Sims (USA, 25 year surf pro and one of the finest surf coaches in the world) Davey Blair (USA, Naish Team kite surfer) Alex Caizergues (FRA, Kite surf speed world champion) Sean and Jesse Richmann (USA, Kite surfing champion brothers) Mark Shinn (GBR, 2 times Kite surfing World champion) Duncan Zuur (NED, one of Europe’s most successful kite surfer and wake boarder) Bernd Breymann (GER, Catamaran world champion) Sara Campbell (GBR, Free diving world champion) Fabien Cousteau (FRA, Third generation French ocean explorer, aquatic filmmaker and Founder of Plant A Fish) Dr. Jacqueline Chan (USA, Co-founder of Water Charity) Carl Gustaf Lundin (SUI, Director, Global Marine Programme, International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Dr. Callum Roberts (GBR, Marine conversation biologist and oceanographer) Jane Seymour (GBR, Actress and environmentalist) Averill Strasser (USA, Founder of WaterCharity) Charles Clover (GBR, Author, The End of the Line, documentary about overfishing) Prahlad Kakkar (IND, Indian filmmaker, diver and Reef Watch Marine Conservation co-founder) Shekhar Kapur (IND, Golden Globe winning Indian filmmaker of the forthcoming Paani exploring Mumbai’s shrinking water supply) Jim Thebault (USA, Documentary filmmaker of Running Dry and hydro-philanthropist) Christo Edwards (AUS, Margaret River winemaker and surfer) Mick Scott (AUS, Australian winemaker and waterman) Jason Mraz (USA. International chart topping singer and surfer).

All these luminaries and more will gather at Six Senses Laamu for seven days in support of the following international charities:

Blue Marine Foundation, created by Chris Gorell Barnes, the producer of “The End of the Line”, the defining documentary about over-fishing. This recent initiative works to place 10% of the world’s oceans into secure marine reserves by 2020, beginning with Chagos Islands, an area rich in marine biodiversity, south of the Maldives. Watermen will help secure marine protected areas in the Maldives.

Plant A Fish is a hands-on marine education and restoration effort led by 3rd generation ocean explorer Fabian Cousteau to engage local communities around the globe through schools, businesses and government agencies to "re-plant" aquatic plants and animals in environmentally stressed areas.

Water Charity, a top ranked non-profit that provides safe drinking water, effective sanitation and health education to those in need. Since 2008, Six Senses contributions and cooperation by banning the importation of plastic water bottles from our properties has given over 350,000 people access to safe drinking water.

When not in the water, Six Senses Watermen will host diverse events including a marine restoration in the Maldives workshop with Fabien Cousteau, Chagos Islands marine conservation update by Blue Marine Foundation and debates among the marine biologists and water sports legends on our most pressing water issues and the challenges of raise global awareness.

Outdoor activities like beach cleanups and coral reef restorations will balance out the intellectual while a mural painting workshop will engage the local community alongside our legendary Watermen.

After dark, the lights will shine on the cinema under the stars, featuring groundbreaking environmental documentaries Running Dry, The End of the Line and more.

Packages for likeminded water enthusiasts to participate in this one-of-a-kind mind expanding gathering are available for four nights (US$6,000 for two people or US$4,400 single) and seven nights (US$9,900 for two people or US$ 7,400 single) including all breakfasts and dinners, the Barefoot Gala Dinner, a limited number of clinics or spa treatments and round trip seaplane transfer flights.

Proceeds from guests’ stays will be donated to Blue Marine Foundation, Plant A Fish and Water Charity and Six Senses Carbon Offset Programme will offset international flights to the Maldives.

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