Hilton Head Island: World War 2

 

I had planed to read this book ten pages a day, but I became caught up with it and it has been my main reading every day, other than revisions of GANNET 6.  It is fascinating to see what people understood, or thought they did, and what concerned them at the time.  One of the main lessons is how wrong even informed sources can be.

On December 4, 1941, an article appeared headed ‘Singapore Doubts Japanese Threats’, which proceeded to state that with the arrival there of the new battleship, THE PRICE OF WALES, the Singapore Naval Base had never been stronger.  THE PRINCE OF WALES was sunk by Japanese aircraft six days later, and Singapore surrendered to the Japanese a little over two months later.

Again, only days before Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, there was an article stating that many thought that the Soviet Union was likely to join the German-Italian-Japanese Axis.

There are countless other examples.

Once the United States entered the war, obvious morale building articles appeared about how everyone on the home front was united.  This changed over the next two years when people grew weary of rationing and other restrictions.

An illuminating article was how factories and assembly lines were being modified for women workers, from bathrooms and showers, to redesigning assembly lines so that heavy components would have to be lifted shorter distances.

On April 2, 1942, the TIMES ran an article ‘Blondes May Aid In War’ in which it was stated the Office of Emergency Management was calling for women’s straight blonde hair fourteen or more inches long.  It was essential that the hair had never been dyed.  There was no explanation in the article of how the hair would be used, so I googled and learned:

During World War II, the U.S. military used long, unbleached, chemical-free blonde hair as a strategic material in precision meteorological and weather instruments (such as hygrometers) to measure humidity and changes in heat and cold.

Why blonde hair? Scientists discovered that untreated blonde human hair expands and contracts with extreme sensitivity to moisture and temperature shifts, making it ideal for accurate calibration in weather and aircraft instruments.

On October 9, 1940, was an article poignant in retrospect, ‘Berlin Starts Evacuation of Children Fleeing Raids’.  It stated that more than 550,000 children had been evacuated from cities to towns in the countryside or “cities like Dresden, which are rarely attacked.” I found myself wondering how many of them were still in Dresden  five years later on February 13, 1945, when the bombs began to fall.

Hilton Head Island: shameless self-promotion

If you would like to read an excerpt  from GANNET 6–and you know you do—Scot Tempesta has posted a chapter at his Rule 69 website, as well as some embarrassingly kind words about me.  Well, actually I’m not embarrassed.  I’m pleased.  It was a nice thing for an old man to wake up to this morning.

https://rule69.com/the-man-2/

Hilton Head Island: GANNET 6

The long awaited—or not—story of my sixth circumnavigation is set to be published by Harbor Books on November 14.  

Because the book contains more than two hundred color photographs and charts it would be prohibitively expensive to publish in paper, so it will come out in a Kindle Edition.

Pre-orders at Amazon are open now.  Search:  Webb Chiles GANNET 6.

vigation, is about to be published by Harbor Books, and I believe your readers may be interested.

While I no longer live in California, LATITUDE 38 has long shown nterest in my voyages and the voyage began and ended in San Diego and was made in a Moore 24, onof the greatest west coast boats

 

Here is a statement about the book:

While the publisher is using my age to promote the book, when I made the voyage I did not even think about my age.  I had completed circumnavigations in the previous four decades—two in the 00s—and thought making it five might be interesting.  Plus I wanted a new challenge, some sailing joy, and to experience again the monastery of the sea.

Here is a statement about the book:

One of the world’s most experienced sailors, Webb Chiles, set out on his sixth circumnavigation at age seventy-two.  No other American has ever circumnavigated six times in his own boats.  He was seventy-seven when he completed the voyage.

On his first circumnavigation, completed fifty years earlier, he became the first American to sail alone around Cape Horn and set what was then a world record for the fastest circumnavigation in a monohull, breaking Sir Francis Chichester’s record by more than three weeks.

Two years later, seeking an even greater challenge,  he set off to circumnavigate in an 18’ open boat, an undecked Drascombe yawl, in which he crossed both the Pacific and Indian Oceans, before after 20,000 miles being arrested and held as a spy in Saudi Arabia.

Webb Chiles has written that the defining responsibility of the artist is to go beyond the limits of human experience and send back reports.  That is what he has done for fifty years.

For his sixth circumnavigation he chose an unusual boat, an ultralight Moore 24, known to sail exceptionally well and intended to be raced around buoys in harbors.  Some had been raced to Hawaii, but no one had ever sailed a Moore 24 farther.  Even at seventy-two, Webb Chiles wanted to push limits.

He named his boat GANNET, after birds he admired when in New Zealand.  He made her totally self-contained.  Once he owned her she was never connected to shore power.  She ran from sun, wind, and his aged muscles.

The voyage was one man sailing alone, without sponsorship or shore team.   And it was sailed.   In 30,000 miles GANNET was under (electric) power for less than 15 miles.

It is an inspirational true tale for readers intrigued by what can be done in old age, at any age, if you have the will and the gifts and don’t let others define you.

GANNET 6 is more than just a sailing story.  Webb Chiles has been called the most talented living writer in the sailing world.    It has often been said that he takes the reader with him into his boats, causes them to feel the experience of fifty-knot gales, masthead in the water knockdowns, as well as the beauty and serenity of what he calls the monastery of the sea.  

But he writes about more.  About the places he visits,  often visited before.  The kindness of strangers.  The books he is reading.  The changes in the world he has seen.

Readers attracted to what they think of as an adventure should know that Chiles, who is an original, has written:  “Amateurs  seek adventure; professionals  seek to avoid them”;  but still in GANNET 6 there are storms, knockdowns, freak waves, and soul eroding calms.

GANNET 6 will take you where you have never been, and may make you seek to do more than you thought you could.  If so,  Webb Chiles will be pleased.

——-

If you buy the book and enjoy it, I would appreciate your telling others.

     www.inthepresentsea.com

Hilton Head Island: Drascombe Lugger comfort. and formulas

You may recall that I concluded an earlier post wondering what the comfort ratio would be for CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE. My friend Bill in England provided the answer.  I quote his email and I thank him.  It brought more than one smile.

For reference, as you asked, the comfort ratio of a Drascombe Lugger is 5.11

Okay, so rather than do the maths myself, I asked Google's AI. Its extended answer might amuse you. It concludes:

Real-World Context
Despite what the raw number implies about "comfort," the Drascombe Lugger is legendary for being an exceptionally seaworthy, stable, and forgiving open boat. Its safety comes from its hull shape and flexible yawl rig rather than heavy displacement:

• Intended Environment: It is designed for pottering around rivers, estuaries, and coastal creeks—environments where it excels.
• Form Stability: Its relatively wide beam (6.25 ft) compared to its short waterline provides great initial stability, making it a stable platform for family day outings.
• Extreme Voyaging: Legendary sailors like Webb Chiles have famously made massive offshore passages in a Lugger, proving its ultimate sea-keeping capability, even if doing so offers very little physical comfort in heavy weather.

I have almost no experience with AI, but it seems to like me.  Another sailor who asked some bot about Webb Chiles received a quite complimentary response.  It is possible that the bots will be discussing me long after they have eradicated our species from the planet.  An immortality of sorts, I suppose, but not one I ever imaged.

Of formulas, of which I am skeptical because they often, perhaps always, exclude essential factors which are difficult or impossible to measure, another friend, Zane in New Zealand, sent me a comparison of GANNET with his boat, an English built Twister.

Here is what he sent:

What is most interesting is that though these are very different boats—the Twister displaces five times what the Moore does and has only about 40% more sail area, the hull speeds are said to be almost identical.  Yet both Zane and I know that GANNET in almost all conditions can leave his boat below the horizon in minutes.  The formula that claims they have the same hull speed is considering only waterline.  The two boats do have similar waterlines; but waterline length is not  the sole basis for evaluating speed.  What is not considered is how quickly a boat can accelerate and how quickly it can surf, if it can surf at all.  Ultralight light GANNET accelerates faster than any other boat I have ever owned and she surfs with any good wave or often with only a slight increase of wind; and in light wind she often sails near wind speed when a heavier boat might not be sailing at all.

I do not claim GANNET is a better boat than Zane’s Twister.  The right boat, like the right partner, is the one that suits you.  GANNET suits me.  Zane’s Twister suits him.  I wish that she gives him joy as GANNET has given me and thank him for sending the comparison.