Nautical items...
...or, if you prefer, "boat stuff". ;-)
I mentioned this project before about a year ago, when it was still basically a work in progress, but...the Turanor (also known as the PlanetSolar Project) is an entirely solar powered boat that was launched on March 31st.
This boat was essentially built to demonstrate that cargo shipping vessels can operate without fuel. Based upon the amount of fuel used by various ships plying the waters all over the world every day, this could potentially yield tremendous savings which would hopefully be passed along to consumers, and would also go a long way towards conserving fuel. Of course I would be remiss if I didn't mention how much it might help mitigate Global Warming™ too.
(Yeah, right!)
Speaking of solar projects on boats, I added a solar charging circuit to my boat, to keep the battery charged:
In order to prevent it from overcharging the battery, I also added a charge controller to the circuit:
Earlier this month, I was on a nice cruise in The Abacos, considered by many to be the sailing destination in The Bahamas.
Here's the boat (and captain) at the dock in Marsh Harbor:
A view of the lighthouse at Hope Town from the boat:
And a view from the lighthouse:
Before this trip, I knew that there are a number of caves in The Bahamas, and my research turned up some information about one at Little Harbor...which happened to be one of the places we'd be visiting, so I went caving too. In fact, I got what I think is an awesome picture of some bats in that cave:
Last, but not least, I'd like to bring up the failed attempt by 16 year old Abby Sunderland to become the youngest person to complete a circumnavigation on a sailboat.
On June 10th, while sailing in heavy seas and high winds in the Southern part of the Indian Ocean, the boat was dismasted and she activated her distress beacons. Thankfully, she was rescued two days later.
Not to be a "Monday morning quarterback", but she and her family had been advised that her planned schedule would put her in that area at the worst time of year, weather-wise. However, she went for it anyway. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but I think it was irresponsible of her parents to allow her to try it when she did. Some people will do anything to get into the record books; I'm just glad that this particular story didn't end in tragedy...
I mentioned this project before about a year ago, when it was still basically a work in progress, but...the Turanor (also known as the PlanetSolar Project) is an entirely solar powered boat that was launched on March 31st.
This boat was essentially built to demonstrate that cargo shipping vessels can operate without fuel. Based upon the amount of fuel used by various ships plying the waters all over the world every day, this could potentially yield tremendous savings which would hopefully be passed along to consumers, and would also go a long way towards conserving fuel. Of course I would be remiss if I didn't mention how much it might help mitigate Global Warming™ too.
(Yeah, right!)
Speaking of solar projects on boats, I added a solar charging circuit to my boat, to keep the battery charged:
In order to prevent it from overcharging the battery, I also added a charge controller to the circuit:
Earlier this month, I was on a nice cruise in The Abacos, considered by many to be the sailing destination in The Bahamas.
Here's the boat (and captain) at the dock in Marsh Harbor:
A view of the lighthouse at Hope Town from the boat:
And a view from the lighthouse:
Before this trip, I knew that there are a number of caves in The Bahamas, and my research turned up some information about one at Little Harbor...which happened to be one of the places we'd be visiting, so I went caving too. In fact, I got what I think is an awesome picture of some bats in that cave:
Last, but not least, I'd like to bring up the failed attempt by 16 year old Abby Sunderland to become the youngest person to complete a circumnavigation on a sailboat.
On June 10th, while sailing in heavy seas and high winds in the Southern part of the Indian Ocean, the boat was dismasted and she activated her distress beacons. Thankfully, she was rescued two days later.
Not to be a "Monday morning quarterback", but she and her family had been advised that her planned schedule would put her in that area at the worst time of year, weather-wise. However, she went for it anyway. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but I think it was irresponsible of her parents to allow her to try it when she did. Some people will do anything to get into the record books; I'm just glad that this particular story didn't end in tragedy...
posted by camojack | 03:58
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