* do you have intrnet srvis. (Bella, 1st grade)
Only when we are close to land and can receive the cell phone (3G and 4G) signals. After that we depend on satellites and radios that can send and receive very short emails--but that are way too slow to surf the web. More than 30 years ago, before your time when internet technology was very new, people used modems attached to their phones to connect. That's similar to what I have on the boat now --9600 bits per second. That's maybe 1000 times slower than what you have at home today!!
* Are there pirates in the Bermuda Triangle? Have you seen the ghost of John? Do water cannons on your boat? Have you eve sunken a ship? (Zane, 3rd grade)
* Have you ever seen a pirate ship at sea and if you did did you sale away. Have you seen the goust of John. (Nik, 3rd grade)
Arrrrgh. Shiver me timbers. We can watch the pirate movies on the computer, but no, there are no pirates where we are going. Sometimes we fire water balloons at my brother's boat (for fun). There are far off places in the world where pirates (without parrots and eye patches) steal a boat and ransom the crew. But we are staying far far away from those places. Isn't Johnny Depp just the coolest movie dude?! Now days, sailors report all incidents (like burglary and theft) to a website so that other sailors can know where it is safe to go, and so the police in those places will try harder to make those places safe. Check it out:
http://www.safetyandsecuritynet.com/
* What if you run out of gas and there is no wind. How long did it take to get to Virginia. (Nik, 3rd grade)
If we run out of fuel and there is no wind, we read books and wait. But we carry enough fuel to motor for four or more days. We will probably use most of it, since we don't have too much time to wait and since the forecast has a few days of light winds. It took us 2 days and 2 hours to get from Massachusetts to Virginia. We did not stop at night but kept going the entire time.
* Why are boats called her (Elijah, 3rd grade)
Good question. That would be a good question to research on the web and report back. Heron (our boat) is definitely a female. Maybe it's because the sailors who called their boats "her" were men. Maybe they missed their wives after spending so long at sea. I do too.
* Do you get sea sick?
Sometimes I do get sea sick. It takes a while to get used to the motion of a boat. Sometimes I take medication (transderm scopalomine or ginger or Relief Bands). But sometimes I just feel like I want to throw up for a few hours. We can buy big bags of ice cubes from the dock. But we have a small freezer and a refrigerator that runs off of the engine or the generator. It keeps our food nice and cold.
* Is it true that the Bermuda Triangle is dangers? Do you know the storm’s name? Sincerely, Kevin. (3rd grade)
The Bermuda Triangle can be dangerous when big storms form. Sean, the tropical storm that is moving out of our way, is an example of how the warm water can quickly energize weak storms into big storms. Ask Miss Jean to tell you about the Gulf Stream. That's like a river of water in the ocean. When strong winds blow against that river, the waves get very very big and steep. I'd rather meet an alien from a UFO than one of those walls of water. Seriously, I don't worry about UFOs.
* Have you seen dolphins? How big are ice brgs. If you run out of food do you go fishing? What happins if you run out of gas? Is the Bermuda Triangle scarry? Have you seen a World Pool what do you do if a stom comes in. how long is yore bote Love Hannah (2nd grade)
Wow, Hannah. You are really thinking of some good questions. We have seen many dolphins. They are beautiful and love to play with the boat. Maybe we can post some pictures soon. We have never seen icebergs. They don't come this far south since the water is so warm, they would melt before they get this far south. We are carrying a fishing line for the very first time. We'll try to catch a big fish and eat sushi! The Bermuda Triangle is really only scary on those scary television shows. I've never seen a whorlpool. We've seen a water spout on the way to Bermuda, so we went in the opposite directions. Our boat is 53 feet long--about the same length as one of the big trucks on the highway.
* How does it look inside Heron? Where do you store your food?? Does Heron have electric or ordinary engine? ( Bence, 2nd grade)
Such good questions! I'll post some pictures of the inside. It's much smaller than your living room. We store food in cabinets that are everywhere in the boat. Five people eat a huge amount of food in a week or two. Heron has an ordinary diesel engine. Someday more boats will have electric engines with big banks of batteries and photovoltaic panels to charge them.
* How many places have you sailed to around the world? How many years have you been sailing????? (Nate, 3rd grade)
I have been sailing all my life. You can tell that I like it very much. I have not sailed around the world, but I have sailed in many places from Canada to the British Virgin Islands. Check out Tortola on Google Earth. It's awesome. The two people on the boat next to us in the marina are headed there too. They have a beautiful new boat, which they bought because they were looking for a new adventure after having raised horses in Montana. Sailing is full of very interesting people and that is a big reason why I like it.Thank you for asking. I am feeling much better now that we have a good forecast to go to sea. I am very excited because this is the very first time that I've done such a trip, the boat is in ready to go, and the people I am with are totally awesome. So although the weather right now is cold and windy and it might rain, tomorrow we will have good weather and we will all be very very happy.
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