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    Around-n-Over

    Question - "What does having a dream mean to you?"
    Answer - "A dream is a goal glimmering in the distance; it is an inner calling which, when accomplished,
    serves as the rite of passage into wisdom." Erden Eruç - Sep 17, 2004
     

    Image: Our partner in education: National Museum of Education. Our partner in education: National Museum of Education.
    Image: November QuikSCAT wind averages - black is my boat's track, X is Christmas Island 285nm away. November QuikSCAT wind averages - black is my boat's track, X is Christmas Island 285nm away.

    November wind charts...
    November 5, 2007 - Day 119    6.5351N,155.9514W
    Thanks to the work by thirty-six 8th grade students at the Orrville Middle School in Orrville, Ohio, I now have the November QuikSCAT average wind charts for the ocean surface area between 5S-10N and 150W-180W.

    These wind charts are valuable to me, allowing me to get a feel for the general wind trends on the ocean. I act on what I see on a daily basis, and I also use buoyweather.com to receive wind and swell forecasts by email. The latter are based on models typically good for 48 hours. Beyond that, the models can be inaccurate.

    While I struggle with local conditions as I progress, I try to anticipate what awaits me further down the route. By having knowledge of wind trends on a monthly basis, and pacing myself at roughly 1000nm per month, I hope to bring my boat to a position with the most favorable winds and currents a month or two later. Therefore, the fine wind chart that the Orrville M.S. students extracted for me from Oregon State online sources, is extremely useful.

    I understand that University of Akron oceanography students (5 undergrads and 1 graduate student) participated by conference call during the Technical Education class to answer questions and to explain important variables like water temperature, salinity, air pressure, and concepts like "convergence zone" and "coriolis effect" which impact the flow patterns of ocean currents and weather systems, which in turn help or hinder my progress.

    The participation of the oceanography students was wonderful, because when Kylie wondered whether the five-year wind averages using 1999-2003 QuikSCAT data were too old, and whether they would be useful for me, she was able to hear that these were average winds which blow in reliably similar patterns in a given month at a given location. The university students were able to explain that the fluctuation of the wind varies little, especially at the equator and that data collected over time offered a fairly accurate system which still works today.

    I was glad to hear that everybody had fun. Many thanks to the National Museum of Education for facilitating this student interaction.

    Looking at my immediate vicinity on the chart to the right which the students kindly provided, it is likely that I will continue this slow creep more west than south through November. Eventually I will get my break and run for the Equator, which hopefully will not be too far west. I miss following seas. :(

    Erden

    Previous Dispatches
    image

    Shearwater, or not?    November 4, 2007 - Day 118
    On my last dispatch, I posted that a shearwater had befriended my boat, landing repeatedly on my starboard side to pick the bait fish. I am reminded that shearwater have a short black hooked beak, wh

    image

    Making friends on the way to the Equator...    November 2, 2007 - Day 116
    As of yesterday, the trip odometer on my chartplotter indicated that my boat had meandered past 4,000 nautical miles. I have 3,593 nm as the crow flies to reach Mooloolaba, and I am located 2,589 nm

    image

    Part 2 - Long road toward the educational mission...    October 30, 2007 - Day 113
    Christopher Beer gave me the best advice on that first day that I met him: "surround yourself with good people and the dream w

    Later dispatches - Previous dispatches


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