Back in March I wrote about my experience hanging out on the IWC Plastiki with its crew in San Francisco. This was prior to the ship’s maiden voyage, which was to be an ambitious journey from San Francisco to Sydney. Please refer to the original article there for all the details on what the Plastiki is, and the purpose of its ‘mission.’
A few days ago the plastic bottle boat successfully made it to its location in Australia. I believe the voyage took over 3 months. It was not likely an easy ride… as the Plastiki was the epitome of bare bones accommodations. Amazing that it was able to sustain 6 people for that long. I am really curious about being able to ask them questions about the trip. I am sure they are all loving each other after being so close for that long. The leader of the voyage was Daniel de Rothschild, who was likely nicknamed “dirty Daniel” somewhere along the way, given that the Plastiki has no showering or cleaning facilities on board.
The goal of the Plastiki was always to give credibility to the concept that goods can be recycled for useful purposes such as building materials for ships. The innovative material that the Plastiki team developed for the boat are actually likely to see industrial application in the future. Because the boat reached its final destination intact, with a crew in good shape, the concept of having environmentally neutral vehicles is a reality. Perhaps a lofty concept in today’s world, I think this idea will become more and more appealing in the coming decades. IWC of course is thrilled and lucky to be associated with this project, and IWC watches are often the subject of unique partnership opportunities.
As you saw in the previous article, the partnership with Adventure Ecology and Plastiki led to IWC developing a limited edition Ingenieur watch in steel. IWC has now released an addition piece, but in platinum. It will be auctioned off for charity to support the efforts of Adventure Ecology. With a reserve price of 30,000 euros, it is unclear just how much the solid platinum Adventure Ecology Ingenieur watch will go for. Bidding is now open, and you can enter a bid yourself at the Plastiki website here. The auction will end on August 7th, 2010. Visit the site for more details and to bid.