New Boat 4 Sled

[sleddog]

Condolences to Commodore and the extended family of Nancy Potter Tompkins on her recent passing. Nancy was an excellent sailor and generous to a fault. We will miss her smile, many talents, and graciousness.

[sleddog]

Randall Reeves and Harmon Shragge depart the Golden Gate tomorrow on the first leg of circling the Americas clockwise. The plan as reported in Lat-38 is "to leave, weather permitting, on Tuesday and take the Great Circle route north to Homer, Alaska, with the goal of arriving in early October."

A bowl of Macapuno to the first to tell us why this plan probably won't work without modification.

[BobJ]

I'm so sorry to hear about Nancy Tompkins.

Moli would have to portage on both ends of that route. The GC route from SFO to HOM is overland until Fort Bragg. At the other end it crosses a substantial chunk of the Kenai Peninsula before reaching Homer. As GPS books warn, "always use at least two means of navigation."
.

[sleddog]

Moli would have to dig some dirt on both ends of that route. She wouldn't clear land until around Ft. Bragg and then would need to portage across a substantial chunk of the Kenai Peninsula to reach Homer.

BobJ is exactly right. A Great Circle course from the Golden Gate to Homer, AK, takes Randall's MOLI overland. https://www.greatcirclemap.com/?routes=SFO-HOM

[Intermission]

Almost forty some years ago, Don Goring had a large sheet of bleached muslin hanging high in his sail loft with an off shore trip to Alaska, in winter, mapped out in colored felt pens.
I still chuckle to this day whenever I think about Don's reply after I asked him about the wisdom of going in winter;
"the locals get tired of tourists in summer, but in winter, they will take you in and feed you"



I look forward to following MOLI; "over the top" will be beautiful.

[MillyB]

[QUOTE=sleddog;33814]Condolences to Commodore and the extended family of Nancy Potter Tompkins on her recent passing. Nancy was an excellent sailor and generous to a fault. We will miss her smile, many talents, and graciousness.
Very sad to hear this Sled. She was always so gracious and full of life.

[MillyB]

Thanks for the map Sled, and the answer, Bob. I didn't do the math, or find the map until you showed it here, but somehow, it just sounded wrong.

[Daydreamer]

That Great Circle route to Homer, accounting for avoiding land, will be a beast of a ride. Up wind all the way!

Just saw the picture of the chart of Randall and Harmon's proposed route.
Makes more sense to round the EPac high clockwise and then head north.

[sleddog]

A member of our fleet's drone got bullseyed today by Idalia. On purpose. It's a hurricane hunter, getting surface readings that aircraft can't get "Saw 74 knots sustained, 24 foot waves at 9 second intervals. Boat was rolling 121 degree max roll until it hit 22 knots SOG at the same time, probably airborne, and did a full 360. Came back up and is still transmitting data." Tough bugger. The rig on this hurricane hunter drone is stubby, equivalent to 3 reefs and no jib.

Florida is really going to get whacked tonight, especially in the NE quadrant of Idalia, where the windspeed is increased by the forward speed of the storm, aka "Dangerous Semicircle."

At one point, the drone sailed through the eye, and the windspeed dropped to 10 knots. Flocks of birds sometimes get caught in the eye wall and can't escape...

[MillyB]

How amazing that a Saildrone was able to withstand those kinds of conditions, and what hugely valuable data ! I have dear friends who just left here for St Pete- not a good place right now- but Idalia looks to be veering slightly NW.