Each time one visits a new place one tries to determine what that place is like. Of course we choose to see what we want to see and in this case not speaking the language compounded the problem.
Month: December 2014
STREETS OF HAARLEM AND AMSTERDAM
MAURITSHUIS AND DEN HAGUE
THE RACE IS NOT OVER
Sydney to Hobart: Wild Oats XI building its lead at the halfway mark as Comanche stalls
Updated
Wild Oats XI has started to break away from Comanche in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race but a change in the weather could favour the American supermaxi.
At the halfway point, Comanche has stalled in the light conditions to be one of the slowest vessels in the fleet.
Travelling at 12-15 knots – almost twice Comanche’s speed – Wild Oats XI has extended its lead to 27 nautical miles with the chasing pack a further 20 behind.
Race spokesman Jim Gale said Comanche was by no means out of the running.
“A lot depends on the strength of the breeze,” he said.
“It’s going to be down to which boat gets the best weather conditions for its design.”
Rachel McInerney from the weather bureau said the wind will pick up significantly overnight and into tomorrow.
“Around lunch time tomorrow, down the east coast of Tasmania we are expecting north-north-easterly winds of around 15 to 25 knots,” she said.
Stronger winds were expected to favour Comanche but the leading boats were not expected to round Tasman Island until early Sunday afternoon.
The race is expected to finish in the early evening.
Comanche was first out of the Sydney Heads and held its lead over Wild Oats running into a strong southerly that forced eight boats to retire.
But as the wind died down, Wild Oates hit the front off Gabo Island at about 10am AEDT Saturday and led the fleet into a becalmed Bass Strait.
Defending champion Wild Oats XI is striving for three straight wins and a record eight in total.
Wild Oats spokesman Rob Mundle said the crew was not taking anything for granted.
“That lead that Wild Oats XI has now could be eliminated very, very quickly,” he said.
It will be a three-boat finish, says Ragamuffin crew
Despite trailing the leaders, the crew of third-placed yacht Ragamuffin 100 said they were still in with a chance of winning the race.
Having slowed down to protect the their boat in heavy seas on Friday night, they said they predicted the wind would turn in their favour and deliver them to the mouth of the Derwent at the same time as the leaders.
“We believe the leaders are going to run into a hole and stop,” said sailing master David Witt.
“And our routing is telling us that it’s going to be very exciting and all three boats are going to arrive at Tasman Light [Tasman Island] at the same time.”
Witt’s boat was gaining on Comanche but not Wild Oats.
“We’re three knots quicker already and that’s just going to build over the next 10 to 12 hours,” he said.
Eight yachts withdraw after overnight battering
Overnight, hopes of reaching Hobart’s Constitution Dock were dashed for Supermaxi Perpetual Loyal and seven other crews.
Perpetual Loyal briefly led the race on Friday but was forced to retire with a damaged hull.
Race officials said it had a delaminating bow and would head back to Sydney for repairs.
Media player: “Space” to play, “M” to mute, “left” and “right” to seek
VIDEO: Former winner Perpetual Loyal retires damaged(ABC News)
Crewman Tom Slingsby said the yacht may have hit something at about 9:00pm before the hull started taking on water.
“We’re not exactly sure what happened. We were coming off some big waves, but we also could have hit something during the night when we were falling off these waves,” he said.
The fleet was battered by stiff southerly winds and rough seas until late on Friday night.
Former line honours winner Brindabella was among the casualties.
The 21-year-old maxi was forced to retire after it started taking on larger than normal quantities of water.
Brindabella’s sailing master, Brad Kellett, said the excess water was coming from damages to the yacht’s rudder bearings.
“We were just coming into our own after a risky tactical decision to go offshore paid off,” he said.
“No-one is hurt.”
Other yachts to retire were Triton, Tina of Melbourne, Bear Necessity, Occasional Coarse Language, Willyama and Last Tango.
More than 100 yachts remain in the 628-nautical-mile journey that will end on the River Derwent.
THE TALK IS OVER
the start of the sydney-hobart race courtesy of sailing anarchy. The 5, 100 footers are off. The press for this race is much more successful than any other 600 mile race anywhere in the world.
APRIL’S FOOLS FOR CHRISTMAS
This story may not do much for East West relations.
Russia Shoots Down Santa’s Sleigh Near North Pole
Russia shot down Santa Claus’s sleigh today in international airspace over the Arctic Ocean.
According to local reports, the sleigh was beginning its annual Christmas Eve journey around the world when it was struck by a surface-to-air missile fired from the Russian island of Novaya Zemlya – just a few hundred miles from the North Pole. Santa and nearly all of his reindeer were killed instantly.
Norwegian fisherman soon located the debris field in the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean. Images of the debris aired on CNN and other international news networks show broken limbs, teddy bears, and gift wrapping strewn throughout the sea.
Although Russia has officially denied involvement in the incident, American intelligence forces say they have proof the missile was fired from a Russian military installation on the island. Several ultra-nationalist politicians in Moscow have praised the downing, which targeted an popular Western celebrity.
“Santa Claus is a symbol of Western decadence and consumerism,” said Alexi Onnatopp, leader of the far-right Golden Bear party,”Whoever killed this fat, corrupt man is a patriot and a hero.”
Today’s events bear striking similarities to the downing of Malaysian Flight 17, which was shot down by pro-Russian rebels in Eastern Ukraine this summer using a similar surface-to-air missile. All 285 passengers and 15 crew were killed aboard that flight travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Remarkably one reindeer survived today’s blast and is currently being treated for his injuries at a hospital in Norway. Authorities have yet to officially release its name, but sources close to the investigation confirm that it is Rudolph — the crimson-snouted misfit immortalized in an eponymous 1939 song.
“We were able to rescue him first because of his red nose,” says Lars Sommerhielm, an admiral in the Royal Norwegian Navy, “It stood out amongst the ocean waves. The others we couldn’t get to in time.”
In a speech from the oval office President Obama vowed an appropriate response to the tragedy, which may include tightening sanctions on an already crumbling Russian economy.
“Today Russia has gone too far,”he told reporters,“Vladimir Putin has threatened the hopes and dreams of children around the world. He will be brought to justice.”
A funeral for Mr. Claus has been set for December 28th at the North Pole. President Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande and other international dignitaries are scheduled to attend.
WHALES, DRONE VIEW
I have been looking for a reason to purchase a drone with camera. Here is one more reason.
Humpback Whales Bubble Feeding Drone Views from AkXpro on Vimeo.
HIGHER AND DRYER, TEAM VESTAS
“Nico’s out over the other side of the reef now, giving it the once over, making sure there’s nothing left behind.”The Aussie voice crackling through the Inmarsat iSat phone is that of Team Vestas Wind shore manager, Neil ‘Coxy’ Cox.
“I’m sitting here and the sun has just disappeared on the horizon,” it continues.
“And the ship that we’ve just loaded on to is probably about seven or eight miles away from us now.” Incredibly, the Team Vestas Wind boat is off the rocks – damaged – but in one piece.
Not bad for a boat which ran into the reef in St Brandon at 19 knots (35kph) and ended up grounded, high and not very dry, just over three weeks ago.
You can almost feel the trademark Coxy grin down the line as he recounts the events of a momentous few days’ work.
“We were able to get the boat across the lagoon this morning on the high tides, and it went well enough that we could pull it straight out of the lagoon,” he adds.
“Then, we were able to bring a Maersk ship in, not even a mile away from where we were – it showed up at about 2pm this afternoon.”
“We loaded the boat at about 5pm tonight.”
Three hours, 180 minutes. It seems like a pretty short amount of time – but it was a tense few moments for Neil, skipper Chris Nicholson (Nico), and the local workers.
“We spent the last three days getting this boat off this reef – it was beyond delicate,” Coxy admits.
“We have a pretty well-rehearsed method of picking these boats up – but everything that we would normally just set ourselves up for, we had to think about it, look if it was okay, and then acknowledge that certain things just weren’t.
“We had to bounce slightly and re-invent the wheel, we just needed to be very careful and just make sure that we finished the job swiftly.”
It was a job which was always going to be fraught with difficulty – but even more so after three days of working around the clock to clear the area and ensure the structural integrity of the boat.
“We’ve been really lucky that from the minute the incident happened, we’ve developed a relationship with the guys who actually live on the island here,” he says.
“We’ve employed the workforce that already exists out here, and without it we couldn’t have done the job, full stop. There’s probably a work force of 10 guys.” “They’ve been standing knee deep in water with waves hitting them all day, they’ve been carrying oxygen bottles for us to be able to cut the keel off, they’ve been helping us re-anchor the boat otherwise things would start moving across the reef.
“They’re fantastic.”
Pure relief flavours his words. This is a major step, complete. And it’s been an incredibly charged emotional rollercoaster for the pair of old friends, Coxy and Nico.
“I think when we initially motored back out there a couple of days ago, there were butterflies in the tummy. For me it was going into the unknown.
“Fortunately you’re so involved in this that your mindset is on really wanting to get this done, and do it right. We came here hoping to be able to get the boat off the reef and hopefully be able to bring the boat back, so that nervousness kind of subsided with focus.”
The next step? “Well, it’s now a 28 hour motor to get back to Mauritius,” says Coxy. From there, they’ll transport the boat to Malaysia and then to a destination yet to be confirmed in Europe.
“We’re just getting everything tidied up tonight and leave probably about 3am in the morning.”
And what about looking a little further ahead? Well, Coxy is still cautious – but hopeful.
“A week ago the light at the end of the tunnel was getting smaller and smaller, but what we’ve been able to retrieve off the reef is substantial.” He pauses. “I’m not going to say it’s great by any means, but it’s the first stepping stone, and it’s enough to shine a light and to work hard to put things back into place. “
HIGHER ABOVE PARIS
The view from montparnasse tower is yet another perspective of Paris. The tallest building in Paris.
ALMOST THE LONGEST NIGHT IN HISTORY
This morning in Newport the sun was supposed to shine through a portal on the “Old Stone Mill” not to be seen again for 18.5 years.
Correction: Tonight will not be the longest night in the history of Earth. It was in 1912.
I got this wrong. The Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing on an extremely long timescale, but on a shorter year-to-year basis, geologic factors can alter the speed as well.
Data indicates that the rotation speed has actually sped up slightly over the past forty years, likely due to melting of ice at the poles and the resulting redistribution of the Earth’s mass. So, as far as we know, the longest night in Earth’s history likely occurred in 1912. I apologize for the error. Thanks to Steve Allen and Ryan Hardy for pointing it out.
Today, you might already know, is the winter solstice. That means for people living in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the longest night of the year.
However, as science blogger Colin Schultz points out, tonight will also be the longest night ever.
At any location in the Northern Hemisphere, in other words, tonight’s period of darkness will be slightly longer than any other, ever — at least, since the planet started spinning right around the time it was first formed some 4.5 billion years ago.
Why this night will be the longest ever
The reason is that the rotation of the Earth is slowing over time. Every year, scientists estimate, the length of a day increases by about 15 to 25 millionths of a second.
It may be a truly tiny amount (and it means that even in your entire lifetime, the length of a day will only expand by about two milliseconds), but it forces official timekeepers to add a leap second every few years.
The main reason Earth’s rotation slowing down is the moon. Shortly after the formation of Earth, it was impacted by a planet-sized object. This enormous collision threw off the material that would eventually coalesce into the moon, and also sent Earth spinning quite rapidly.
In the four-plus billion years since, that spinning has slowed down pretty significantly (with an Earth day going from about six hours to 24 hours as a result) because of the moon’s gravity.
The moon’s gravity pulls ocean water slightly toward and away from it, causing tides. But because of the alignment of the two bodies, the resulting bulge of water is slightly ahead of the spot on Earth that’s directly under the moon.
As a result, the Earth encounters just a bit of friction from this bulge of water as it rotates, slowing it down slightly.
The phenomenon — called tidal acceleration — also allows the moon to drift slightly farther away from Earth over time. (It’s also what’s led the same face of the moon to always faces Earth as it rotates around us, and eventually, if things went on long enough, the same face of Earth would always face the moon as well, a phenomenon called tidal locking.)
There are a few other things that contribute to Earth’s slowing down, but their contributions are minor. One is that the moon’s gravity similarly causes Earth’s crust to flex, like its water, leading to some friction as well.
Why winter solstice is the longest night of the year
This one is much simpler. The Earth orbits around the sun on a tilted axis, so sometimes, the Northern Hemisphere gets more exposure to sunlight over the course of a day, and sometimes, the Southern Hemisphere does. This is what accounts for the changing of the seasons.