Plastiki Gets Her Sea Legs

Even though we encouraged readers in Friday’s ‘Lectronic to sail out the Gate with Plastiki, the 60-ft eco-cat built on the Bay, we were surprised by how many boats turned out Saturday morning. There had to have been 100 or more! Unfortunately, most weren’t there to send off Plastiki in style; they were, of course, racing in any one of a number of events held that day. Thankfully, the Plastiki crew didn’t realize that, so they think Bay sailors turned out in droves to wish them fair winds. Shhh . . . it’s our little secret.

Many of the dozen or so boats that did come out to see them off followed Plastiki and her tow boat out past Mile Rock before turning for home. Ironically, with light westerlies, the strictly downwind vessel required a petroleum-fueled RIB to pull them out past land. "What’s the carbon footprint of that?" asked one poster on our Facebook page. Considering the ‘green’ nature of their mission, it’s a fair question, but one that seems overshadowed by the measures the team has taken to make their voyage as sustainable as possible — from provisioning with locally grown and supplied food to installing a mini-greenhouse to provide fresh produce.

According to their very cool tracking system, Plastiki has traveled 163 miles so far and is currently running at five knots. Not bad for a boat built from soda bottles. Follow the crews blog posts and tweets at www.theplastiki.com.