#130 of 138 in Google Maps’ 4,150 mile driving directions from San Diego to Honolulu: “Kayak across the Pacific Ocean.” This includes driving north to the Canadian border and the Kayak Trip directive to, “continue straight” for 2,756 miles. I really, really hope our captain is not using Google Maps, or it’ll be a long haul. On the other hand, it is good to see real people are programming the maps. What else could they say? Fatal error, cannot compute, your computer will shut down or implode in …. Seconds?
Or they could have assumed we really wanted to drive on solid surfaces, and given us directions for a submarine automobile to wheel its way across the ocean floor. Not sure how it would go, what with the subduction zone and all. And more funny computer stuff: Microsoft Office 2010 doesn’t recognize the word “subduction.” Seriously?
Twenty-some years ago, we used LORAN and celestial navigation. It was possible, by these methods, to locate oneself sailing in the middle of Ohio – a long leap from the previous day’s more accurate fix somewhere in the Sargasso Sea. I guess a kayak could take care of that?
On this trip, we should be using GPS and celestial navigation. Using celestial bodies and a sextant is much more interesting than plugging a destination into the dashboard computer on the car, but one should add an extra bit of time for calculations. Why use celestial as backup? Why not?
For a seriously good K-12 read related to seafaring and navigation, check out the Newbery Award book Carry on, Mr. Bowditch.