Moku pe'a Report - 17 April 2014
Rocky and I are on schedule for an end-of-April departure from Kaneohe
Yacht Club. The "To Do" list is shrinking along with the days remaining
until we sail. The Mighty Moku pe'a is anxious to get going. As I type
this I can feel her tugging at her mooring lines in anticipation.
The purpose of this post is to test our ability to post directly to our
blog from the boat by satellite telephone. The technology is amazing, at
least to me. When I first started crossing oceans by sailboat 39 years
ago, this kind of communication from boats at sea was inconceivable.
Progress is great, but it does have its potential downside. We've become
quite comfortable with all this technology and have let our guard down.
We don't bring a sextant anymore and instead rely on the 5 GPS units
aboard to tell us where we are. Heaven help us (and commerce on Planet
Earth) if something like a solar flare were to take out the GPS satellite
system at the wrong time. We do still have paper charts though and can
probably find our way by dead reckoning (kind of like reading by
Braille). Captain Cook did it, and he didn't know where he was going.
Back to work on the "To Do" list…
Noodle
Reading you 5 by 5 Noodle. Looking forward to your updates. Aloha, Peter Martin
ReplyDeleteCaptain Cook was probably a lot more like the Polynesian navigators than we realize. Through trial and error, they likely developed pretty good methods of knowing which direction land might be, even small dots of land. Can't wait to get Moku Pe'a's updates bouncing to satelites and ground antennas and fiber optics and web sites that tell us automatically when you do that!
ReplyDeleteTony
Bill - following you from Bethesda, Maryland! Got duck tape?
ReplyDeleteHi Bill,
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to living vicariously as you make your way to Tonga.
--Leslie Fleming
Whoops, all this technology is great if you know how to use it! Daughter Lillian shares the computer and has the google profile right now.
ReplyDeleteAloha Noodle! I'll monitor your progress from my vantage point here in Qandahar. Wishing you fair winds and many a spectacular moonrise on the southbound leg. Take care and stay safe.
ReplyDelete