On Saturday, July 12th in the afternoon, a boat of truly unconventional appearance set sail from Nymburk through Čelákovice and Brandýs nad Labem, continuing along the Elbe River all the way to Hamburg: built from 6,500 PET bottles.
The boat, christened with Elbe water and bearing the proud name Petburg, sails with four river wolves with "J" in their names on board: two captains Jan Kára and Jakub Bureš, and two sailors Jan Holan and Jan Brandt. It is powered by human strength: pedal-driven paddle wheels turned by the crew members themselves. In addition to the already mentioned thousands of PET bottles, bicycle chains, steel cables, spruce boards, floating (how else!) flooring, dry ice (filling for PET bottles), screws, nuts, nails, and 864 PET bottle caps were used in its construction. Destination: Hamburg Petburg will be sailing the Elbe for approximately thirty days before arriving at its destination. Its adventurous journey and the life of people on board will be recorded throughout this time by a cameraman with his assistant, who will travel in an accompanying vehicle, so we can already look forward to a travel documentary describing the story of four enthusiasts, one extraordinary boat, and their joint voyage along the Elbe. What the end of the story will be, whether the boat will be immediately recycled in Hamburg or will still shine at an exhibition in Holland, is for now written in the stars and in the minds of the crew members. There is plenty of time to think about it; the adventurous expedition is only at the beginning of its journey. red, photo Josef Podolák