Project Interrupt

19/05/2026

Online presentation with Royal Institution of Naval Architects

(Or you can meet fellow members and watch on the screen at the Tasmanian locations attached)

Thursday 21st May
6pm AEST.

— The Value in Invaluable —

This is not a standard boatbuilding presentation.

HEART is a sailing vessel built almost entirely from marine debris collected in Southern Tasmania — a real-world experiment in design, problem-solving, material reuse, and human determination.

For naval architects, it offers a rare chance to explore what happens when conventional resources are stripped away and ingenuity takes the lead: how structure, buoyancy, function and risk are approached when the material palette is unconventional and the mission is bigger than the vessel itself. It’s a story of design under constraint, waste transformed into purpose, and what becomes possible when we start seeing discarded materials differently.

— Speaker Profile —
Samuel McLennan is a Tasmanian mentor, communicator and creator with a diverse background shaped by years of global travel and lived experience. He specialises in communication, personal transformation, and helping people see new possibilities in themselves, their work, and the world around them.

Through Project Interrupt, Samuel combines environmental action with human development, inspiring people to take responsibility, create change, and live with greater purpose.

The zoom link is on the image below, but contact me if you’d like me to send directly.

18/05/2026

17/05/2026

My use for marine debris today - a gift for a lucky dip prize at an event to raise funds for Asylum Seekers: Feast for Freedom. In collaboration with and .3909

16/05/2026

A beautiful evening presenting to about 40-50 year 9 Victorian students at the Alpine School - Snowy River Campus.

The staff were fascinated about how the students were glued to the presentation for an hour - especially after they’d had a day with a number of other presenters.

And were amazed that other staff came back to the school for the event. Apparently that doesn’t happen.

Many students said it was inspiring and it was interesting to talk to about a dozen of them afterwards and hear what they learned from the presentation - there’s many facets I talk about.

I’m actually jealous the students get to spend 8-9weeks doing a whole range of activities and developing their leadership skills - in spectacular wilderness! That’s what I call a fun way to live and learn.

Thanks to Andrew and Luci for making the opportunity happen quickly and the great staff for making me welcome and for a top evening 🙏🥳

15/05/2026

Update on the cigarette butt bins:

East Gippsland council have acknowledged an issue with the bottom of the cigarette butt bins rusting and are working on a solution. I’ve offered to help so we can expedite the process.

This is only a small step to a much bigger issue - but it’s progress nonetheless and helps build confidence.

The next sized issue is working at state or federal levels, or at company levels, to cause changes (bans on toxic butts, fines for litterers, etc).

And so far, I’m assuming there hasn’t been big changes or results (because there’s so many butts around - as I write this post I can see a few in the gutter).

All that it means is that the ways in which efforts have been made (to stop cigarette butts, or reduce them significant) have been ineffective.

And it’s just a matter of thinking differently, laterally, out of the box, to come up with brand new ways to tackle the issue.

Any ideas or would you like to work on this?

14/05/2026

Great progress on the cigarette butt issue at Paynesville!

And thanks to everyone who has been assisting.

I was chatting with the bus driver before going to Bairnsdale today and told him about the cigarette butts and how I found a little solution today (I.e the bottom on the container)- and he said “there isn’t much common sense these days”

And so I had the magical idea to start selling common sense.

$10.

All funds go towards reducing cigarette butts in the environment 🙏

13/05/2026

Bu**er.

The replacement part for my engine isn’t due to arrive until the 22nd.

And then it’ll take another day or two for them to get it all back together.

There’s good weather windows at this time of year (in-between autumn and winter) and I’m keen to make my way to Eden - it’s the biggest leg of the whole journey from Hobart to Sydney.

Frustration grew inside me when I heard.

I know this doesn’t work for me being the best version of me - or for me to achieve the results I want - or for me to be present with people (and life).

But maybe this is my lesson.

It’s happened and I can’t change it.

So: I give up my frustration, and choose to be patient.

The past two days have given me space to work on a name placard for Heart - out of a nice red piece I found.

And - I’ve just booked in a presentation with the Alpine School (Snowy River Campus) this Friday 🙂

Time to slow down, dig a little deeper and see what present is there for me 🙏

Can you share a story about what happened after you gave up being impatient ?

12/05/2026

I’d seen a few hundred cigarette butts next to the pub - in the smokers area, right near a drain and right near the water, and the thought of picking them up had been coming into my mind - day after day.

I’d been resisting, but this morning when I went past I thought “if I find a plastic bag I’ll go and pick them up”.

Twenty minutes later, I found a plastic bread bag. It was on the rocks in front of the yacht club.

So I thought “this is meant to be”.

I walked back to the pub, with the plastic bag and got down on my hands and knees and started.

It’s a little embarrassing - because it’s not a common thing we see people doing. And when we do, it’s usually people who are getting the last bit of to***co from them…to roll another cigarette.

But luckily my new mate Roger walked past and we had a bit of a chat while I picked some up.

And after he left, another person walked past and we caught each others eye - he said the common “How ya goin?” (Which is normally a passing statement rather than a question)

And, because I recognise the present in being present, I answered authentically:

“I’m disgusted”

He stopped, and I shared a bit more about what I was doing.

It was good to have a chat with him, and he acknowledged me for my efforts.

About 1.5hrs all up.

Not a ‘big’ bag of rubbish, but a big ‘number of butts’. Easily a few hundred.

Any ideas what I can do with them?

10/05/2026

Being Mother’s Day today, we’re paying attention to those that have given us life.

It’s easy to recognise the mother we came from.

And the next easiest is to recognise the mother of our mother. Yes - our Grandmother. (Yes, Grandmothers can also come from our paternal side)

We could go deeper and deeper and follow the family tree to our Great Grandmothers and Great great Grandmothers etc and pay our respects to them as well.

But are there other Mothers on this day that we could look at?

If we increase our awareness, There’s the mothers who have birthed the people in our lives that we might label ‘our husband’ or ‘wife’ or ‘partner’ or even ‘our best friend’ or ‘an incredible musician’ or the creator of our favourite clothing brand or wine choice…

The Mothers we could choose to look at could become quite long.

Why not pay our respect to them as well? They’re all Mothers.

And what about the mothers of the creatures that we love to see? The Mothers of the pets we might have, the Mothers of the birds we love to see in the sky, or the mothers of the fish that you love to see, or the dogs you love to see.

They all have mothers.

As you may be starting to see, there’s lots of mothers out there - not just of the human form.

Mothers Day, doesn’t say ‘Your Mothers Day’ or ‘Human Mothers Day’ - it says ‘Mothers Day’.

Maybe this means it’s about looking beyond our own mother.

Maybe it’s about respecting ALL mothers - and learning to see ALL mothers as the beautiful mothers they are and the incredible role they have played.

But is there one big mother that gives life to all the living creatures?

It’s an interesting question.

What do we all need to survive?

Water, warmth, food, oxygen…

Doesn’t that come from everything on Earth? (Yes, except the Sun that provides light)

Ah… Mother Earth keeps us all alive. Humans, plants, animals, insects, cats, dogs, insects and butterflies and whales and birds of prey and lions and mice. Etc etc.

So how about we pay at least a little bit of respect for the one Mother that keeps the things ‘we love about life’ alive?

Thankyou Mother Earth - for keeping us all alive and for providing incredible sights and experiences for us while we are here 🙏

Thankyou to my Mother Sally who brought me into this world and my Mother Judy who adopted and nurtured me.

And Thankyou to all the Mothers who looked after me while I was visiting their children.

And Thankyou to all the Mothers who have supported me on this journey - this incredible journey to raise awareness and protection for the one big beautiful mother of all :

Mother Earth 🙏

06/05/2026

A responsible company.

I’ve had a few issues lately with the engine cutting out at low revolutions and so I’ve taken it in to get looked at.

After 4 days, the outboard repairer called me up and said that there’s an issue with the timing.

He contacted Mercury and they communicated that i’d serviced the engine according to the warranty agreement and the issue has happened to a small number of their engines and they’ve worked out that it’s an issue that happens during their manufacture.

So, they are giving me a new engine.

That’s what taking responsibility looks like - it looks like someone who looks at all the evidence and works out that they are the source of the issue.

Apparently Mercury engines are very good at honouring their word (and warranty) and are quick to take action to repair or replace.

So, I’m very happy to have listened to Kyle from KJ marine in Foster and purchased the Mercury engine!

Thanks Kyle and thanks for removing your commission to support Project Interrupt.

N.B there were some rumours flying around that I don’t service engines, I blow them up because of this, and the engine had been donated - this is all incorrect.