Rich Wilson, the best ambassador for the Vendée Globe - Vendée Globe 2016

American Rich Wilson finished ninth in the last running of the Vendee Globe.  He has got a different boat now - Dominque Wavre's former Mirabaud.  November1, 2016 is the start date. One person, on a boat, around the world (France to France), nonstop, unassisted.  That's the race.

Rich Wilson, the best ambassador for the Vendée Globe - Vendée Globe 2016

That is how Denis Horeau, the Vendée Globe Race Director described the American maths teacher at the press conference presenting the 2016 Vendée Globe at the Paris Boat Show. It was just a quick stopover in Paris for the skipper of Great American IV, who is busy developing a worldwide teaching programme using the Vendée Globe as a tool. At the age of 64, he is to compete in the 2016 Vendée Globe, even though his boat was recently struck by lightning.

© François Van Malleghem / DPPI / Vendée Globe

Tell us a little about your recent travels and how you explain your project, Rich
”I was in China, Beijing and Hong Kong just making connections and they are really interested in the concept. The great thing is the Vendée Globe is so easily understood, one person one boat, non stop around the world without assistance. We are working on the partnerships concept. Schools are excited about wrapping the race into their programmes. In China we were meeting with the right people I think, with decision makers and I think it will work for education, science and technology especially. In the US it spans Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths in high schools and we are just trying to reach out to as many people as possible. We reached 1/4m people in the last race and now we want to expand overseas. We can do that, the internet lets us reach people from Bogota to Boston to Beijing and Bali it doesn’t matter.”

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New Year's Day - Friendship River

Walking with my baby down by the bay.

Seeing stars again: Naval Academy reinstates celestial navigation - Capital Gazette

My father commanded a 110 foot sub chaser on convoy escort duty in the north Atlantic.  Every day they had to report their noon position - determined by using a sextant like that above.  The advantage of celestial navigation is that it is three dimensional.  It helps you orient yourself in space.  - gwc

Seeing stars again: Naval Academy reinstates celestial navigation - Capital Gazette

by Tim Prudente

The same techniques guided ancient Polynesians in the open Pacific and led Sir Ernest Shackleton to remote Antarctica, then oriented astronauts when the Apollo 12 was disabled by lightning, the techniques of celestial navigation.

A glimmer of the old lore has returned to the Naval Academy.

Officials reinstated brief lessons in celestial navigation this year, nearly two decades after the full class was determined outdated and cut from the curriculum.

That decision, in the late 1990s, made national news and caused a stir among the old guard of navigators.

Maritime nostalgia, however, isn't behind the return.

Rather, it's the escalating threat of cyber attacks that has led the Navy to dust off its tools to measure the angles of stars.

After all, you can't hack a sextant....

Friendship - First Storm - Christmas Week 2015

Maine-built Boat Wins Sydney Hobart Race

Portland Press Herald - East Boothbay- built boat wins 628 mile Sydney-Hobart Race
Comanche - the East Boothbay built maxi - has won the Sydney-Hobart Race.  It was a brutal race in which 29 of 108 starters retired after the first night. At the helm as they crossed the finish line was Aussie lass Kristy Hinze-Clark, wife of owner Jim Clark who founded Netscape.  She was, presumably, wearing foulies, not the suit she chose for the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.

Puerto natales, Chile | Issuma

Getting Drier | Issuma

Richard Hudson is getting pretty far south aboard Issuma.  At 48 South, 73 west  near Puerto Natales he is in the pleasantly cool weather of the Patagonian summer.

Pilot Transfer in Heavy Seas from BP Oil Tanker - gCaptain

WATCH: Pilot Transfer in Heavy Seas from BP Oil Tanker - gCaptain

The Good and The Bad for Atlantic Menhaden | National Geographic (blogs)

Very interesting perspective on Bunker (as we call them) fishery by Carl Safina, the well known and conscientious conservationist. Basic point: we need Cod food more than cat food, or worthless fish oil at GNC.The Good and The Bad for Atlantic Menhaden | National Geographic (blogs)

by Carl Safina  Co-authored by Elizabeth Brown

On May 5th the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission met to make pivotal decisions about the management of Atlantic Menhaden – arguably one of the most important fish in the sea.

Two keys decisions were up for discussion:

1.) What to set the Atlantic Menhaden catch limit at. Or, in other words, how many Menhaden should the fishery be allowed to take from the ocean.

2.) Whether managers should take a “big picture” or ecosystem-based approach to managing Atlantic menhaden. This means taking into account the important ecological role Menhaden play in the ocean as a key food source for many species.

The Menhaden fishing industry was pushing for an increase to the catch limit put in place back in 2012 to rebuild this species. Their reasoning being that the latest population assessment for Menhaden indicates it is in a better state than it was a few years ago, so they should be allowed to take more fish from the sea. The Menhaden fishery is the largest on the U.S. East Coast. The majority of Menhaden (80%) are ground up for use in fish oil dietary supplements, fertilizers, and animal feed. This industry is controlled by a single company, Omega Protein. The remaining 20% of the Menhaden catch is used by commercial fishermen for bait.

Ocean conservationists, recreational anglers, and eco-tourism businesses were more concerned about whether managers would leave enough Menhaden in the ocean to support its vast array of predators. Menhaden provide food for several important recreational and commercial fish, such as striped bass, weakfish, cod, and bluefin tuna, seabirds like osprey and eagles, and whales. Menhaden, along with other small prey fish, are the glue that holds the ocean ecosystem together. More than 10,000 people wrote to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission prior to the meeting pushing for a big picture approach, urging them tonot increase the Menhaden catch limit until they account for the needs of its predators.

Manhattan Island before they snipped off the top

What you want to see in this map is the line at the right which -when you enlarge the image- is labeled Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The first curve in the S is now the tidal basin in Inwood Hill Park. The creek then winds around Marble Hill, joining the Harlem River. To the left of Marble Hill is a thin line. That creek was dredged and the hillside blasted to form the Ship Canal, enabling freight to move via barge from the Hudson to the Sound (East) River.

Ports on Oneida Lake

https://tugster.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/ports-on-oneida-lake-1/