Clever bees??

[arTThur]

Thought this might get the minds thinking out there!

I was sailing along the other day, miles from anywhere and a bee flew into the cockpit right in front of me and hovered in front of my face for a few seconds before flying away. The question is, when the bee is just hovering there looking at me, is it actually flying backwards at 5.5 knots (boat speed) or is it being dragged along in some sort of boundary layer of air that travels with the boat and so the bee is just actually hovering at zero speed and being dragged backwards with the moving air?

The more I thought about it, the more uncertain I became - any theories?

Cheers,

 

[Twister_Ken]

I remember being told that – for sound aerodynamic reasons – bees can't fly, so buggered if I know.

 

[BobE]

Watch out I keep 'em, should I bring a hive to Cherbourg for you??

Btw an interseting aside worker bees cannot fly when their body temp falls below a certain level ( cannot recall the exact figure) and if they get caught out in bad weather they land and disconnect their wings from the muscles, vibrate the muscles untill body temp is high enough then proceed on their way..
Just todays most useless piece of info but aint nature wonderful?
Sleep well Cheers Bob E...

 

[Lakesailor]

I can disconnect my legs from my muscles when anyone mentions walking up hills. I can't do the vibrating bit though.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Sounds a bit like Einstein and the "Playing ping-pong on a train" explanation of Relativity. But . . . bees must be able to fly backwards otherwise they'd get stuck in all the flowers. Why one would want to hover in front of your face in the middle of the ogin is a complete and utter mystery.

 

[Talbot]

Think its more likely to be flying backwards at the apparent wind speed rather than boatspeed

 

[Vara]

DOES THIS HELP, OR MAYBE THIS.

 

[arTThur]

Most interesting - thanks!!

Cheers, artthur

 

[pessimist]

I shall sleep better, but no wiser for that. You have made my day, /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Cheers

Colin