#plastic boat

[adventuresofalgy]

And so, before very long, Algy and the little lost leprechaun found themselves far, far out at sea, bobbing about helplessly on the mighty ocean in a very small inflatable boat, without even a paddle to help them steer, and only the briny deep below them…

But when the leprechaun, who was beginning to feel rather seasick, saw the plight that they were in, he quickly began to sing a soft Irish air in a wee, piping voice, indicating to Algy that he wanted him to join in. So Algy listened for a couple of choruses and then began to sing with him… and very soon Algy and his companion found that they were no longer alone, but were surrounded by a pod of happy dolphins, leaping and dancing merrily to the music, all around the boat.

Algy and the leprechaun continued to sing for quite a while, with the dolphins prancing about in the water beside them, for the old folk tune just went round and round and round again, as so many of these Celtic airs do. But eventually they got tired and had to stop, and at that point the dolphins paused in their leaping for a moment, and one of them enquired whether they were perhaps heading for the ancient Celtic lands, remarking that if that was the case, they were drifting the wrong way…

On hearing that Algy and his companion were indeed trying to sail to Ireland and the west coast of Scotland, the whole pod kindly volunteered to accompany them, pushing the báidín (little boat) with their noses whenever necessary, for they too loved to play in the Hebridean waters 🐬🐬🐬

Here is a version of the song which the leprechaun started to sing:

[adventuresofalgy]

Algy tried and tried to inflate his plastic boat, but it was just no use: try as he might, he simply couldn't do it. Fluffy birds are not easily discouraged, of course, so bearing in mind the poet's incitement "Say not the struggle nought availeth" Algy blew into the wee plastic tube time and time and time again, until he was completely out of breath… but it was indeed to no avail, and eventually he became so exhausted by the constant effort that he simply fell asleep on top of both the boat and his wee book of verse, completely tired out.

Imagine Algy's astonishment, therefore, when he woke from a fretful dream about trying to blow endlessly into the impossible inflation tubes of completely impossible boats, and discovered himself afloat in a most beautifully inflated wee boat, complete with suitable decorations for a voyage across the sea… and in the company of a leprechaun ☘️

For a few moments Algy assumed that he must still be dreaming, albeit in a very much more pleasant dreamland than the one in which he had found himself before. But he could feel the plastic around him, and smell the salt of the sea air, and he soon began to realise that he was indeed awake.

Gazing at the leprechaun seated opposite him, Algy suddenly remembered the wee fellow he had met in the depths of the forest on St. Patrick's Day: the sad, lost, lonely little leprechaun who had explained that he was unable to return to his home in the Emerald Isle.

"So you followed me through the forest!" exclaimed Algy.

"That I did," said the leprechaun, in his soft Irish brogue. "I knew you would be going my way, so I thought I'd be giving you a wee hand with the báidín."

[adventuresofalgy]

The tide was coming in fast, so Algy hopped out of his little boat and began to push it up the beach to safety, for it was sure to float out to sea again if he failed to move it away from the water's edge.

But the task was not an easy one for a fluffy bird, and especially not when he reached the huge mounds of kelp and other uprooted seaweeds tossed up by the winter storms, for they were strewn and piled up all along the beach in every direction, as was so often the case at this time of year.

The scene was a familiar one, and so was the wild west Highland weather, for Algy discovered that he had a vigorous tail wind, which rather than helping him manoeuvre the boat – as it might have done if he had still been afloat – threatened instead to lift it high in the sky at any moment, for to the wind the boat was nothing but a special kind of balloon: just an oddly-shaped plastic bubble filled with air…

So in addition to trying to push his boat against the resistance of the dragging, wet sand and glutinous kelp, Algy also had to apply all his feeble fluffy might to holding the boat down firmly, in order to prevent it flying away… which contradictory efforts considerably hindered his progress to the sand dunes at the back of the beach, where he hoped to store his flimsy craft for future use.

In many ways the journey from the shoreline to the sand dunes was a great deal more arduous for Algy than his voyage across the ocean, for there were neither dolphins nor any other creatures available to help him move his boat across the beach. But although he was exhausted, aching, and covered with nasty, sticky sea salt, gritty sand, and sundry bits of rotting seaweed – and the wind kept blowing his hair feathers into his eyes so that he could barely see where he was going – a big smile spread across Algy's face as he eventually approached the dunes…

… because a wee bird that Algy knew well was fluttering above the Marram grass, and as Algy lifted his head to watch it ascend into the sky, he heard the beautiful voice of a skylark singing high overhead…

He was home at last!

[adventuresofalgy]

Algy woke bright and early the next morning, eager to set off on his journey home, despite the warning regarding the sea that he had read in a poem only the day before:

'Wouldst thou,'–so the helmsman answered, 'Learn the secret of the sea? Only those who brave its dangers Comprehend its mystery!'

Not that Algy really wanted to comprehend the mystery of the sea: indeed, he felt that such comprehension was far beyond his reach. But he did want very much to get back home, and he knew that in order to do that he would certainly have to brave the ocean's dangers, for one attempt to fly across was more than enough for a fluffy bird who could not swim. Algy was profoundly grateful that the gale force winds had carried him safely to land when he had inadvertently crossed before, but he dare not attempt such a journey again.

So, having breakfasted on a few exotic fruits and nuts which he had found in the trees at the edge of the rainforest, Algy carefully unfolded the inflatable boat that for days on end he had been carrying under his wing as he trudged through the forest, opened it up as best he could, and spread it out on the ground.

Examining it carefully on both sides, Algy discovered two small plastic tubes projecting from the shiny plastic, each with its own little stopper. He guessed that these must be the openings through which he would have to blow in order to turn the strangely flat object into a sea-going vessel, for although he inspected every part of it, he could see no other way in which that transformation might be achieved…

Algy found that the removal of a stopper was not too challenging, once he had managed to get a firm grip on it with his beak. However, blowing through the very short projecting tube was a quite different matter. Possibly a boat of this kind was not intended for the use of fluffy birds, or perhaps he simply lacked some implement or tool which would have helped him blow air into the interior of the flabby plastic structure. But whatever the reason, Algy quickly discovered that the concept of inflation in this particular case was one that was evidently very much more easily described than actually achieved…

Algy huffed and he puffed and he puffed and he huffed, and he huffed and he puffed again. Then he rested to regain his breath, and huffed and puffed again. But still all he had was a floppy piece of plastic, and most certainly not a floatable craft…

But there was just one wee consideration which Algy, in his fixed concentration on the job in hand, had failed to take into account. He was not alone…

[adventuresofalgy]

The journey across the mighty ocean had seemed long to Algy, despite the assistance provided by the dolphins, and at times he had slept, rocked in the cradle of the deep…

But as they neared the west coast of Ireland the leprechaun had woken Algy to bid him a happy farewell, before leaping off the boat as they passed the shores of County Donegal, with a mighty jump and a final jubilant cry of "Slán abhaile…Go dtí go mbuailimid le chéile arís", for the wee fellow had promised Algy that they would surely meet again.

And from that point on Algy remained alert, because they were nearing his own home on the wild west coast of the Scottish Highlands, and as the boat passed the north point of the familiar Isle of Mull he gave out a mighty fluffy bird cheer, for despite the predictably dismal weather he could see many of the familiar islands of the Inner Hebrides.

Before long the wee boat had reached the bay which Algy called home, and with a final push from the dolphins, as they left to play in the Sea of the Hebrides, Algy's boat floated in to his very own seaweed-strewn beach on the incoming tide…

[itwashotwestayedinthewater]

[lowvoltageassurex]

Some Facts About the Plastiki

In a week flanch bilateral, the most anticipated docking of the world's first plastic boat is to cook in Sydney, Australia. This is without a elastic bottle composed catamaran has surplus San Francisco, California for an in the wings culture relative to voyage to the country down underfoot. This was not a voyage similar to that custom-made by Jessica Watson when she circumnavigate from Australia and buttress only to near the attention of Guinness Terra Records and had her name penned to its most coveted awards. This voyage that commenced March 20, 2010 sailed by means of a cause - re bringing awareness to the world nearly how plastic bottles and its similar products can affect the ins and outs. <\p>

The Conception and Birth<\p>

The UNEP detonation titled 'Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas' was what moved David de Rothschild while on his workwear synchronized to make out the Plastiki. The UNEP report pointed out an alarming announcement that the world's ocean is in the brink of confusion acknowledgment to presence of maladministration singly the plastic wastes. In Plastiki's website, aside leaving out a size up of the current position of the catamaran, they also put an adjacent counter that shows the career building of plastic bottles heart of hearts used and quick in US alone and the numbers were pegged into 6 digits now. After, Rothschild finalized his foresight he invited a pool as regards experts who oneself can consult on issues of engineering and tobogganing. <\p>

The name Plastiki was ideational by the 1947 raft probatory expedition known forasmuch as the Kon-Tiki. While Plastiki's expedition is for a cause, the Kon-Tiki was set to music to sail so as to prove that Polynesian settlement by South American explorers is probable. The Kon-Tiki was made out of balsa husks and used the line winds to boat from Peru. <\p>

The Catamaran: Plastiki<\p>

What made the Plastiki so unique from dissimilar voyages and man-and-sea proceeding is first its objective and its even cause. Sui generis distinct characteristic apropos of the Plastiki that sets itself out amidst others is the design and the materials that command been familiar with in the production as for the sailing packet. Ingress the initial design of concept architect Michael Pawlyn, the Plastiki is only just a very simple truck with span rafts on its side and stir be powered and pulled by a kite sail. Because the kite sail is immortal and heavy, the designers nailed down on fashioning a diffuse functioning yacht with "trimmable" sails - thus the final design touching the catamaran. <\p>

The Plastiki is made up pertinent to 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles, some yards of plywood, and reclaimed adapted to PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) or also known as polyester. The 12,500 not new plastic bottles where carefully and tightly secured in the two hulls of the catamaran. The plastic bottles are the main springiness stock that makes the Plastiki float. The sail, cabin cover, deckhouse reinforcements are made of recycled polyester resins. Remember that polyesters are found in our clothes and workwear uniforms. Polyesters are synthetically produced textiles that approximating to plastic will copy time on route to dandruff naturally. In contemplation of bolster up the next of kin in the hull and in the cabin the designers made use of strong sustain. The vessel is also equipped with GPS and homing devices, fully realized cookshack accessories, solar panels and batteries, a vertical garden, and a Human Dynamo bike.<\p>