Bay Area sailor, banking heir, and entrepreneur David de Rothschild has built a 60-foot catamaran largely from recycled plastic bottles. In March he decided to sail this environmentally friendly vessel (the Plastiki) across the Pacific to Australia, with the hope of getting people to start thinking more sensibly and critically about our consumptive waste and its long-term impact on the earth and oceans.

Anchored in Christmas Island after 38 continuous days at sea, Jo Royle, the Plastiki’s 30-year-old captain, is interviewed by Sindya Bhanoo of The New York Times about battling the “power of your mind” while at sea, being a woman captain on a boat full of men, and the unique challenges of piloting this vessel:

“The fact that 70 percent of the Plastiki’s buoyancy is created by over 12,000 reclaimed plastic bottles, which lie directly against the flow of water, makes the boat slow and very tricky to maneuver. There were times when you could have been led to believe that we were in fact rowing across the Pacific and not sailing.”

photo credit: Roomic Cube

Volcanic snowkiting: Italy’s Mount Etna, an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, has become a European locale for winter snowkiters.

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Sailor Emma Pontin of London, England, who has competed several round-the-world races and transatlantic crossings, has used sailing as a way fight breast cancer. Her book Beating the Blowfish details her fight with the disease.

“I want people to understand that if you go through breast cancer, you can do anything. Some people who’ve had breast cancer or going through it just sit at home all day, on their sofas and don’t know how to handle it. And I want to tell this people: ‘Do something amazing, cross an ocean, bring it on!’” Anouk Lorie of CNN reporting.

Bay Area sailor, banking heir, and entrepreneur David de Rothschild has built a 60-foot catamaran largely from recycled plastic bottles. In March he decided to sail this environmentally friendly vessel (the Plastiki) across the Pacific to Australia, with the hope of getting people to start thinking more sensibly and critically about our consumptive waste and its long-term impact on the earth and oceans.

“‘I wanted to get people to think sensibly that waste isn’t really waste, but merely inefficient design, and that we can turn it into a resource,’ de Rothschild, 31, said by satellite telephone as the boat sailed west from San Francisco. ‘Every day, we are seeing bits of trash floating past us. They look like jellyfish, but then we realize they are plastic bags.’” Dan Levy and Marc Perrier of the Seattle Times.

Spanish Sailor Pepe Ribes and his 60-foot yacht, the Estrella Damm, along with another Open 60 yacht, the W Hotels, set sail on a 3,750 mile journey from New York to Barcelona–each hoping to be the first to set the fastest time on a new transoceanic course.

“The cities of New York and Barcelona are sponsoring this race, along with the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona and the New York Yacht Club, to promote a cultural and educational initiative between the two cities. There are two Spanish sailors and one American aboard each boat,” writes Chris Museler of The New York Times.

“Ribes, who has raced around the world three times, said it was an honor to be one of the first sailors on this new course. ‘To sail this course with three people, we will always be pushing against the clock,’ he said. ‘This is like your degree. You need to know everything to do well. For a guy who likes sailing, this is the best university.’”

Cirque Belgique: Belgian Snow, Skate, Surf Extravaganza. Szymon Stachon at the 2009 Quiksilver skateboard Super Bowl, “A Day In The Life” with snowboarder David Doom, surfer Jamie O’Brien, and Hadlow kiteboarding.

Produced by Cirque Belgique

Tom Clynes of National Geographic Adventure writes about aerotrekking (expeditions with ultralight airplanes) the skies above southwestern New Mexico with John McAfee, owner of McAfee antivirus software and his own aerotrekking club, the Sky Gypsies.

“…I’m on the back of an open-cockpit, winged tricycle, swooping through the air above the Peloncillo Mountains. Up front, in the birdbrain position, McAfee pulls the control bar toward his right hip and sends us diving into Skeleton Canyon.”

“‘This is what Icarus dreamed of,’ McAfee yells, as we pirouette around a granite spire, then level off five feet above the floor of the Animas Valley, skimming over ocotillos and longhorn cattle at 65 miles an hour. McAfee stomps the throttle and aims for the crown of a small butte, then flicks the bar forward to spirit us over the top.”

Abby Sunderland, a 16-year-old from Thousand Oaks, California, who is sailing her 40 foot boat, Wild Eyes, around the world to best the record of her older brother Zac (who completed his own 13-month solo-circumnavigation last summer at the age of 17), has recently rounded South America’s Cape Horn.

“She had safely traversed a passage known as the Mt. Everest of the yachting universe, a mariners’ graveyard fraught with unpredictable gales and gargantuan waves,” reports Pete Thomas of The Los Angeles Times.

“‘It’s the milestone I’ve been waiting for,’ the budding adventurer said, when reached via satellite phone, minutes after she had crossed from the Pacific into the Atlantic. ‘It’s pretty much the hardest part of my trip, and now it’s over so it’s really great being here.’”

Snow-kiting Grand Valley, CO

Jeff Kafka, Bay Area entrepreneur and big wave rider, has spent the last five years introducing local adrenaline junkies to the growing sport of kite-surfing (small surfboards or wakeboards attached to kites) as part of his Wind Over Water adventure business. Maybe it was inevitable, but the next opportunity has him pointed towards the snowy hills of Utah’s Skyline Ridge and the winter progression of his sport: snow-kiting.

“To make the expansion work, Mr. Kafka is relying on one big asset: his loyal following of Bay Area pupils, some of who want to keep riding in the winter and are committed enough to spend money flying to Utah…” writes Jessica Vascellaro of The Wall Street Journal.

“Mr. Kafka’s plans show how some Bay Area businesses have been able to parlay their local connections to grow, despite the weak economy. Even as many businesses have shrunk, Mr. Kafka is working on a $1.2 million snow-kiting accommodation and activities lodge in Fairview, Utah.”

photo credit: GrandValley-Dave

Jennifer “JJ” Fetter–a Californian sailor who recently was inducted into San Diego’s Breitbard Hall of Fame for her two Olympic medals and four world championships–has been trailblazer for women in the sport of sailing.

But the ride hasn’t always been easy:

“At the time, many of the West Coast’s leading yacht clubs didn’t have facilities for female racers. ‘I remember having to dress in the parking lot at St. Francis YC in San Francisco. Other clubs also had facilities only for the men,’” she tells Bill Center of The San Diego Union-Tribune.