Boat Made from Mary Rose, Jimi Hendrix's Guitar Fragments to Start Its Maiden Voyage

A boat crafted from wooden fragments donated by people from across the South-East including Mary Rose, Jimi Hendrix's Guitar, will hit the seas this summer following its launch on 7 May, 2012.

Coined The Boat Project, the yacht was also funded by the Arts Council England's Artists' Taking the Lead project for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. It is also part of the London 2012 Festival, a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration running from 21 June to 9 September, 2012. The event will reportedly bring together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK.

The Telegraph reported that the artists who came up with the idea, Gary Winters and Gregg Whelan, known as Lone Twin, visited 20 locations across the region seeking contributions to be used in the building of the craft.

The Lone Twin had spent the past year collecting wooden items from thousands of people living in the South-East, documenting their stories, and working with an Olympic silver medallist and international boat designer and a team of volunteers to build the 30-ft yacht.

From pencils to piano, each donation was used to craft the boat into a "seaworthy archive of stories and memories."

"The boat will be winched by a giant crane into the water, where she will go through the traditional champagne smashing ceremony and her name will be revealed. A female celebrity will perform the honours, as boating tradition dictates it must be a lady who names the vessel. I don't want to say who that lady will be just yet though!" Gregg Whelan of Lone Twin said in a statement.

According to the Art Council England, the boat will go on a maiden voyage around the South Coast, stopping at five main ports of call - Brighton, Portsmouth, Hastings, Margate and Milton Keynes where a festival of events will celebrate each arrival mooring and departure of the boat and her crew.

A series of events will be observed at each port including artworks, music, dance and artist talk. Festivities include performances from the official Ship's Log, musician Johny Lamb who goes under the name of Thirty Pounds of Bone, who will be writing and performing a new song for each leg of the maiden voyage.