BOB — Balloon Overboard Day Reduces Ocean Plastics
Ocean plastics remain a scourge for marine life. On the whole, California and Californians do a pretty good job — compared to other parts of the world — of keeping plastics out of the ocean. That doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t do better. The photo below was sent in by Carolyn Rosner and Mike Hay of the 1988 Passport 37 Sula sailing out of Ventura.
Carolyn wrote, “Here’s a Sailagram candidate from downcoast, off Ventura, where we ended up practicing ‘BOB’ (balloon-overboard) drills one afternoon. We ended up fishing 16 balloons out of the Santa Barbara Channel. It’s also a PSA for helping keep our oceans clean: Friends don’t let friends buy Mylar balloons!”
One of the best ways to avoid having plastics escaping into the environment is to not buy them in the first place. Birthdays were fun long before Mylar balloons were invented — it’s the people, not the plastic, that make for the best birthday celebrations.
Thanks to the crew of SV Sula for keeping the oceans clean(er).
I do this, and more every day at my marina and on the water in San Francisco Bay!
So happy to see others do it too!
Excellent! Thanks for putting the word out about this. We spend a lot of time in Death Valley National Park and ALWAYS find balloons there, anywhere from 1 to 14 on any given day.
Great to see Ventura sailing represented in such a great way. Congrats to you and thanks for your efforts to keep the water off Ventura County clean of plastics!