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New Boat 4 Sled
- Thread starter sleddog
- Start date
Sleddog_sis
Sailor & former racer
That photo had me cracking up too. The pelican was stripped but not lingerie'd.
You seem to find adventure/fun on *all* your trips! Love it!
You seem to find adventure/fun on *all* your trips! Love it!
Looks like N. California will take it in the chin tomorrow, Friday, with a rain and wind event of significant proportions. An "atmospheric river," a long narrow current of moisture, extends clear to Hawaii. The bullseye will be the SF Bay area and northwards. Storm force (Force 10, 47-55 knots) gusts are forecast along the Coast. The Russian River will likely rise more than 20 feet in 24 hours. I'll again be tying WILDFLOWER, my 800 pound cat, to the house in case she becomes frisky and decides to test her wings.
I've never been to Banff, Alberta, Canada. Apparently there is an interesting phenomena occurring in local lakes. Methane gas from organic vegetative matter on the lake bottoms is rising to the surface. The methane, highly flammable, is trapped beneath the ice, making lovely sculpture. Just don't light a match.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2015/feb/02/frozen-bubbles-in-canadian-lakes-in-pictures
I've never been to Banff, Alberta, Canada. Apparently there is an interesting phenomena occurring in local lakes. Methane gas from organic vegetative matter on the lake bottoms is rising to the surface. The methane, highly flammable, is trapped beneath the ice, making lovely sculpture. Just don't light a match.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2015/feb/02/frozen-bubbles-in-canadian-lakes-in-pictures
As global warming continues, methane gas which has been trapped the bottom of cold water lakes and in the frozen permafrost of the tundra is released into the atmosphere. The rotting biomass at the bottom of the lakes and in the tunra produces methane, just like the county dump. Of course methane, a "green house" gas, adds to global warming, so the more that is released by warming temperatures, the warmer it's going to get.
Sort of the same thing is happening with carbon that's been trapped in coal and oil, When those fuels are burned, the carbon is reintroduced into the atmosphere, primarily as carbon dioxide, another "green house" gas. It also percolates out into the ocean, changing the Ph of the sea water, which is becoming more acidic. You can look up your car or truck and find out how many tons of CO2 you're producing each year as you drive around.
Sort of the same thing is happening with carbon that's been trapped in coal and oil, When those fuels are burned, the carbon is reintroduced into the atmosphere, primarily as carbon dioxide, another "green house" gas. It also percolates out into the ocean, changing the Ph of the sea water, which is becoming more acidic. You can look up your car or truck and find out how many tons of CO2 you're producing each year as you drive around.
"How windy is it, Jack?"
"Blowin' dogs off chains, I reckon."
Over the years, I've seen some breeze. Growing up in S.Cal at the foot of a mountain canyon, Santanas were a frequent winter visitor. In '72 we tried to get to weather in the Bermuda Race in what we later learned was Hurricane Andrew. A triple reef main, storm jib, and rum below seemed to be the optimum rig on the ultra-light 68 foot schooner NEW WORLD. A few years later, in the '79 Fastnet Race storm, as we approached the Fastnet Rock off Ireland on iMP, a force 10 gust removed our storm jib, halyard, and inner forestay as one.,
Down the coast at Point Sur Lighthouse, back in the days (pre-1974) when that lonely sentinel had lighthouse keepers and their families, it was usually so windy the chickens were only let out of their hen houses if they were clipped into tethers.
The most wind I've seen was likely on the E. Side of the Sierra, near the little town of Lee Vining, along Highway 395. As I drove north, I passed half a dozen 18 wheeler trucks on their sides. Just downhill, Mono lake was beyond frothy. The spume on the lake's surface was being blown bodily east by the downslope winds. I pulled into the Mono Lake Visitor Center, and could barely open the front door against the weight of the breeze. "What's it blowing?" I asked the ranger. He looked at his anemometer and said, "70."
"Is that knots or miles per hour," I asked? "Miles per hour," he said.
The measurement of wind has been a fascinating science since the 15th Century, the first anemometer being invented in 1450. Even the Mayans had means to measure wind. In 1846 the spinning cup anemometer was invented, and in 1926 today's 3 Cup anemometer became the norm.
Even with science, modern technology, and electronics, measuring wind remains imprecise. When was the last time you saw anyone calibrating their anemometer? How would you do that? Using a wind tunnel is how, not a likely scenario.
There's about a dozen different types of anemometers, each with its own complexity and accuracy There's the cup anemometer, the propeller anemometer, a sonic anemometer, a laser/doppler anemometer. A thermal flow anemometer, a pitot tube, and a windsock. WILDFLOWER's anemometer is a pingpong ball on a string, that rises as the wind increases and can be read against a calibrated scale. Sufficiently accurate for my needs.
Instrumentation is not necessarily needed to measure wind speed. Visual cues can suffice. Glassy water begins to wrinkle at 3 knots. Whitecaps appear at about 14 knots. It's called the Beaufort Scale. Usually at about 100 knots, the means to measure the wind speed blows away.
When we do measure wind speed, is it the True Wind (TWS) or Apparent Wind (AWS) we are feeling? A common mistake of many sailors is not differentiating. Another error is not knowing what units are being used, knots, miles/hour, or meters/second. Even the pros at the National Weather Service fall victim to confusing units, transcribing one for the other. Usually, knots is the correct unit measurement over water.
Due to surface friction, the higher the anemometer, the stronger the wind. It can be blowing 5 knots on deck, and twice that at the masthead. Air density also matters as to what wind speed is registered, as does temperature. Temperature can change bearing friction on many anemometers, causing significant errors. When was the last time the anemometer was lubricated? I was once puzzled why the Pt. Pinos wind speed and direction always remained the same: SE @4. I visited the Pinos Lighthouse, climbed the fence, ascended the Coast Guard tower, and found the anemometer and vane totally rusted. WD-40 anyone?
Most anemometers send electronic pulses, like depth sounders, to the deck level instrumentation. But what happens to the accuracy of the masthead pulsation if the boat is heeled over and the spinning cups are not horizontal to the wind? Another potential source of error.
Windspeed and its measurement. Much to be learned. The Weather Channel would like you to turn on your TV. I say just open your window. If your cereal has waves in the milk, the cat retreats to the next room, and Berkeley Marina's American flag stands straight out from the pole, you have Beaufort Force 5 (15-21 knots) or greater. Time to think about a reef.
"Blowin' dogs off chains, I reckon."
Over the years, I've seen some breeze. Growing up in S.Cal at the foot of a mountain canyon, Santanas were a frequent winter visitor. In '72 we tried to get to weather in the Bermuda Race in what we later learned was Hurricane Andrew. A triple reef main, storm jib, and rum below seemed to be the optimum rig on the ultra-light 68 foot schooner NEW WORLD. A few years later, in the '79 Fastnet Race storm, as we approached the Fastnet Rock off Ireland on iMP, a force 10 gust removed our storm jib, halyard, and inner forestay as one.,
Down the coast at Point Sur Lighthouse, back in the days (pre-1974) when that lonely sentinel had lighthouse keepers and their families, it was usually so windy the chickens were only let out of their hen houses if they were clipped into tethers.
The most wind I've seen was likely on the E. Side of the Sierra, near the little town of Lee Vining, along Highway 395. As I drove north, I passed half a dozen 18 wheeler trucks on their sides. Just downhill, Mono lake was beyond frothy. The spume on the lake's surface was being blown bodily east by the downslope winds. I pulled into the Mono Lake Visitor Center, and could barely open the front door against the weight of the breeze. "What's it blowing?" I asked the ranger. He looked at his anemometer and said, "70."
"Is that knots or miles per hour," I asked? "Miles per hour," he said.
The measurement of wind has been a fascinating science since the 15th Century, the first anemometer being invented in 1450. Even the Mayans had means to measure wind. In 1846 the spinning cup anemometer was invented, and in 1926 today's 3 Cup anemometer became the norm.
Even with science, modern technology, and electronics, measuring wind remains imprecise. When was the last time you saw anyone calibrating their anemometer? How would you do that? Using a wind tunnel is how, not a likely scenario.
There's about a dozen different types of anemometers, each with its own complexity and accuracy There's the cup anemometer, the propeller anemometer, a sonic anemometer, a laser/doppler anemometer. A thermal flow anemometer, a pitot tube, and a windsock. WILDFLOWER's anemometer is a pingpong ball on a string, that rises as the wind increases and can be read against a calibrated scale. Sufficiently accurate for my needs.
Instrumentation is not necessarily needed to measure wind speed. Visual cues can suffice. Glassy water begins to wrinkle at 3 knots. Whitecaps appear at about 14 knots. It's called the Beaufort Scale. Usually at about 100 knots, the means to measure the wind speed blows away.
When we do measure wind speed, is it the True Wind (TWS) or Apparent Wind (AWS) we are feeling? A common mistake of many sailors is not differentiating. Another error is not knowing what units are being used, knots, miles/hour, or meters/second. Even the pros at the National Weather Service fall victim to confusing units, transcribing one for the other. Usually, knots is the correct unit measurement over water.
Due to surface friction, the higher the anemometer, the stronger the wind. It can be blowing 5 knots on deck, and twice that at the masthead. Air density also matters as to what wind speed is registered, as does temperature. Temperature can change bearing friction on many anemometers, causing significant errors. When was the last time the anemometer was lubricated? I was once puzzled why the Pt. Pinos wind speed and direction always remained the same: SE @4. I visited the Pinos Lighthouse, climbed the fence, ascended the Coast Guard tower, and found the anemometer and vane totally rusted. WD-40 anyone?
Most anemometers send electronic pulses, like depth sounders, to the deck level instrumentation. But what happens to the accuracy of the masthead pulsation if the boat is heeled over and the spinning cups are not horizontal to the wind? Another potential source of error.
Windspeed and its measurement. Much to be learned. The Weather Channel would like you to turn on your TV. I say just open your window. If your cereal has waves in the milk, the cat retreats to the next room, and Berkeley Marina's American flag stands straight out from the pole, you have Beaufort Force 5 (15-21 knots) or greater. Time to think about a reef.
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Storm surf along the Central Coast. Sets are visible, feeling the bottom, a mile offshore. Santa Cruz Harbor Entrance shoaled to all but surfers, who ride tubular 15' footers across the Entrance.
The folks who located and designed Santa Cruz Harbor back in the early '60's messed up. In winter, the Entrance Channel collects the littoral drift of sand coming down the coast. Overnight, depths can go from the teens to single digits. We used to play football on the sandbar in the Entrance Channel.
The direction of the breakwaters, due South, funnel winter storm swells into the Harbor. Fortunately, the Entrance shoal and sandbar mitigate swells entering the Harbor. But when swells do enter, especially at high tide or in a tsunami, the narrowness of Santa Cruz Harbor results in a bathtub sloshing effect, with currents running up to 5-8 knots, reversing every couple of minutes.
In you want to test the adequacy of mooring lines, come visit Santa Cruz Harbor in the winter. Don't bother with the depth sounder in the Entrance. The silt and sand being stirred up by the breaking waves gives false readings. Just stay well to the East when passing through the breakwater entrance. What little channel that remains lies within feet of the outer tip of the East Breakwater.
The folks who located and designed Santa Cruz Harbor back in the early '60's messed up. In winter, the Entrance Channel collects the littoral drift of sand coming down the coast. Overnight, depths can go from the teens to single digits. We used to play football on the sandbar in the Entrance Channel.
The direction of the breakwaters, due South, funnel winter storm swells into the Harbor. Fortunately, the Entrance shoal and sandbar mitigate swells entering the Harbor. But when swells do enter, especially at high tide or in a tsunami, the narrowness of Santa Cruz Harbor results in a bathtub sloshing effect, with currents running up to 5-8 knots, reversing every couple of minutes.
In you want to test the adequacy of mooring lines, come visit Santa Cruz Harbor in the winter. Don't bother with the depth sounder in the Entrance. The silt and sand being stirred up by the breaking waves gives false readings. Just stay well to the East when passing through the breakwater entrance. What little channel that remains lies within feet of the outer tip of the East Breakwater.
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Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
Those photos are very useful, Skip. Thank you. Ahem. And the additional information provided above. Yep. On our way down to Monterey last year on Kynntana Carliane and I planned to stop overnight in the Santa Cruz marina. We motored back and forth in front of the entrance watching THE ACTION for about 20 minutes. Finally the crew asked, "Well, what do you think? Are we going in?" To which the Skipper responded: "Hell, no." So we anchored out, as per your suggestion, near the pier, instead. Local knowledge is a wonderful thing, and you are a treasured resource.
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Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
We worked diligently to get that thing figured out. Spent more than an hour with the crew at the bow and the skipper at the stern untangling it, untying all the lines inside and out, and looking at it in bewilderment: huh? By the time we were done (interrupted by dolphins and pretty birds) the wind had picked up to about 12 knots and we could see the Santa Cruz pier. Finally the crew asked, "Well, what do you think? Are we going to try to fly it?" To which the Skipper responded: "Hell, no." And so we had a leisurely sail into Santa Cruz, seeing the roller coaster from the water, my first time aboard a sailboat, which thrilled me to no end.
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Sometimes possibilities are just too good to pass up. In the Spring of '93 we were out practicing off Santa Cruz for the TransPac onboard the SC-70 MIRAGE. It had been an afternoon of spinnaker drills. As we approached the Harbor Entrance a few minutes before sunset, I asked Jim R., MIRAGE's owner, if he'd like to carry the spinnaker into the Harbor. The wind was steady from the SW, and the channel was clear.
Jim, one of the really good guys in sailing, always enjoyed a joke, as long as it didn't hurt anyone. Jim, at the helm of MIRAGE, replied, "Sure. Why not?"
I prepped the crew for what the plan was. What Jim didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
MIRAGE creamed through the Entrance at sunset, Jim all smiles, the spinnaker trimmed to perfection, pulling like a train of horses.
What happened next I'm sure Jim Ryley remembers quite well. His well oiled crew of 8 disappeared. As one, we all slipped below, and giggled as we peered out the cabin windows.
MIRAGE galloped by the Crows Nest. Below, through the cabin windows, we could see the Crows Nest patron's noses pressed to the restaurant windows, cameras flashing. At the helm, suddenly solo sailor Jim was all smiles and waved back. But what the admirers couldn't hear was Jim's slightly alarmed voice:
"Guys?" "Guys!"
MIRAGE shot by the Harbor Patrol boat, going the other direction, the Harbormaster wide eyed in disbelief. As the Harbor Bridge loomed ahead, the spinnaker neatly disappeared. (we'd run the afterguy, lazy guy, and halyard tail below through the hatches.) Jim spun MIRAGE into her slip. All in a day.
You had to have been there.
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Philpot wrote:[Good thing the boom is above my head. I felt it brush the top of my hat. Good thing the fuel handle didn’t clock me. Dura Mater, poor thing, and I were laid on our side for way too long. And then, as the sail sank into the water my boat and I lay ahull for long minutes, while I caught my breath and considered the situation: Nothing was broken. I wasn’t dead. The mast hadn’t fallen. In my world that means that it wasn’t a disaster.]
I think most of us have experienced similar departures from level flight. Even sprit boats like RAGTIME, RACER X, WARPATH, and JETSTREAM have spent time on their sides.
June, 1993, was the 375 mile Aldo Alessio Race from San Francisco to Long Beach. There were 11 70' ULDB sleds on the St.FYC start line. Gale Warnings were flying for the California Coast. But big sleds eat that stuff up, as downwind speeds in excess of 20 knots reduce the apparent wind speed (AWS) to manageable numbers.
On the SC-70 MIRAGE we were trucking, leaving our sisters behind in the building breeze. By mid-afternoon we were abeam Santa Cruz, enjoying the 25 knot tailwind. By late afternoon, as we passed Monterey, the breeze (TWS) had built to the low 30's, and things were beginning to get exciting. We jibed onto port to get the righthand shift off Point Sur.
Santa Cruz 70's are usually a good boat to be aboard in hard running: high freeboard forward, a relatively short rig, a big wheel to drive with. Off we went towards Sur at warp speed, regularly punching the bow into the short, steep waves that had quickly built.
As the sun set on the wild scene, a 38 knot puff coincided with a particularly steep wave ahead. MIRAGE's bow punched into solid water higher than the bow pulpit. Water 2' high on deck ran aft and filled the cockpit. The weight of the water, and the quick deceleration, caused the apparent wind speed to instantly double.
The rudder lost its ability to control our downwind rocketship. One second we were vertical, going 26 knots. The next we were horizontal, going nowhere but sideways at about 5 knots, the rudder well out of water.
The crew were holding on for Dear Life, as the leeward lifelines were 11 feet to leeward, mostly underwater. The spinnaker was flapping, pinning us down. Someone let the after guy run, the usual move on a smaller boat for the beginning of a spinnaker douse. In our case it was the wrong move, as just the strain on the halyard and sheet still had MIRAGE pinned on her beam ends. (It would have been better to blow the halyard. I doubt the spinnaker would have touched the water.)
Things were tense. The crew was not used to being pinned on our side for what seemed like several minutes. The sun had set.
Then from somewhere aft in the cockpit came one of the all time, out-of-control-spinnaker remarks I think I've heard. It was the owner's daughter's first ocean race. Lizzie was 12 and had her good luck Teddy Bear onboard. Lizzie's plaintive question to her father was heard by all.
"Daddy, am I going to die? I haven't been to high school yet."
The tension broke. We got the chute under control and doused with minimal damage. We jibed bald headed, set the small spinny, already in stops, and averaged 18 knots for the next 10 hours, down to Conception.
I think most of us have experienced similar departures from level flight. Even sprit boats like RAGTIME, RACER X, WARPATH, and JETSTREAM have spent time on their sides.
June, 1993, was the 375 mile Aldo Alessio Race from San Francisco to Long Beach. There were 11 70' ULDB sleds on the St.FYC start line. Gale Warnings were flying for the California Coast. But big sleds eat that stuff up, as downwind speeds in excess of 20 knots reduce the apparent wind speed (AWS) to manageable numbers.
On the SC-70 MIRAGE we were trucking, leaving our sisters behind in the building breeze. By mid-afternoon we were abeam Santa Cruz, enjoying the 25 knot tailwind. By late afternoon, as we passed Monterey, the breeze (TWS) had built to the low 30's, and things were beginning to get exciting. We jibed onto port to get the righthand shift off Point Sur.
Santa Cruz 70's are usually a good boat to be aboard in hard running: high freeboard forward, a relatively short rig, a big wheel to drive with. Off we went towards Sur at warp speed, regularly punching the bow into the short, steep waves that had quickly built.
As the sun set on the wild scene, a 38 knot puff coincided with a particularly steep wave ahead. MIRAGE's bow punched into solid water higher than the bow pulpit. Water 2' high on deck ran aft and filled the cockpit. The weight of the water, and the quick deceleration, caused the apparent wind speed to instantly double.
The rudder lost its ability to control our downwind rocketship. One second we were vertical, going 26 knots. The next we were horizontal, going nowhere but sideways at about 5 knots, the rudder well out of water.
The crew were holding on for Dear Life, as the leeward lifelines were 11 feet to leeward, mostly underwater. The spinnaker was flapping, pinning us down. Someone let the after guy run, the usual move on a smaller boat for the beginning of a spinnaker douse. In our case it was the wrong move, as just the strain on the halyard and sheet still had MIRAGE pinned on her beam ends. (It would have been better to blow the halyard. I doubt the spinnaker would have touched the water.)
Things were tense. The crew was not used to being pinned on our side for what seemed like several minutes. The sun had set.
Then from somewhere aft in the cockpit came one of the all time, out-of-control-spinnaker remarks I think I've heard. It was the owner's daughter's first ocean race. Lizzie was 12 and had her good luck Teddy Bear onboard. Lizzie's plaintive question to her father was heard by all.
"Daddy, am I going to die? I haven't been to high school yet."
The tension broke. We got the chute under control and doused with minimal damage. We jibed bald headed, set the small spinny, already in stops, and averaged 18 knots for the next 10 hours, down to Conception.
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The sound was deafening. Car alarms, babies in strollers, dogs on leash all "went off." I looked up from my gardening duties and couldn't believe my eyes.
A silver, Delta wing, military jet, was banking overhead, not 1,000 feet above Capitola, afterburners roaring a 50' orange flame.
What was going on? Oh, just a dog fight overhead. The F-15 Eagle, capable of Mach 2.5+, likely carrying Sparrow or Sidewinder warheads, was coming from out of the sun, behind and under a bi-plane heading NE.
I'm betting the bi-plane pilot didn't know he was about to be "herded" in the opposite direction. In short order, the F-15 got the bi-plane turned around, then the F-15 did two low level laps over Capitola/Santa Cruz. It all took about five minutes. Did I mention I couldn't believe my eyes? What kinda stunt was this?
Turns out it wasn't a stunt at all. The bi-plane, having taken off from nearby Watsonville Airport, was violating the 30 mile radius, no fly, security zone around President Obama's helicopter, then lifting off from Palo Alto after the President's speech on cybersecurity at Stanford.
If anyone wonders, I just measured on a paper chart the distance from Capitola to Palo Alto. Yup. 30 nautical miles. The bi-plane was flirting with danger and should have known better.
I instantly felt safer, knowing the bi-plane got intercepted and forced to land.
And the F-15 pilot, on his ultimate singlehander, probably got some bonus beach views on a warm, sunny, afternoon.
http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-ca...rsecurity-in-heart-of-silicon-valley/31261720
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsXiB1FHNR8
A silver, Delta wing, military jet, was banking overhead, not 1,000 feet above Capitola, afterburners roaring a 50' orange flame.
What was going on? Oh, just a dog fight overhead. The F-15 Eagle, capable of Mach 2.5+, likely carrying Sparrow or Sidewinder warheads, was coming from out of the sun, behind and under a bi-plane heading NE.
I'm betting the bi-plane pilot didn't know he was about to be "herded" in the opposite direction. In short order, the F-15 got the bi-plane turned around, then the F-15 did two low level laps over Capitola/Santa Cruz. It all took about five minutes. Did I mention I couldn't believe my eyes? What kinda stunt was this?
Turns out it wasn't a stunt at all. The bi-plane, having taken off from nearby Watsonville Airport, was violating the 30 mile radius, no fly, security zone around President Obama's helicopter, then lifting off from Palo Alto after the President's speech on cybersecurity at Stanford.
If anyone wonders, I just measured on a paper chart the distance from Capitola to Palo Alto. Yup. 30 nautical miles. The bi-plane was flirting with danger and should have known better.
I instantly felt safer, knowing the bi-plane got intercepted and forced to land.
And the F-15 pilot, on his ultimate singlehander, probably got some bonus beach views on a warm, sunny, afternoon.
http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-ca...rsecurity-in-heart-of-silicon-valley/31261720
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsXiB1FHNR8
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I lived in Kaneohe Hawaii for a while, A place that has 2 things, one is my favorite Yacht Club and the other was a Marine base next door to the YC.
There was a story that was told at the YC about the little old lady that complained about the noise that the Marine jets made regularly, at one point she made contact with the Commanding officer,complaining about the noise. He asked if she was positive that the planes were ours and she replied that she was because she could see the insignia on the wings.
The officer replied "You should thank GOD"
There was a story that was told at the YC about the little old lady that complained about the noise that the Marine jets made regularly, at one point she made contact with the Commanding officer,complaining about the noise. He asked if she was positive that the planes were ours and she replied that she was because she could see the insignia on the wings.
The officer replied "You should thank GOD"
Practice day is March 1 (weather dependent). Ya'll come out and watch Beccie and me wrassle the slick new beast into submission. It should be entertaining. There will be plenty of beer and Sailor Jerry's rum if we make it back to the dock
Though they were then being used to power satellites, back in 1978 commercially available solar panels for small boats were just coming on the scene. In the first SHTP, my 27' sloop WILDFLOWER had minimal electrics. No engine, one cabin light, running lights, and a Tiller Master. No electronic navigation systems, radar, radios, etc. WILDFLOWER was a good platform for solar panels, which we carried hinged P&S on the stern pulpit, adjustable in angle fore and aft as the sun passed overhead.
Solar panel technology has come a long way. I'm sure we'll soon see sails made of cloth that can be plugged in to power electrical needs.
Meanwhile, massive solar farms, especially in the Central Valley and S.California desert are being built. But not without large engineering challenges. How does all this new solar power get onto PG&E's grid? It is not just plug and play.
California's drought is having an unexpected consequence for solar farms. Wind, combined with drying farmlands, is creating dust storms. With thousands of acres of potentially dusty solar panels, loss of efficiency is real and financially crippling.
You can't just run out with some paper towels and Windex to clean things.
There is all sorts of young technology being developed to clean solar panels of dust. Robotic vacuum cleaners are only one idea. We are lucky as sailors having to deal just with salt spray.
Solar panel technology has come a long way. I'm sure we'll soon see sails made of cloth that can be plugged in to power electrical needs.
Meanwhile, massive solar farms, especially in the Central Valley and S.California desert are being built. But not without large engineering challenges. How does all this new solar power get onto PG&E's grid? It is not just plug and play.
California's drought is having an unexpected consequence for solar farms. Wind, combined with drying farmlands, is creating dust storms. With thousands of acres of potentially dusty solar panels, loss of efficiency is real and financially crippling.
You can't just run out with some paper towels and Windex to clean things.
There is all sorts of young technology being developed to clean solar panels of dust. Robotic vacuum cleaners are only one idea. We are lucky as sailors having to deal just with salt spray.
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hodgmo
Still Floating
solar sails may not be so far off... but solar dodgers and foulies may come first
http://www.cnet.com/news/tommy-hilfiger-launches-solar-power-jackets-to-charge-your-phone/
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/11/25...coming-market-used-stadiums-parking-lots-etc/
http://californiapc.com/Portable-So...ade-2kW.html?gclid=CJrzlYrN-cMCFQgtaQodYj8AWQ
http://www.cnet.com/news/tommy-hilfiger-launches-solar-power-jackets-to-charge-your-phone/
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/11/25...coming-market-used-stadiums-parking-lots-etc/
http://californiapc.com/Portable-So...ade-2kW.html?gclid=CJrzlYrN-cMCFQgtaQodYj8AWQ