A Ride on the Plastic Fantastic

For the last couple months, David de Rothschild’s eco-adventure cat, Plastiki, has been seen stretching her legs on the Bay. The 60-ft boat has made international headlines, partly due to de Rothschild’s celebrity — he’s the 31-year-old son of prominent banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild — and partly due to the whacky nature of the project.

When we first reported on the project in last April’s Latitude 38, the Plastiki team said the craft would be finished and on her way to the South Pacific within a month. But as any sailor knows, you can’t rush boat projects. A year later, Plastiki is finally plying the waters of the Bay, working out her kinks and bugs, and is nearly ready to shove off on her international voyage to promote ‘upcycling’ — the practice of reusing items in a new and different way.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of meeting the Plastiki crew and going for a daysail aboard the much-misunderstood cat. We’ll have a full report in the March issue of Latitude, but we would be remiss if we didn’t tell you that, although we stepped aboard with some reservations and concerns about the project, we left Plastiki with a new-found respect for the boat, her mission and the talented crew that have made her what she is.