Nano-tech Experiment #2: Initial Observations

Looks like silver, doesn't it?

 I've tried out the nano-tech superhydrophobic coated prop on our thundering 3 HP dinghy motor.  Here are some initial observations:

• The air film is retained when the prop is completely submerged.  As the picture shows, it makes the prop look like it is made of silver.
• The prop does not cavitate due to the retained air film
• The film of air remained intact over a half-dozen trips to shore and a day of submersion.  Perhaps it is maintained by gases captured from the exhaust, or perhaps the air is simply retained well enough to withstand the surface turbulence.

Nano-tech Experiment #2: Initial Observations

Liveaboard mail

Recently I was asked how people who live on boats get mail.  "Does the marina accept mail for you?" they asked.  The simple answer to that is "No."

So what do we do?

Well, for a number of years, we kept a Post Office Box (contact your local US Post Office).  This worked OK - it was close to my work.  But there were problems with the PO Box solution.  It was ideal for receiving packages...  as long as they were shipped by USPS.  But if the shipper used FedEx, UPS, DHL, truck freight - any method other than USPS - it most certainly did not work.    And there are certain types of correspondence for which a PO Box is just not acceptable - for which a street address is required.

And then the ideal solution presented itself:  Angela, aboard s/v Ghost across the dock from us, started up a mailing service business.  Dockside Solutions has a street address, accepts (and signs for!) packages from FedEx, UPS, DHL, truck freight...  and USPS.  Angela maintains mailboxes distributed throughout the mile-long marina, and even sends us email when we have mail or a package waiting (You've got mail!).  Bonus:  Dockside Solutions' address (and therefore our address) is listed as a business address, which means a reduction in some shipping costs.

Dockside Solutions is the perfect answer for our situation, but we use only a portion of the services that Angela offers.  Because she is a liveaboard herself, Angela understands the services boaters and cruisers need.  Here's a partial list that Dockside Solutions provides:

• Mail forwarding.  If you like, she will also aggregate your mail and bulk ship it  (excluding "junk" mail, as you define it).
• Electronic mailbox:  She will open your mail, scan it, and deposit it at a secure online dropbox site.  This, of course eliminates a lot of delay, especially if you are in a remote location.
• Bill paying
• Check deposits
• ...And more

In fact, she provides just about any service that someone living aboard could want, whether they be anchored in Seattle, San Diego, Greneda, Mazatlan, or Nuka Hiva.  Because of this, she now has customers all over the world (she keeps a world map in the office with a pin representing each of her customers).

I guess this sounds like a plug.  And well, it is.  Angela is a wonderful person, and her business reflects this.  For us, Dockside Solutions is the perfect answer to the question, "How do boaters get their mail?"

Liveaboard mail

Message: Received!

Those of you who know us know that we have the occasional glass of red wine (well, "occasional", for large values of "occasional").

You might also know that we enjoy beach-combing for messages in a bottle.

So, you might ask how these two things are related (that was rhetorical; I know you have already figured it out).

Yes, we send the occasional empty wine bottle over the side with some kind of message in it. We have been doing this for a while, and as you've already guessed from the title, our first message has been found! It was picked up on the beach at Ebey's Landing last evening!

How cool is that?

Message: Received!

Flags

It's a piece of multi-colored cloth fluttering in the wind. But why? Why is it up there fluttering in the wind?

Most non-boating people would answer from a list something like this:

• Decoration
• They're festive
• To show patriotism

But boaters would have these as the first two items on their lists:

• Identification
• Communication

And, if you allow me to define "identification" as "communicating national origin", then there is only one item on the list:

• Communication

Communication is the primary purpose for flags. Before the advent of radio a little more than 100 years ago, most ship-to-ship or ship-to-shore communication was done with flags . A sailor standing on the deck of a ship with a telescope can "read" the flags being flown on another ship, from miles away. (The other method was by courier - sending a man in a boat with the message - but this has obvious limitations due to distance, sea state, and the lack of ability to do one-to-many messaging.)

Knowing that flags are communication devices, you might suspect that there are flags for each letter in the alphabet - and you'd be right. Given enough flags, and enough space to fly them, you could spell out any message. A modern-day example of the continuing use of the alphabet flags is the plain yellow "Q" flag, signifying "Quarantine", that a vessel flies before clearing customs when it enters a foreign harbor.

But this use of the Q flag begins to bridge to the primary flag methodology: where a single flag stands for an entire message or concept. This is a much more economical use of flags and flag halyards. In this particular example, although it is not a special-purpose flag, accepted usage has it understood that the single Q flag takes the place of 10 alphabet flags. Compared to flags, texting is scandalously verbose.

Message	Flag
Boat in distress
Boat in distress (alternate)
"A" alphabetic signal flag, Diver down (International, US Coast Guard)
Diver down (common usage)
Small craft warning
Gale warning
Storm warning
Hurricane warning
Sun is over the yardarm

And, of course, the flag flying over Eolian's decks most recently also is a means of communication!

Flags

Dilemma Redeemed

On our crossing from Shilshole to Port Madison yesterday afternoon, I cast the message in a bottle adrift, in the middle of the Sound, on an outgoing tide. I also inscribed on the label a short message describing where and when the bottle had been found, and where and when it was cast adrift once more.

And I feel better. Holding onto the bottle as a keepsake was keeping it from finding its intended receiver. I was feeling guilty, and now I feel redeemed. I put no contact info on it - if it is found, I will never know about it. I think that is appropriate.

Now I think I need to empty a bottle for my own message...

Dilemma Redeemed

Dilemma Resolved

It wasn't directed to me - I just happened to be a random recipient.

I can't supply what the writer wants.

I have interrupted the message on its way from sender to intended receiver.

But it's a really neat keepsake (darn!).

I have decided to throw the message in a bottle back into the sea. It seems the right thing to do. The next time we are off the dock, I will deliver the bottle back into the water in the middle of Puget Sound. I was planning to do it this weekend, but it is supposed to rain all weekend so it is unlikely that we will go out.

Beka suggested that I add a message telling of the interception, but that cork is really really jammed in there, so I will write something on the outside of the bottle. Tho it is likely that this will be gone by the time the bottle is found again, I will still do it - after all, the whole idea of a message in a bottle is a bet against improbability.

Dilemma Resolved

Message in a Bottle: A Dilemma For Me

While walking the beach on Camano Island yesterday evening, I found my very first message in a bottle! The message wasn't much - just a brief comment in feminine handwriting looking for love, and a phone number. I'm not looking for love, so I guess this was a wrong number. I haven't called the phone number yet - I'm trying to decide if I should offer to throw the bottle in again since I was not the intended recipient. What would you do?

Message to bottle messengers: Please people, when you make one of these very old-fashioned tweets, PLEASE put a date on it, and the location where you cast the bottle adrift!

At least I can now hold my head up when I am with the crew of Ghost - they've all found a message in a bottle.

Message in a Bottle: A Dilemma For Me