Messages in the Bottles

He had me at "It's like trying to hang on to the cape of a flying bear." That's exactly how David de Rothschild described the fierce weather he and his crew encountered during their journey across the Tasman Sea. And that, my friends, is the moment I fell in love.

All joking aside, de Rothschild is as cool as they come. He's a British banking-heir-turned tree-hugger with a pretty impressive resume: youngest Briton to reach both the north and south poles; traversed Antarctica by foot and ski; and holds the world record for fastest crossing of the Greenland ice cap. Granted, it makes it a bit easier when you've got the bankroll to support these crazy superman adventures, which is another issue altogether. Point is, this guy could be sitting on some yacht poppin' bottles, but he's not. Instead his latest expedition took him across the Pacific from San Francisco to Sydney on a catamaran made of plastic bottles — 12,500 to be exact. The appropriately named Plastiki was inspired by Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Kon-Tiki sailing expedition from South America to Tahiti.

I first read about de Rothschild in the Sydney newspapers, which dedicated a lot of ink to the arrival of the Plastiki. It sailed into Darling Harbour about two weeks ago and the entire Plastiki crew has been painting the town green ever since. It was tough not to get caught up in all the hype, so I decided to attend a talk-story session with de Rothschild at the university to see firsthand what all the buzz was about. Rather than listen to me preach about the three Rs, go check out www.theplastiki.com if you're interested.

A few days later, a friend and I headed down to the harbour to check out this mean, green, sailing machine. Contrary to what I had first envisioned, the Plastiki is not some backyard project or slapstick floatation device being held together by duct tape and a prayer. It's a good thing, too. Try hanging on to the cape of a flying bear in one of those.