Decidedly not a pretty boat, but pretty unusual: Junk sails for Hawaii. This photo is a still from the video of their departure from Long Beach, CA June 1
First there was Thor Heyerdahl, with his Kon Tiki, and now Dr. Marcus Eriksen's Junk, a raft floating on huge pontoons filled with--get this!--15,000 plastic bottles! Like Roz Savage, whose rowing trip across the Pacific I blogged earlier this month, Eriksen has an environmental message, specifically about all the plastic that's being dumped in our oceans and its effect on wildlife. He's also addressing the impact of certain chemicals such as Bisphenal A, found in baby bottles and toys, on the human body.
But his adventure, shared with Joel Paschal and Ann Cummins, is even wackier than Roz's (just look at the boat for a giggle) and at the same time more practical since he's using four sails to get up some speed and they've installed a considerably more comfortable cabin on board: the cabin of a defunct Cessna.
Their blog, Junk, is maintained from shore by Cummins. It's a Blogspot Blog of Note this week, and I'm adding it to my bloglist. How can I resist? It's got sailing, recycling, hunky crew, alternative energy, and as the icing on the cake, Hawaii as the goal.
With youthful optimism, Eriksen estimated the trip to Hawaii would take six weeks and they'd have arrived by now, but a Google map tracking their progress currently puts them here. We wish them fair winds, a safe landing and all the glory they can stand.
The S/V "Junk" is a project of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation.