1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"
First to correctly answer all the below within one week in one post wins an autographed copy of Randall Reeves cool new book, The Figure 8 Voyage. Multiple submissions allowed, but please wait 24 hours between posts. Max guesses = 3
What boat holds the Singlehanded Transpac elapsed time record?
a. PEN DUICK IV b. MASERATI c. ILLUSION d. PRIMA e. WILDTHING f. TRUTH g. LAKOTA h. DOGBARK i. MONGOOSE
What mast can a schooner fly her spinnaker from? 1) Foremast 2) Mainmast 3) Either Foremast or Mainmast
What famous actor/actress has competed in the Singlehanded Transpac?
Can one build a wood Express 27?
Is it all mixed together, or does the Pacific Gyre separate its trash into distinct areas?
What is alive, lives in the Pacific Gyre, does not live in the water. Nor flys in the air. And never touches land?
Ready, Set, Go.
Last edited by sleddog; 05-06-2020 at 05:31 PM.
Lakota
Foremast and mainmast, depending upon height of mainmast and whether or not the gollywobbler is set.
Hal Holbrook
Yes. Could also build one in ferrocement, but it would be slower!
Yes, two parts - east and west (I've seen a lot of interesting things in the eastern side).
Probably some interesting bacteria. I had to go look this one up: there are Bacillus bacteria living on the plastic found in the gyre.
- rob/beetle
Last edited by tiger beetle; 05-06-2020 at 06:50 PM. Reason: add words ", two parts"
Good, Mr.Beetle. You got all but the last one correct. Although the explanations aren't quite what I had in mind...if someone doesn't get the last question correct, they can try again in 24 hours. Hint: these "alive" things in the Gyre are not microscopic like bacteria. They are very much visible, and I've spent many hours watching their antics.
The trimaran LAKOTA holds the course record for the SHTP at 7 days, 22 hours.
Here's a pic of a spinnaker being flown from a schooner's mainmast:
One of our Forum stalwarts actively races his wood (balsa strip planked with diagonal red cedar external skin) Express-27.
The Gyre, it is being discovered by satellite and first hand observations by the plastic trash collecting sailing ship KWAI, does indeed sort much of its trash. Rope islands float to certain rendezvous latitudes, as do thousands of clorox bottles, and left footed Nike sneakers...a new science in itself.
This summer, KWAI will again be back in the EPAC Gyre with a goal of retrieving 100 tons of plastic trash, double what they pulled aboard last year. Good on them.
Last edited by sleddog; 05-07-2020 at 10:00 PM.
Hi, Skip - if you don't like the bacteria (which *are* there but not visible to the naked eye), I'll vote for dancing stars reflecting in the smooth water of the High as the answer to you last question. I've seen some incredible star-shows on flat black still water, it's as if you're suspended in a bowl of stars with stars below and stars above and all around, just incredible.
- rob
Last edited by tiger beetle; 05-07-2020 at 06:24 PM. Reason: add 't' for 'no' = 'not'
That's an impressive and depressing photograph.
If something doesn't live "in" the water, but doesn't fly in the air, then I'd assume in lives in the microlayer between. In fact there's quite the assortment of bacteria and algae, there. Are you talking about dinoflagellates?
1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"
The trouble with dinoflagellates is they are a plankton and plankton live in the water. So do pelagic crabs (they have gills). That's why I'm suspecting Skip is aiming at something metaphoric here as regards "living in" water.
The Kwai is an interesting 140' sailing cargo boat that does the circuit from Hawaii to various Pacific Islands - I crossed paths with them in Oahu, they were headed in when I was headed out. They are currently coming back to Hawaii from Kiribati and the Cooks, then out to the Pacific Gyre on a charter to go look for more plastic: http://svkwai.com/
- rob/beetle
Rob,
"Dancing stars reflecting in smooth water." and "sailing in a bowl stars" is just about the nicest visual of crossing the Pacific High at night I can think of. Thanks for that.
However, question 6 remains unanswered. "What is alive, lives in the Pacific Gyre, does not live in the water. Nor flys in the air. And never touches land?" The answer is not bacteria, algae, dinoflagellates, plankton, velella, crabs, barnacles, flying fish, nor metaphoric.
Although 300 million years old, these amazing oceanic creatures were not discovered until the early 19th century, probably because of their ability to quickly become invisible. Curiously, they benefit from the increase in ocean discarded plastic refuse, but probably not for food or shelter.
How widespread are they? Let's just say that during 4 days of crossing the Pacific High on WILDFLOWER they were never not in view except when I tried to catch one.
Last edited by sleddog; 05-08-2020 at 06:47 AM.
#6 Though I haven't found it specifically I believe a type of mite could make a home upon the plastic.
#4 There is a particular cold molded Express 27 that is the original mold for subsequent hulls. Dianne