Peter Hendra wrote in
:

Message in a Bottle

Ever dropped one over the side, Peter? I have a picture from an Irish
public school class, who found one of my bottled messages on a beach on
the Irish Coast, washed up by the Gulf Stream. I've also had emails from
Iceland, Spain and the Azores!

Put a nice message and picture of you and your boat in a delabeled
polycarbonate soda or water bottle with a good screw cap. I like the 40
oz sizes to get a better picture into. Make sure you have your email
address, phone number, Skype name, home port so they can contact you.
Ask for an exchange of pictures/penpal emails. It's great fun when bored
at sea offshore. Sometimes you hear from a bottle you dumped overboard
YEARS AGO! Those polycarbonate bottles are really tough! Oh, also wrap
your contents in an external layer of paper so the sun doesn't bleach the
message/picture off them. Drop some brand new coins in the bottle, too.
The kids abroad love that...or some stamps from home for the stamp
collectors.

PAINT THE ENDS OF THE BOTTLE INTERNATIONAL ORANGE WITH GLOW PAINT also
improves their visibility on a beach. I just paint them by spraying the
INSIDE of the bottle through the hole, which also helps protect the
contents from the sun.

I used to do this from Navy ships crossing the Atlantic, many years ago.
Everyone thought I was crazy until they saw some of the neat stuff
finders of the bottles sent me.....(c;

Larry
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