Message-in-a-Bottle - Launched / Found?

[Bruceyp]

One winter day about 3 years ago I was walking my dog on the beach on Sandy Hook NJ. I'm always thinking I'm going to find some flotsam that will be worth taking home so I walk the highwater line. Lo and behold, there in the sand looking as romantic as a budwieser bottle can look, was a message in a bottle!
The message was written some in English and some in Spanish. A friend translated what I couldn't understand. The author was, is, from Chile! But before you start plotting tidal currents from Chile to New Jersey, she was visiting an Aunt in Coney Island NY about 10 miles(tops) and within sight across the water from where I found the note. There was an email address so we began a correspondence. Luckily she can communicate in two languages, because I have trouble with one. It seems that she had launched the message about a week before I found it. Of course she never expected to get a response back.
She had returned to Chile by the time I replied, so we have not met in person but we remain pen pals. She is 18 years old and into things 18 years olds are into and I am 60 and have long since sown my wild oats. But it is nice to share experiences with new people.
We both feel that there is something "special" about our relationship because of the way we met.
BP

[bstreep]

We have thrown over around 40 or 50 bottles over the years. Only 1 was ever returned - and it was one of the first we ever threw overboard - from St. Lucia, it was picked up in Ft. Lauderdale, by a lady vacationing from Arizona.

[Ex-Calif]

OK - I will leave the environmental comments aside - LOL

Not a bottle story but my brother is a bit of (well a lot of) a goof. He worked in a factory boxing the board game trivial pursuit. It's a game with cards of trivia questions. There are also blank cards to make you own questions.

My brother in his boredom started writing notes on the blank cards - "Arbeit Macht Frei" and "Help I am being held prisoner in a Trivial Pursuit factory."

The bosses were not happy and so another high paying job went down the tubes...

[Beverly Stayart]

About the bottle thrown overboard from St. Lucia, you were lucky that one came back since none of the other 40 or 50 did. Where were the others thrown in?

[roberttigar]

I dropped a bottle into the atlantic as we were going from Fla to the Bahamas. 2 1/2 years later I got a letter from a young girl in France. She and her brother were playing on the beach after a storm and found the bottle. Long trip!!! Bob

[delmarrey]

I found a beach that washed up in a bottle.

[Saildoggie]

A new spin on message in a bottle.
While planning our 10th. Caribbean bareboat charter I was thinking about some fun activities for both the adults and kids.

I came up with a idea similar to the old message in a bottle, but wanted to use model sailboats, as they will travel further faster and be lots of fun as well.

I toyed around with building my own models from scratch, even made a plaster mold and cast some hulls from 2 part foam Urethane materials. I was not really pleased with their performance and decided to do some research.
I Sent an email to Wil at Modelsailboat.com and got a favorable response that he liked the idea and wanted to be part of it.

Wil was kind enough to offer blem (seconds) hulls to the program along with the rest of the components needed. I paid for shipping and also extra for Carbon Fiber masts, as the boats are bound to see some rough weather and squalls on their journeys.

When the package with eight T-15 kits arrived, I was pretty excited and also a little overwhelmed having to varnish and finish 8 models!! I installed a long wood screw in each mast hole so I could varnish each boat completely and avoid drips.


The hulls arrived beautifully sanded, did not need to touch them before varnishing.
8 cats of Minwax Helmsman urethane varnish were applied with foam brushes, very light sanding with 320 sandpaper between coats.




The kids all chose boat names and colors:
Nicole: Nicole’s Kitty, Bright lime green
Shayna: Eore’s Palyhouse, Bright pink
Haley: Gymnastics Girl, Bright Lime Green
Steffi: Kalypso II bright Pink
RexIII; The Black Pearl, Black
Zach: Pequeno, Black
Miciah: S/V Michah, natural with blue lightning bolt
Mark (Me) Zapper (commemorative boat on display at my home) natural with blue bolt.

The finishing process was a daily fun thing to do after work, this allowed each coat of varnish then paint to dry completely.


After painting, many thin clear coats of Minwax Helmsman spray urethane varnish were applied, the boats are now looking really sharp! The keels were masked in the area that mates with the hull, painted and then clear coated also.





Meet the fleet!
The masts and keels are simply installed and not epoxied in place yet for each of carry on air transport in a back pack.



Each boat also had an engraved plaque attached with double sided tape and 4 brass screws. The other models included phone numbers, email and mailing addresses.





Time to assemble the boats on site, Marina Cay, British Virgin Islands!!!

It was quite warm, notice the beers on our building table?? The temperature helped the West System epoxy Wil supplied set up in just a couple of hours. It was tough waiting for them to dry, we were ready to sail


Final assembly and decorating!!!
The final assembly of masts and sails was done aboard Jeannius, our chartered privilege 435 catamaran. The kids put final touches on with Permanent Sharpie markers!


Off to Snorkel Monkey Point, then sail the boats at Leverick Bay!
Video links:

We raced the boats all afternoon at the pool at Leverick Bay. I passed out all of the Modelsailboat.com business cards to people that just loved watching the boats sail!!!


Time to release the boats! The boats were released just off Anegada, an Island made of coral standing only 12 feet above sea level and 12 miles from the nearest island.


A video of the release:

The seas were a bit lumpy for not being underway, we were waiting for a another catamaran that followed us out to Anegada, they had never been before, so we stayed in radio contact after we blew them away with our big pretty gennaker. We guided them into the entrance and mooing field.

The kids had some separation anxiety, they loved their boats, but also a sense of adventure in releasing them and hopefully hearing from someone far away that found them!!!

It was all behind them after spending the next day at Loblolly Bay.

Then the next day at Cow Wreck Beach.

We celebrated my 49th. Birthday at Cow Wreck Beach, had to wear this silly badge all day!!!


After returning home, we received a call from the first sighting!
I answered the phone to lady with an English accent, it was Sir Richard Branson’s Assistant!
Seems Nicole’s Kitty sailed right into the bay at Necker Island, 12 miles from the release point.
Sir Richard’s assistant explained that he loved the boat and the idea, he actually played with it in the bay for some time before bringing it ashore.

I asked her to have him sign and date the boat with permanent marker and send it back out on the ocean side of the island.

The remainder of the boats must have cleared Necker island and Virgin Gorda and are off in the Gulf Stream by now!!!

Future sightings will be added to this report as they come in.

We have already booked a boat for June ’08 and may replay this adventure with just a few boats this time!
A link to all of the videos and photos from our 13 day sailing vacation:

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI07/

Another useful link to information and a fun travel forum!
www.traveltalkonline.com

My screen name is Saildoggie over there!

Many thanks to Wil at www.modelsailboat.com for all the support and donating the boats!!

[Saildoggie]

Hey!!

Found the article the BVI Beacon did on the project!!
Right here:

The BVI Beacon

[Paul Elliott]

I found a bottle under a pile of seaweed, on the beach near Point Reyes (north of San Francisco). It contained a message from a guy that had tossed it in near Fort Bragg, a distance of about 90 miles. I called the phone number in the message, but the guy seemed rather disappointed. Oh well.

I have made it a little tradition to launch a bottle with a nice message when we cross the halfway point between San Francisco to Hawaii. I usually include a picture of our boat, a hand-drawn chart showing our location in the Pacific, and personal messages from the crew. I include mailing and email addresses, my phone number, and a $5 bill. We use wine bottles and seal the cork with caulking. White wine is best, because the bottle is clear (or nearly so). Dark bottles just look like trash, because you can't see the message inside.

Six bottles so far, but no replies.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Saildoggie

A video of the release:

[Casco Bay]

I sent a few messages in bottles out while cruising south of Florida. Two months later my parents received a response from a school teacher in Cuba. He had found the bottle while walking the beach.

[CaptForce]

When anchored at Allens-Pensacola in the Abacos we found this marked piece of chart from St. Lucia in a barnacle encrusted bottle. Nothing written, but the lat & long:




'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[James S]

Saildoggie

That’s so cool...what a fun project.

I remember seeing a movie when I was a kid called "Paddle to the Sea"

The guy made a wooden canoe with a guy sitting in it...he put ballast in it so it always stayed up right.....

If I remember right he launched it in a stream in the spring and it made its way to the great lakes and beyond.

CaptForce
That chart is a good find...looks more like a treasure map....X marks the spot...cool find.

[Hal]

I launched one from a little town in South Australia once. Never did get an answer. Launched a baloon from Oklahoma City in a fierce storm and got a reply from Pittsburg about a week later. Amazing!

[bastonjock]

i was working as a diver off of Denmark in the mid 80s i was doing a pipeline swim/inspection, i was pulling my self along when out of the blue(literally) i spotted a bottle of grolsh beer,it was like finding an oasis in the desert,there was a strict no booze rule on the ship,i put the bottle in my bag and after i finished the dive,i sat there looking at it with a thirst that was building,i openned it and i was a tad dissapointed but not surprised to find that it had been spoiled by sea water