Junk-Tiki sails a plastic Pacific
Two eco-mariners have been sailing a raft built of junk to help raise attention to a major oceanic environmental problem - the accumulation of plastic trash in the Pacific OceanNearly three months ago, Dr Marcus Eriksen and Joel Paschal sailed from Long Beach, California, on a 30ft raft made of 15,000 plastic bottles, salvaged sailboat masts and an old Cessna 310 fuselage, which they appropriately named Junk.
After travelling 2600nm with a top speed of 3.2kts, the team landed on the Hawaiian island of Oahu - achieving their goal.
dr Eriksen and Paschal sent photos and video from sea to bring attention to the Pacific Ocean pollution and the North Pacific Gyre - a clockwise rotating mass of water roughly twice the size of teh USA, described by the team as a toilet bowl that never flushes. They said the huge volume of plastic trash now drifting in the oceans interrupts the feeding of marine life, and plastics release toxins into the water.
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