Viking sailboat replica made of 15 million ice-cream sticks sets sail for
London on the first leg of its Atlantic adventure.

 DEN OEVER, THE NETHERLANDS (APRIL 8, 2008) REUTERS -

A Viking ship made from ice-cream lolly sticks set sail from the
Netherlands on Tuesday (April 8), with its crew and stuntman builder aiming to
cross the English Channel and make it to London. The 15-metre (50-foot) ship
is made from 15 million recycled ice-cream sticks glued together by U.S.-born
Robert McDonald, his son and more than 5,000 children.
    Badly injured as a child in a gas explosion that killed the rest of his
family, McDonald is hoping to cross the Atlantic later to repeat the ancient
Viking route to North America via Iceland and Greenland.
    "First we go to England, then we go to Shetland Islands, the
Shetland fjords, then we go to Iceland and Greenland and Lancing Meadow is our
final destination", said McDonald, who has worked as a stuntman in around
400 films.
    Loaded with cuddly toys, the crew aim to follow the Dutch and Belgian
coast down to northern France before crossing the Channel to England where
they plan to visit children in hospitals.
    "We already have a place reserved for us at Canary Wharf,"
McDonald said.
    On the way to London, crew has to take care of repairing the radar and
the radio which have already broken down while still in Dutch coastal waters.