Boat made of 12,500 recycled

Along the way, they fought giant ocean swells, 62-knot (70-mile-an-hour) winds, temperatures up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) and torn sails. The crew briefly stopped in Queensland state last week, after battling a brutal storm off the Australian coast.

Skipper Jo Royle also had the particular challenge of being the only woman on board.

“I'm definitely looking forward to a glass of wine and a giggle with my girlfriends,” she said.

Vern Moen, the Plastiki's filmmaker, missed the birth of his first child — though he managed to watch the delivery on a grainy Skype connection. He met his son for the first time after docking in Sydney.

“It was very, very surreal to show up on a dock and it's like, 'here's your kid,'” he said with a laugh.

Although the team had originally hoped to recycle the Plastiki, de Rothschild said they are now thinking of keeping it intact, and using it as a way of enlightening people to the power of recycling.

“There were many times when people looked at us and said, 'you're crazy,'” de Rothschild said. “I think it drove us on to say, 'Anything's possible.”'

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