ROTHSCHILD BANK HEIR COMES IN TO LAND ON PLASTIC BOTTLE BOAT
IT’S the end of a rather long nautical road today for banking heir David de Rothschild.
De Rothschild, a devoted environmentalist, set out from San Francisco back in mid-March, in an attempt to sail over 7,500 nautical miles across the Pacific ocean… in a boat made from 12,500 recycled plastic bottles.
The stunt was designed to highlight the growing problem of plastic waste trapped by swirling ocean currents in the middle of the Pacific, where the debris currently covers an area of the sea larger than Texas. De Rothschild says he and his crew wanted to highlight the kind of innovative thinking that will be required to develop new and better solutions to the plastic pollution problem. To that end, the crew developed their craft – named “Plastiki” after Kon-Tiki, the boat that crossed the Pacific in 1947 – entirely using renewable materials. The hull was constructed using a polymer developed from used plastic bottles, while the sail was made from recycled cloth and a mast out of a recycled aluminium irrigation pipe.
The crew have grown organic veg in a garden on board, while they power their electric equipment using solar panels and innovative stationary bicycles, which have to be pedalled for a couple of hours a day to keep everything up and running. The boat is due to arrive in Sydney harbour at some point today.
HORSING AROUND
It was off to the Cartier Polo yesterday for the City set, who supped champagne as they watched England take on Argentina at Hurlingham Park.
Around 25,000 people turned out for the event, including celebrities such as Tommy Lee Jones, who is a keen polo player in America, and singer Geri Halliwell. Around half the Cartier tent was taken up by bankers with their clients, whose appetite for the sport has already been whetted this year by Polo in the Park, which took place at the beginning of June.
Polo in the Park founder Daniel Fox Davies, the head of the City broking firm of the same name, didn’t miss another chance to get involved in his beloved polo yesterday and was working the tent like a pro. “It’s been a fabulous day,” he told The Capitalist. “It’s so wonderful to see so many people turn out to enjoy the sport.” That and the unrivalled schmoozing possibilities, naturally.
BAG LADIES
Word arrives of a new insurance product claiming to have the potential to capture an entirely new niche of the market. Insurance4everyone has launched a new product whereby we ladies can insure our handbags as an “add-on” to existing home and car policies. For just over £5 a month, you can purchase cover for your bag and contents, including iPod, mobile phone, makeup, perfume, purse and keys. Happy days, particularly if you’re carrying a bespoke Birkin with crocodile skin, diamonds and the lot – often costing up to £70,000 a pop.