Bruce In Bangkok wrote:
On Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:51:06 -0500, cavelamb
wrote:

Richard Casady wrote:
On Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:16:54 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:21:07 GMT, (Richard
Casady) wrote:

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:28:18 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

silverdragon wrote in news:91685a8a-6561-44c5-
:

This is probably a stupid question but I haven't come across an answer
in any of my sailing books.

How would you go about getting e-mail and an internet connection while
on the open ocean? What kind of equipment would you need to buy, and
what is the cost of the service?
Learn to disconnect from the Internet. I know it's not easy, but I used to
run an Internet company and am very used to being connected. However, with
Sailmail/Airmail you can still be connected and not need the web interface.
Remember, cruising is about letting go of your land based connections. And
believe it or not, you can do it!

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org
Slocum got along without an engine or anything electric.

Casady
I wonder how many people would be satisfied in cruising the way that
Slocum did it?

And, if Slocum was alive today would he would want a GPS or chart
plotter?
Probably:much better and easier.
There is an engine available that could easily have been built in
Slocum's day: the Atomic 4, the proper size for a 28 foot
FriendshipSloop. Something anyone can fix with a few basic tools.
Screwdriver, hammer, pipe wrench, stuff like that. Slocum would want
enough juice for the GPS and a few lights. Solar cells would do, with
the new efficient solid state lights.
Richard,

Have you actually read "Sailing Alone Around the World"?

His whole purpose was to get away from all the complications
of land locked life.

I don't think he even had a sextant on board!

Why would he embrace all this modern clap-trap???


Just wondering.


Richard


It's been some years since I read the book but I seriously doubt that
an experienced ship's Captain would have set off without navigation
equipment. If I remember there is at least one reference in the book
of Slocum taking a lunar sight to establish longitude.

Likely he didn't have a chronometer though if he was shooting lunars.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

I seem to recall a comment about the minute hand falling off of his watch.

On Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:00:53 -0500, cavelamb
wrote:

Bruce In Bangkok wrote:
On Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:51:06 -0500, cavelamb
wrote:

Richard Casady wrote:
On Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:16:54 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:21:07 GMT, (Richard
Casady) wrote:

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:28:18 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

silverdragon wrote in news:91685a8a-6561-44c5-
:

This is probably a stupid question but I haven't come across an answer
in any of my sailing books.

How would you go about getting e-mail and an internet connection while
on the open ocean? What kind of equipment would you need to buy, and
what is the cost of the service?
Learn to disconnect from the Internet. I know it's not easy, but I used to
run an Internet company and am very used to being connected. However, with
Sailmail/Airmail you can still be connected and not need the web interface.
Remember, cruising is about letting go of your land based connections. And
believe it or not, you can do it!

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org
Slocum got along without an engine or anything electric.

Casady
I wonder how many people would be satisfied in cruising the way that
Slocum did it?

And, if Slocum was alive today would he would want a GPS or chart
plotter?
Probably:much better and easier.
There is an engine available that could easily have been built in
Slocum's day: the Atomic 4, the proper size for a 28 foot
FriendshipSloop. Something anyone can fix with a few basic tools.
Screwdriver, hammer, pipe wrench, stuff like that. Slocum would want
enough juice for the GPS and a few lights. Solar cells would do, with
the new efficient solid state lights.
Richard,

Have you actually read "Sailing Alone Around the World"?

His whole purpose was to get away from all the complications
of land locked life.

I don't think he even had a sextant on board!

Why would he embrace all this modern clap-trap???


Just wondering.


Richard


It's been some years since I read the book but I seriously doubt that
an experienced ship's Captain would have set off without navigation
equipment. If I remember there is at least one reference in the book
of Slocum taking a lunar sight to establish longitude.

Likely he didn't have a chronometer though if he was shooting lunars.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

I seem to recall a comment about the minute hand falling off of his watch.

That would screw up your noon sights a bit.

Last night I was thinking about reading the book. It was years ago now
but I can remember isolated incidents from the book - scattering the
tacks on the deck off S. America and arriving in Australia but I can't
for the life of me remember his arrival back in the U.S.

Memory is funny.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

On Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:19:51 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:

I seem to recall a comment about the minute hand falling off of his watch.

That would screw up your noon sights a bit.

One of the nice things about a noon sight is that your time does not
have to be dead nuts accurate. You just keep shooting the suns
altitude until it peaks out and then you can compute latitude directly
from that if you know what the date is.

Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:19:51 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:

I seem to recall a comment about the minute hand falling off of his watch.
That would screw up your noon sights a bit.

One of the nice things about a noon sight is that your time does not
have to be dead nuts accurate. You just keep shooting the suns
altitude until it peaks out and then you can compute latitude directly
from that if you know what the date is.

By coincidence, I read about half of Slocum at the beginning of the
summer as a "Kindle Test." (I since got one and have read about a dozen
books; highly recomended since it comes with with lifetime internet.) I
was about a page shy of the lunar sight mention, the only reference to
celestial in the book. Slocum was 47 days out of Juan Fernandez,
approaching the Marquesas, and wanted to check his dead reckoning. His
first Lunar Distance sight was off by 200 miles, so he tried again and
again was way off. He then went into the tables and found a flaw, which
when corrected, placed him 5 miles off the DR. Not bad for 47 days. He
continued on to Samoa without stopping.

He never mentions any other celestial, and only has a cheap tin clock.
However, he did have a patent log spinning off the stern, so he has a
good measure of speed/distance. He does mention the Lunars are a lost
art, now that chronometers are commonplace. A few years later radio
time signals would completely eliminate the need for Lunars.