Java Jive wrote:
On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:51:32 +0100, Roderick Stewart
wrote:

You couldn't do that now. Modern domestic gas is heavier than air.

Really, I'm very surprised to hear that. I wonder what the different
formulae were/are.

It
used to be possible to fill a huge plastic bag with the stuff and
send it floating off into the sky, but it's no fun any more.

That *has* to be a good thing. Plastic bags that end up in the ocean
get mistaken by turtles for jellyfish. They try to swallow them, and
choke to death.

For many years, I've sailed off the west coast, particularly Wales, Scotland
and Ireland. More recently, I sailed the south coast extensively and also
crossing the Channel.

With our prevailing winds, I was staggered by the number of carnival
balloons that end up in the Channel. Made me rethink the kind of activities
I organise at charity events as a result, not for turtles in the Channel but
other sea life.

Saw a basking shark in the middle of the sea lanes in the Channel a couple
of years ago. Draw a line from Weymouth to Guernsey and whether that
crossing the lanes is roughly the location.