Starship Troopers

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Jack Kelly
Tags: readings

Ever since I came back from the most recent Port Davey Voyage, I’ve been looking for a way to get more quality quiet time, and the fact that we have three new crew on board means the ship is noisier during the day. Recently, I’ve found myself rising earlier in order to have some time for reading, coding, thinking or writing. It’s given me enough time to read my next book, Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers.

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Living Education

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Jack Kelly
Tags: windeward_bound, miscellaneous

In a sail training voyage, trainees come to us with no experience of the sea and leave eight-to-ten days later as moderately competent hands: they can work aloft, handle rope, know basic knots, work on the deck and set and strike sail. Depending on how quickly the trainees can be motivated in the first days, there’s often time to go further: skills like chart work, navigation and watchkeeping are taught by the mates, who watch over the trainees as they work. Motivated crews, like those from Deakin University, can go much further than a school-age group, who necessarily must spend more time learning to cope with new hardships like seasickness, homesickness and close-quarters living.

Even so, the amount of progress the school-age groups make is impressive, and I think it is because they are living their education. During the day, they are surrounded by work; when their work is done, they sleep; when they wake up, their work is there for them. It is this total immersion into their work (and the isolation from everything else), I think, that encourages rapid learning: there is almost nothing else to do but learn the ways of the ship.

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Final Voyage of 2012

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Jack Kelly
Tags: windeward_bound

Well, that’s it. I’ve finished my final voyage for the year. It was a good chance to train up our new crew and for me to get some more things ticked off in my work book. This one took us to Bruny Island, then Maria Island and back to Bruny on the final day. On the final day, we had the local wildlife come up to greet us:

Barnes Bay Swans

And during that final day, we had some interesting cloud patterns develop:

Wall of Cloud

But in general, I didn’t use the camera. I’ve been up and down the coast enough that I’m more concerned with keeping up on sleep and getting my work book finished than taking happy snaps. We did see whales coming back from Maria Island, but they were too far away to photograph, and we had dolphins when I was asleep below. Amusingly, we had an alert on our INMARSAT warning about an “area temporarily dangerous to navigation due to rocket carrier elements falling daily”. It was well clear of us, so we weren’t bothered.

Instead, I’ll share a gem from a voyage late last year. We had a waypoint to hit at a certain time, and even at idle revs we were going too fast. So to waste a bit of time, the first mate signed his initials in the chart plotter:

Signing the Chart Plotter

When he came in for breakfast, all he said was that we were going too fast and that he’d put the crew through some maneuvering drills.

The Philosophical Life

Posted on November 17, 2012 by Jack Kelly
Tags: readings

On this most recent voyage, I have found time to continue reading. This time, it is James Miller’s The Philosophical Life. (It appears to be called “Examined Lives” in America). It’s a collection of 12 mini-biographies of philosophers throughout history: Socrates, Plato, Diogenes, Aristotle, Seneca, Augustine, Montaigne, Descartes, Rousseau, Kant, Emerson and Nietzsche. The book was not exactly what I was expecting: the back cover makes the book sound like it examines how each thinker approached life, but details of their respective systems are only presented as part of each biography. It’s good to see how their systems developed, but it was a little disappointing. Clearly, I need to find a proper philosophy text.

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Port Davey, November 2012

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Jack Kelly
Tags: windeward_bound

I’ve just come back from my final trip to Port Davey. On this trip, we were lighter on crew than usual, which meant the run into Port Davey and the run back around the South Coast were done in two watches: four hours on, four hours off. That was how it was done in the old days, but modern regulations mean it’s no longer allowed for extended periods of time.

Once we were at anchor inside Port Davey, we were able to split up the watches and everyone was able to get a sensible amount of sleep. In fact, they were some of the most restful and productive nights I’ve had in a long time. The night watch was two hours of peace and quiet, far away from anyone else with no online distractions. It was easy to sit and read, write or code and just get up to do the scheduled checks. Not only that, but the scenery is much better out there than in the middle of town:

Sunrise, Celery Top Islands

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The Man Who Loved Only Numbers

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Jack Kelly
Tags: readings

Now that I’m voyaging again, I have many more opportunities to read. Especially on this Port Davey trip, as the passengers are nowhere near as much work as the school students. I’ve previously mentioned my weakness for pop-mathematics books, but I don’t feel guilty reading a biography. The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is a biography of Paul Erdos, one of the most prolific and strangest mathematicians who ever lived.

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