My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on June 11, 2010

According to the Search and Rescue crews and the AFESA taskforce leader Will Blackshaw, “Abby is in very good spirits.”

From Abby Sunderland’s blog:

Search and rescue crew members have described how stricken 16-year-old yachtswoman Abby Sunderland remained “in good spirits” after being spotted from the air yesterday.

A crew of 11 SES and FESA volunteers that were on board the ‘spotter’ airbus returned to Perth just after 7:30pm last night after successfully locating the troubled vessel in the Indian Ocean.

FESA taskforce leader Will Blackshaw said the crew had a very brief period of contact with the young sailor, but said she remained positive despite the setback.

"Abby is in very good spirits," he said."She’s obviously keen to have some assistance, but she is in very good spirits.

"The window of opportunity to speak to her was very short, so we had very brief, direct conversations about her health, the condition of the vessel, and her communications.

"The seas are very rough indeed, and there is a lot of wind, and she is obviously going to have a very uncomfortable night of sleep.
"He said the plane was conducting its first pass of the area and had been searching for Abby for only 10 minutes when she was spotted from the air.

"It was a very happy moment for all of the people on board the plane," he said."However, it was a very serious moment as well, and we were all concentrating on the job at task which was to make contact with Abby.

"The crew then made radio contact with the young sailor, with the first words conveyed being "This is Abby".Mr Blackshaw said the crew instructed Abby to activate two further EPIRB devices tomorrow afternoon to ensure a continuous signal for rescue crews to spot her.

FESA spokesman Chris Lawson confirmed a second, smaller plane would leave Perth Airport early this morning to conduct another sighting and ensure Abby was okay.SES volunteer Michael Wood, who spotted Abby’s vessel from the airbus, said he had been excited to locate the boat.

"Because I was at the front of the plane, I just happened to spot Abby as she came into the field of view," he said. "It was very nervy at first, but very exciting that positive contact had been made."
We’re all mindful that Abby’s got a number of hours left so we’ve all got our fingers crossed."

Sgt Mike Wear, from WA Water Police, said Abby sounded "very upbeat and very strong" during the brief contact. "It certainly was a very emotional event to be able to speak to the young girl Abby today and see her in that predicament out there," he said. "It was just a very small dot on the ocean – she was on the back deck (and) she was very hard to see.

Earlier today, Qantas refused to comment on how much the trip had cost the company or whether they would seek reimbursement for the flight.

Category: News, Sailing | No Comments »
Tags: circumnavigating, cruising, News, sailing

Posted By RichC on June 11, 2010

I’ve scanned the heavily reported news stories (over 3000 on Google) on Abby Sunderland this Friday morning after hearing she was safe inside her damage boat Wild Eyes and have concluded that the media does a pretty good job of reporting the sensational side of blue water sailing – and with a 16 year old teenage girl becomes even more sensational. In talking with a few people who have heard the news stories, they assumed in reading and viewing recent headlines that small sailboat ocean crossing is rare and very risking – but in reality cruisers are doing it safely everyday.

Just as a small homebuilt general aviation airplane accidents shock people who don’t realized just how many safe flights are made daily, accidents at sea surprise people who are unaware of how many safe blue water voyages are safe and uneventful. That said, challenging oceans on small boats (particularly singlehandedly) can be dangerous.

Having offered my view on the assumptions many make when hearing the reporting of this story, I extended my GRIB weather reading to include more of the southern Indian Ocean (click for larger). I regularly watch and report weather finding for cruisers who circumnavigate in a hope to become more proficient when I have the opportunity to sail. Lately I’ve been watching Mark and Judy Handley who are sailing east to west at this moment toward Madagascar. Their weather has been far heavier than what I’ve been predicting, although for the most part their passage has been safe. If you are unfamiliar with isobar bands, color and coding, the simple approach is to know red indicates areas of reported or predicted high winds.  As you can see from today’s weather picture above, the heavy wind and large seas that knocked down, rolled and demasted Wild Eyes have moved east toward Australia. I’ve also reviewed predicted weather for the next several days and realized how important it is for the fishing vessel that is on its way to pick up Abby Sunderland as the next wave of heavy weather is only a couple days away. Hold on and be safe Abby until rescue arrives on Saturday.

Category: Sailing | 2 Comments »
Tags: circumnavigating, cruising, grib, weather

Posted By RichC on June 10, 2010

I’ve posted a couple of times on circumnavigators and in particular a couple solo sailors that are female. I followed and shared emails with Donna Lange a few years ago as she rounded the globe and have recently posted on Jessica Watson (Australian teen) who completed her circumnavigation and 16 year old Abby Sunderland of the United States. The last two have brought into question how young is too young – see ABC’s 20-20 June 4th.

I’ve also been following Abby a closely as she has been having heavy weather in the Indian Ocean. On the June 2nd she was hit hard and suffered some water rushing into the boat. I posted a comment that she seemed to be pressing her gear too hard and needed to shorten sail rather than pushing so hard. On Thursday, there have been reports that one of her EPIRB signal was received, indicating an emergency situation. According to a post to her blog (by team member) “ the signal had come from her manually activated EPIRB” rather than the one that goes off when it is in the water. Australian Search and Rescue have responded as are ships nearby … 40 hours away. Quantas will alson fly an Airbus over her position at first light on Friday (11 hours difference). There has been no communication on her radio or satellite phone so there is reason to be concerned.

Still, she is well prepared if there is a problem with her boat with a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies. Also her boat, Wild Eyes, was built for heavy ocean conditions with 5 airtight bulkheads even with major hull damage and should remain upright so as long as there isn’t damage to her keel.

Recent news reports occasionally have a few details wrong, but about every news organization is covering the emergency.

From ABCNews story:

Sunderland’s father Laurence told ABC local radio he last spoke to his daughter at 4:00am today when he lost contact with her during the satellite phone call. An hour later American Search and Rescue authorities told him both his daughter’s emergency beacons (EPIRB) had been activated.

"She had quite a boisterous night at 60 knots, she was knocked down three times and radar was ripped off the boat, and she had an engine issue," he said.

"She definitely had her cage rattled last night, but after dealing with the engine issue and getting things up and running everything seemed to be fine.

"We initially thought that the signal was sent automatically from her water-activated EPIRB and that it had been activated during one of her knockdowns.

Category: News, Sailing | 2 Comments »
Tags: circumnavigating, cruising, emergency, sailing

Posted By RichC on June 10, 2010

After forwarding an “opinion article” (PDF) by supply-side economist Arthur Laffer from the WSJ to friends yesterday, I snipped some audio (mp3) from him in an interview  today with Neil Cavuto after Fed chief Ben Bernanke offered his thoughts on the U.S. economy.

Category: Audio, Financial, News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: bernanke, economy, laffer

Posted By RichC on June 9, 2010

I enjoyed the “Auto Examiner” review of the limited edition 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Edition review partly because it was a car I’ve had an interest in. Unfortunately the truly limited production will keep it away from most would be buyers in that they are only taking building after receiving orders — “The Jetta TDI Cup Edition is made to order only–place an order with a dealer and they’ll build one for you–and to date, 259 of that 1,500 have been made.” Check out John Matras review.

Road test car review: 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Edition, diesel racer for the road

Race on Sunday, sell on Monday. That’s been the motto of many auto manufacturers since the dawn of the automotive age. In fact, the first car race in the United States, in 1895, was staged to encourage domestic manufacture of automobiles. It’s no surprise, then, that Volkswagen took the diesel powered Jetta TDI racing, and from there made a streetable replica that VW calls the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Edition.

Volkswagen didn’t just take a single team or two to compete in an established class. Rather, Volkswagen of America has sponsored an entire race series called the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, purportedly to encourage a fresh generation of up-and-coming drivers, all vetted and approved for the limited number of seats. As the name of the race series suggests, the cars are all VW Jettas powered by Volkswagen’s 2.0-liter turbocharged clean diesels but fitted with the suspension and brakes of the performance-oriented VW Jetta GLI. The cars are equally prepared by VW and shuffled by VW for each race, making for very close competition at each race, with the drivers beholden to their own skills rather than their mechanics’.

LINK to article

Category: Automotive, Biodiesel, Volkswagen | 2 Comments »
Tags: auto, diesel, jetta, tdi, volkswagen, vw

Posted By RichC on June 8, 2010

Category: Automotive | 4 Comments »
Tags: alternative energy, cng, fiat, fuel efficiency

Posted By RichC on June 7, 2010

While watching smartphones and connected portable devices (tablets and pads) continue to take center stage in the technology world, it is interesting to contemplate the marketing and “name recognition” angle.  I spotted a forum post sensing that Steve Jobs of Apple knew exactly what he was doing in releasing their new iPhone 4G (4th generation) near the same time as Sprints first 4G (WiMax) HTC EVO phone launch.

Sprint needs to QUICKLY figure out how to talk about 4G in a manner that the public sees as different than iPhone 4G, or they will lose the "First 4G phone on the first 4G network" marketing spin to the mighty Apple marketing monster. Think it’s an accident that Apple launched iPhone 4G just as Sprint launched their 4G (WiMAX) phone??? Jobs is a genius…

EDIT: Adding an iPhone 4 video: http://www.apple.com/iphone/design/#design-video

Category: Cellphone, Marketing, Technology | 16 Comments »
Tags: 4G, apple, htc evo, iphone, sprint

Posted By RichC on June 6, 2010

I’ll call this a lazy but productive weekend since I spent most of Saturday working in the yard … or more appropriately on the pool and patio. Most of the  heavy pollen from the pine trees seems to have left it mark and looks to be finally finished coating everything for the season, it was time to power wash the cement surfaces, patios and outdoor furniture, as well put a little effort into brighten the teak items. After scrubbing the pool down (substantially shocked after the heavy rain) I headed over to the neighbor’s graduation party – Toya and Terry Estes put on a nice party for their son Austin (he is heading to Miami University next year). 

Sunday afternoon comes the lazy part as I’m “testing” the freshly cleaned furniture and enjoying some catch-up reading. I’m also relaxing in the teak Adirondack chair while the boss is away.
🙂

Category: Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: flowers, Personal, Photos, roses

Posted By RichC on June 5, 2010

I’ve had my Palm Pre about a year now and have been pretty satisfied with the webOS smartphone. Unfortunately the news coming from the acquiring company, HP, isn’t a confidence builder so it’s time to ponder the options …  still most likely a year away. The buzz at Sprint is the higher data speed from its expanding 4G service and the HTC EVO device hitting the market this past Friday. I expect it will be a big seller in that the “phone” (if you can still call it that) has a superb display, high performance processor and maturing Android operating system. This is the first major WiMAX phone and it will test the public’s tolerance at bigger sized phones, with higher carrier data costs and a shortened battery life (the Palm Pre is bad enough).

According to the PreCentral forums, especially this thread, “a sizable number of Pre owners are going to make the switch.” A photo comparison in their blog also highlights the difference between a smallish Palm Pre and the new HTC EVO smartphone (comparison photo above). For someone like me who prefers carrying their phone in a pocket, I’d be having  second thoughts if I was switching to the EVO.

Speaking of second thoughts, I was with my brother this past weekend and found myself pondering a smaller cellphone bill and while doing less with a phone. I actually enjoy checking out his LG Lotus; it was really a nice QWERTY flip phone and now that the newer Elite model is available (image below), it might be a decent phone to step back from the do-all smartphones that are “all the rage” today. Frankly having a clamshell phone that fits comfortably in a pocket, does text messaging and emails along with some social networking… and has both a decent camera and video makes some sense. Sure I’d miss the synchronization with Google Contacts and Calendar, but a lower monthly bill and better battery life would be appreciated. I might just consider going back to a more basic phone and “pad” or netbook instead of and all in one smartphone? But as a friend who just order the EVO tweeted a day before placing his order, “I’m very cell phone bipolar!”

Category: Cellphone, Technology | 6 Comments »
Tags: Cellphone, htc evo, smartphone, sprint

Posted By RichC on June 4, 2010

U.S. markets close back below 10,000 today as worried investors see debt in Europe and weaker than expected jobs numbers in the U.S. as bearish for stocks. The slight improvement in unemployment was tarnished by the addition of nearly 400,000 government census temporary hires … leaving only 41,000 jobs being added by the private sector. This addition of 431,000 fell far short of the expectations of 515,000 jobs predicted by economists.

For those traveling to Europe this summer (so as long as you’ve already purchase airfare), you’ll see your U.S. dollar stretch a bit further against the Euro which continues to weaken – Euro to below $1.20 at a four year low. Although Greece, Portugal and Ireland have been the biggest concerns in Europe, today’s news focused on Hungary. A leading official in the ruling Fidesz party said Thursday that “Hungary faces a Greek-like sovereign-debt problem” and although Hungary is not part of the euro zone, it is an important regional trading partner to countries that do use the common currency.

In an attempt to find something positive to say going into the weekend, BP has capture “some” oil from the the funnel-like lid is designed to channel oil for pumping to a surface tanker, but recent video is still “showed that the oil seemed unimpeded” as it leaked into the Gulf of Mexico. The best chance to stop the leaking will still be the drilling of relief wells, which according to reports are at least two months away. The disaster makes anyone who appreciates the environment, oceans and wildlife just sick.

Category: Environment, Financial | No Comments »
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