New Year - Learn something new on the boat

[sailaboutvic]

Well after 40 plus years owning boats and spend 40 plus year trying to understand batteries/ power ,
I guess mine going to be spending another year trying to understand batteries .
Working on my posting here to make them more legible ( I can hear some shouting about time too )
Oh yes and Raspberry Pi .

 

[Minchsailor]

Be careful what you wish for. Once you've been on a geology field course you can never again just look at a landscape!

+1 (from somebody who is doing an OU geology degree.)

 

[[3889]]

+1 (from somebody who is doing an OU geology degree.)

Ahh, the joys of Tebay Services and Bouma sequences.

Got not one but two RYA certs in my sights for '19 after procrastinating for too long.

 

[[70521]]

What a cracking idea....

I need to handle the spinnaker single handed.

Although I am an engineer I am really a frustrated Geologist! I know and understand most of the UK geology but did surprise Giles Lewin from the Carnival Band when buying a CD at a concert when I asked where was the cover picture taken as I had not climbed on that granite! It was the Isles of Scilly - not know for its rock climbing! The sad thing is I know most of the granite in the UK.

 

[GHA]

So there's a newish one - most of the planets orbit the sun in nearly the same plane. The ecliptic wiki says it is. And the zodiac constellations seem to lie on the same plane.... So that looks like if you note the path of the sun during the day the zodiac constellations will follow the same path across the sky? Just need to get head around right ascension and first point of aries now.... Logically makes sense but not easy to visualise. For me anyway

 

[GHA]

• Weather. Always on the list, digging deeper into the 3d picture & 500mB charts etc.

Anyone know of a good weather forum possibly slightly sailing orientated with a few people who actually know what they're talking about where one could have a chat about what's coming up and may learn something a bit more in depth?

Started this thread a whie ago but no one seemed too interested..
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...get-the-real&p=6660619&highlight=#post6660619

(logging still going on but moved to here >
http://prettygoats.com/pages/sciwind.html )

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Has anyone come across a good book that would enable us to identify what the cliff face is all about? Not a detailed text book, but enough to clear up the basics.

I studied Geology for my degree. I'm way out of date now, but there was an excellent OU text book called "Understanding the Earth" which covered lots of things. But to undestand a random cliff section could require more reading and detail than most people would want to do; you have to understand the complete history of what is on show. It's easy enough in places like the south coast of the Isle of Wight where you have a flat lying sedimentary sequence, but places like Old Harry rocks, the Needles and the corresponding structures at the eastern end of the IoW would be harder deal with. And that's in a generally fairly easy part of the UK; the coast from Devon clockwise round to about Flamborough head is all more complex.

I did once propose writing a series about coastal geology for YBW, but never got a response. I agree that undestanding the processes going on makes sailing near a coast more interesting - but I may be biased!

 

[LittleSister]

I studied Geology for my degree. I'm way out of date now

It's all changed since then? You must be a lot older than I thought!

 

[AntarcticPilot]

It's all changed since then? You must be a lot older than I thought!

The geology hasn't, but ways of thinking about some things have changed, as knowledge has increased. I studied at a time of rapid change in the study of Geology; Plate Tectonics was a new and exciting idea! My year was the first year where it was taught as a first year topic in Cambridge. Needless to say, in such a rapidly developing time, ideas were shifting rapidly. And it's not just in the field of tectonics - for example, no-one knew dinosaurs had feathers when I was a student, still less that birds are in fact their direct descendants. The text books on my shelf from my student days require critical reading these days to separate the ideas that have passed the test of time from those that have not.

 

[Ladybirdgaffcutter]

New things I'm learning:

Signed on a formal arc welding course, (already handy at MIG, plasma cutting etc which helps a bit).

Looking for more traditional rigging training (but not finding a course).

Want to persevere with Astro Nav.
(Already passed the RYS Ocean Theory, but can't actually do it in practice, without an expert to hold my hand. I find the problem is that tutors of such difficult disciplines find it impossible, with the best will in the world, to empathise how meaningless all the words and concepts appear to a late starter of no great academic ability.)

 

[mjcoon]

It's all changed since then? You must be a lot older than I thought!

I do get the joke, honest! But there is a common belief that "science" is a category of textbook, rather than a process by which understanding is continually refined. And it has nothing to do with "truth", though falsehood is disapproved of!

(I am reading "Timefulness: How thinking like a geologist can help to save the world" by Marcia Bjornerud. Sometimes it reminds me of Frasier Crane's attempts to relate, say, engine maintenance to The Arts. E.g. "Potassium is a large sociable ion...".)

Mike.

 

[Pagetslady]

Ahh, the joys of Tebay Services and Bouma sequences.

Got not one but two RYA certs in my sights for '19 after procrastinating for too long.

What are the joys of Tebay services?

 

[GHA]

What about psychology?

Huge part of running a crewed boat is having a happy and motivated crew, & solo recognizing mental lethargy etc is really important imho.

Not sure where to learn much about that though... Other than keep a really open mind and admit when you $%^& up and shout, then smile and say sorry...

 

[Roberto]

& solo recognizing mental lethargy etc is really important imho.

.

for sleep management, especially solo sailing, deprivation, polyphasic sleep, etc, "Why we nap" by Claudio Stampi

 

[Ladybirdgaffcutter]

What about psychology?

Huge part of running a crewed boat is having a happy and motivated crew, & solo recognizing mental lethargy etc is really important imho.

Not sure where to learn much about that though... Other than keep a really open mind and admit when you $%^& up and shout, then smile and say sorry...

Try "The Mind of the Sailor", by two British psychologists who sail, Ros Hogben and (forgot the other name). Covers what you mention and more, and a good read as well. A brilliant book, cheap on Amazon. It should be part of the RYS syllabus!