From Bottle Boat to Bounty Boat

Some adventurers just can't get enough. We learned today via a tweet from the crew of the Plastiki that one of the folks who helped build the so-called Bottle Boat is now off on another risky record-setting voyage.

David Pryce was one of the original folks on the Plastiki project, lending both his skills as a Naval Architect and his experience of sailing around the world. Now that the Plastiki is safely sailing across the Pacific without him (We wonder kiddingly if his spot on the bottle boat was filled by a cockroach after reading the latest blog post from aboard the Plastiki), Pryce is onboard a different boat in another part of the world, bringing attention to another important cause.

Pryce is now part of a crew of experienced and not-so-experienced sailors attempting to re-create the historic voyage of the British Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty. Without enough provisions, technology or other modern conveniences, the small ship is on a mission to raise awareness and money for the Sheffield Institute Foundation (SIF). SIF is an Australian research organization trying to cure Motor Neurone Disease (MND), also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. (Donate or just learn more about the cause here)

From the site (www.bountyboat.com)

Following in the footsteps of William Bligh when cast adrift from the Bounty, Don McIntyre and the crew onboard the "Talisker Bounty Boat" will sail for Tonga to find extra food and water, then set off to sail across the top of the Fiji and the Vanuatu Island groups, before setting course for the Queensland Coast and a landing at Restoration Island following four weeks at sea on light rations. They then sail north inside the Great Barrier Reef to Thursday Island, and across to Kupang and Timor.

If successful it will be the first time that anyone has ever sailed the same course, in the same way that William Bligh did 221 years before… no charts, no nautical almanacs, no modern watches, no torches, no toilet paper, no extra landings, all in a boat less than half the size of Bligh’s original "Bounty Boat"…

This brings us to our factoid of the day, especially for you movie buffs...

Of course the fateful voyage of the Bounty has been reimagined in countless books, songs, plays and movies over the years. The role of Fletcher Christian, who reportedly led the mutiny, has been played by a few actors you may have heard of: Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson to name a few.

Going boating this week? With Safe Boating Week coming up, we wish you a safe and mutiny-free adventure.

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