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Gosport sailor crosses Pacific on boat made up of plastic bottles
A sailor from Gosport has completed an epic voyage across the biggest ocean in the world on a boat made up of plastic bottles.
David Thomson and the crew of the Plastiki were welcomed into Sydney Harbour, Australia, yesterday morning by a 100-strong crowd.
The boat, made out of 12,500 recycled plastic bottles, docked in Sydney Harbour after four difficult months crossing the Pacific Ocean on a journey meant to raise awareness about the perils of plastic waste.
The crew of the Plastiki had left San Francisco on March 20 and endured fierce storms during their 8,000 nautical mile adventure.
Pompey fan David, 34, who grew up in Beechcroft Road and Palmerston Way and went to Bay House School in Alverstoke, said they had an 'extremely warm' reception when they arrived in Sydney with a flotilla of boats and a fleet of media helicopters.
'Being at sea for four months, it's been hard for us to gauge if our message was getting out there,' he said.
'The expedition has been a great way to capture people's imagination, and further educate people about the damage being done to the environment.'
His girlfriend Abby Best added: 'I'm incredibly proud of David and all of the Plastiki crew.
'They survived soaring tropical heat and raging pacific storms and some of the biggest waves David had seen. All this in a tiny cabin sat on 12,500 plastic bottles.'
The idea for the journey came after a United Nations report in 2006 which said that pollution - and particularly plastic waste - was seriously threatening the world's oceans.
During their 128-day journey the six-member crew lived in a cabin of just 20ft by 15ft, took saltwater showers, and survived on a diet of dehydrated and canned food, supplemented with the occasional vegetable from their small on-board garden.
Along the way they fought giant ocean swells, 70mph winds, temperatures up to 38 degrees and torn sails.
The crew briefly stopped in Queensland last week, after battling a fierce storm off the Australian coast.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -3 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: -4 C to 2 C
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