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Plastic Bottle Catamaran Crosses The Pacific Ocean

Posted by samzenpus on from the not-your-usual-trash-barge dept.

The Plastiki, a catamaran made with plastic bottles, has completed a 8,000 mile trip between San Francisco and Sydney. Captain David de Rothschild said, "The Plastiki is literally a metaphorical message in a bottle about beating waste and reducing our human fingerprints on our natural environment." The boat will go on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum for the next month.

11 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. How much did it cost to build by ickleberry · · Score: 3, Interesting

    assuming the plastic bottles are free, how much does it cost to make a boat out of them?

  2. Nyaargh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    literally a metaphorical message in a bottle

    story 1542227, line 2, Error: Parse failure, non-literal use of literally
    story 1542227, line 2, Error: literal and metaphorical declarations are incompatible
    INTERNAL COMPILER ERROR

  3. The Heyerdahl Connection by Misagon · · Score: 4, Informative

    The name "Plastiki" is also a reference to how the craft resembles Norwegian amateur explorer/archeologist Thor Heyerdahl's raft/catamaran Kon-Tiki which had done a similar journey across the Pacific.

    Thor Heyerdahl's son is also one of the people behind the project, and on board.

    --
    "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
    1. Re:The Heyerdahl Connection by Muad'Dave · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If you've never read it, the account of Thor Heyerdahl's trip is a fascinating read. How little they knew about the oceans (didn't know about the zooplankton coming to the surface to feed at night, etc) and how much fortitude was required and how many hardships would be endured to make such a journey.

      Sadly, I'm not too sure we know an awful lot more about the oceans now, except that we're killing them.

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  4. That's impressive by Niris · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sailing out of the San Francisco bay in and of itself is a feat. Add crossing the pacific and it's utterly amazing. Great job to him.

    1. Re:That's impressive by IANAAC · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sailing out of San Francisco Bay isn't all that impressive.

      When I lived in the bay area, I used to take a 17 ft Bayliner up the delta on weekends. After finishing a 12 pack a beer with a friend, we decided that, instead of heading up to Sacramento, we would just take the boat out on the bay.

      It happened to be a very windy day, albeit warm.

      I thought we were gonna die. By the time we got back to the marina in Suisun, the boat had well over a foot of water inside.

    2. Re:That's impressive by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Clearly you've never been attacked by one of the Giant Squids that swallow ocean liners. The Pacific is not as safe as it seems. Why do you think people are dumping all their trash in there? Too lazy to get to China? No! They're too scared to stay on the ocean any longer! And it's a new attack technique to polute their habitat to kill them off!

  5. Gotta love Google Ads... by dos4who · · Score: 2, Funny

    Perfect ad placement for this story... http://imgur.com/hTSpc.gif

    --
    "Yes, I have a Disaster Recovery Plan. It's called my Resume"
  6. Dangerous reuse of plastic by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This type of plastic photodegrades-- it breaks down physically, not chemically, into plastic dust. Very dangerous to leave sailing around; chemical recycling is better.

    --
    Support my political activism on Patreon.
  7. In the immortal words of Manny Calavera... by wiggles · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hola, trust funder!

  8. Re:Better Recycling by SnarfQuest · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why do these guys always make me think of "this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl".

    --
    Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.