Category: Education

 

Just finished watching the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s flyover of the San Francisco Bay with an enthusiastic crowd at the Stonebrae Golf Course.  We were in the Hayward Hills, and saw it bank west after flying over Chabot space and Science Center.  It was so close we could see detail on the fuselage, and sky between the Shuttle and its 747.

There were almost no commercial jets over the Bay – we were surprised to see any—and a few escort jets.  Some of us straddled a doorway to catch simultaneous coverage on TV as the shuttle flew over the Golden Gate Bridge, but from our vantage point the bridge was obscured by haze.  That same haze had delayed the flyover by about an hour.  We didn’t share names, but bonded over a moment marking the end of the historic era of the space shuttle.

Many, many years ago I had dreamed of being an astronaut. The space shuttle program was fresh, and regular space travel seemed right around the corner.   Through many twists and turns, I chose a different path, but going to sea seems to put me back onto the path in that dream.  I won’t be going into space on a shuttle, but six weeks at sea is a strikingly similar endeavor.

 

#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.