A new state of the art yacht arrived in Falmouth on Saturday at the end of its 7,000 nautical mile maiden voyage from Cape Town in South Africa. The yacht, which was welcomed ashore by Friends of the Earth's Falmouth group, will be sailing in some of the UK's biggest yacht races over the next year in support of The Big Ask, Friends of the Earths climate campaign.

Jonathan faced what he said were his worst ever conditions on the very last leg of the voyage to Falmouth with non-stop squalls from morning to night and the largest waves he'd ever been out on.

The Big Ask, Friends of the Earth's climate campaign, is calling for the Government to introduce a climate law that will commit it to making annual cuts in the UK's carbon dioxide emissions.

The Class 40 yacht - named Friends of the Earth - has taken five years to design and build and is showcasing some of the technological solutions to climate change.

Jonathan Crinion said: "It's fantastic to be in Falmouth after many hard days and nights at sea. I am delighted to be sailing in support of The Big Ask, Friends of the Earth's climate campaign. It shows that the solutions to climate change already exist - all we need is the political will to make them happen."

Friends of the Earth Falmouth coordinator, Betty Levene said: "Falmouth is the perfect place for Jonathan's European landfall. Not only is Cornwall - from grassroots campaigning and renewable energy projects to academic departments at our new university - at the forefront of efforts to resist climate change, but Falmouth is, somewhat conversely, also a great place to witness some of the most absurd ostrich-like behaviour in the face of climate change. What with a town centre choc-a-bloc with cars and their emission belching exhausts, and our Bay proposed as a haven for Russian heavy crude oil transfers to hasten SE Asia's push to outdo our own energy use debauchery, we have a long way to go to meet the climate change challenge".

Jonathan Crinion was born in Liverpool, England in 1953. He has cruised and raced all his life and has competed in numerous races including the Fastnet and Round the Island in the UK and many 'round the cans' races in, Canada, South Africa and the UK among many others. La Route du Rhum will be his first major single handed race. When he isn't sailing Jonathan heads up his own industrial design company, Crinion Associates Ltd. He has won a number of awards for his work and in 1994 was chosen by International Design Magazine as one of the 'International Design 40', a selection of the world's top 40 designers. He has also won two Financial Post Design Effectiveness awards and the coveted A&D award in the UK among many others. Jonathan's environmental designs include wind turbines for use on homes and yachts. Jonathan's partner is Stephanie Mills, an architect. He has two daughters, Jennifer and Zoe.