Sailing Archives

November 2, 2009

Caribbean 1500 Rally using Google Earth once again

As they have in years past, the Caribbean 1500 Sailing Rally is doing some cool stuff with Google Earth to help showcase their event, which begins today around noon EST.

They're using Magnatrax.net to help track the position of every boat and they have a variety of boat classes that you can track -- Cruising, "Bahamas Fleet", Rally Class 1/2 and Racing Class 3/4. Choose the one you want, then click the "Google Earth" link in the lower left corner. They show the current position of each boat, but they also take advantage of the Time Slider tool to let you see past locations.

They seem to have removed some of the other folders from previous years (weather and such), but that's ok. Google Earth has some nice built-in weather data, which you can easily use alongside of the race data. That's really the power of Google Earth -- being able to combine data from a variety of sources to help get the most information at one time.

The race begins later today, so keep an eye on it in Google Earth to see who wins.

Posted by mickmel at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)

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September 22, 2009

Fresh Update to the Ocean Expeditions layer

Google has just updated the Ocean Expeditions layer in Google Earth, and they've added some great content about expeditions around the world. To access this layer, simply check the Ocean Expeditions icon inside of the Ocean folder or you can open this kml file .

Once opened, a variety of ship icons will appear in the ocean. Ships with a yellow shaded background represent live or recent expeditions (such as the National Geographic expedition to Cocos Island), while ships with a blue shaded background represent expeditions older than six months (such as various expeditions by the Cousteau Society). As you zoom in, more details will appear. Also, if you select a placemark for a particular expedition, it will load tracks and other placemarks for more details on that expedition.

Hopefully you'll find the Tahina Expedition in this layer in the not too distant future. :-)

Posted by FrankTaylor at 2:11 PM | Comments (1)

September 2, 2009

Preparing for the Big Trip

Those of you who are regular readers of GEB are probably familiar that last year I announced a plan to depart on a 5-year sailing circumnavigation. I've spun the Google Earth globe many times, but never managed to go around the real Earth myself. For most of my life, I've held the dream of circumnavigating by sailboat. Google Earth has definitely helped already in planning our destinations, but my plan is to help share our experience with GE in many unique ways. Google has even partnered with our expedition, which we call the Tahina Expedition. You'll not only be able to use GE to follow our path, see our route, and check our position, but you will also be able see our geotagged photos and videos. Some of the photos and video will be unique perspectives such as aerial photos taken with a kite, and underwater video taken with a remote operated vehicle (ROV) from VideoRay.

We are in the midst of final preparations for our planned departure after hurricane season (hopefully around the end of October or early November). We're hoping our house will sell before we leave - and that has kept us extremely busy.

There may be days when I miss making blog posts in the next few weeks. Once we leave, I won't be able to post every day. However, I'm in the process of arranging for someone to keep GEB posts coming. If you're interested in keeping track of our preparations and our trip, make sure to bookmark/save the RSS feed for the Tahina Expedition Blog. Also, expect a few progress reports leading to Tahina's departure, as well as more partnership announcements.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:52 PM | Comments (5)

August 5, 2009

Kaisei Project - Researching the Plastic Vortex

Cross-posted from the Tahina Expedition:

My wife and I are leaving in October to begin a five year sailing circumnavigation we are calling the Tahina Expedition. Our trip is not just about visiting remote pacific island atolls, sipping Coronas on the beach, and snorkeling around beautiful marine life. The Tahina Expedition also hopes to raise awareness about issues facing the oceans and the lives of those creatures and people who live in and around them.

One big issue is that mankind has for countless ages assumed the ocean is so big, that it can "wash away" our waste products and sewage. As human population has exploded, this approach could not continue. In recent decades, efforts have been made, by responsible governments and other organizations, to greatly reduce putting trash and untreated sewage into our oceans. In some areas of the world, beaches and marine life have actually recovered to some extent.

However, one very large related problem has only been introduced in the past century: plastic in the oceans. Plastic does not bio-degrade like many products. It does "photo-degrade" (due to the effects of the sun) to some extent over a long period of time (many years). Since the oceans are so vast, you would think it would take a LOT of plastic for people to notice the problem. Well, it has begun to be noticed.

There are vast currents in the Pacific ocean that keep the waters circulating. These areas are known as Oceanic Gyres. In the north Pacific Gyre there is an area that has become known as the Plastic Vortex - or the Garbage Patch. Here millions of tons of garbage (mostly plastic) have been accumulating for decades.

The Kaisei Project is sending two ships to the Plastic Vortex to research and take measurements on the scale of the problem. On their site, you can view a Google Earth plugin visualization showing the current positions of the two vessels and placemarks showing progress reports as they make their way to the vortex. Most of the placemarks contain video blog entries.

The issue of garbage in the ocean is already having a huge impact on marine life. Birds, fish, jellyfish, sharks, and other creature all end up consuming plastic particles. Many of them die because they can't digest or are poisoned by the plastics. Some of these creatures in turn end up getting consumed by humans. So, not only are we ruining the oceans and marine life, but in a probably just twist of fate, we could be killing ourselves.

The Tahina Expedition plans to take note of trash, especially plastic, as we travel around the world on our sailing catamaran. My wife and I will begin the trip in late October and will continue for 5 years. You'll be able to follow along in Google Earth, and we'll be sharing a large array of photography including regular snapshots, underwater photography, HD video, and even aerial photography of places we visit which you'll be able to view in Google Earth (thanks to our partnership with Google). We hope you'll follow along on the Tahina Expedition Blog.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 11:07 AM | Comments (1)

July 31, 2009

Watch the LongPac Yacht Race

On Wednesday, the Singlehanded Sailing Society started a single and double-handed sailing race dubbed the "LongPac" - its a race of 400 miles from San Francisco Bay to anywhere on Longitude 126° 40"W and return. The race is over by August 4th. But, you can track the race in Google Earth (including the positions of all the boats) thanks to the efforts of Magnatrax.net (which has provided live sailboat race tracking for other races - like the Caribbean 1500).

As of this morning, some of the boats are just now reaching the half-way point. It wasn't until during the last decade that technologies (GPS, Internet, and communications) made it practical to track positions of sailboats on a long-distance race in real time. The link for the tracking interface also includes weather data overlays. You can also view the official race map (also provided by Magnatrax.net).

Posted by FrankTaylor at 6:51 AM | Comments (0)

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More entries for this category:

6. New Google Earth Imagery - July 2009 - Good and Bad Part 2 - July 11, 2009
7. World Oceans Day, 3D Design Competition, Britain Archeological Site, New Imagery Tour Idea - June 8, 2009
8. Where 2.0 - Day 1 - Workshops and Ignite - May 20, 2009
9. Current Positions of 10,000+ Ships World-wide in Google Earth - May 8, 2009
10. Henry Hudson 400th Anniversary in Google Earth/Maps - May 4, 2009
11. Two Collections: US Coast Guard and Right Whales - April 28, 2009
12. Links: Ocean Now, Michigan Earth Day, Goldman Prize, Convention Center, Queen Mary - April 21, 2009
13. 3D Tour of Tahina Expedition Catamaran - April 20, 2009
14. Submarine Sim for Google Ocean - April 14, 2009
15. Announcing TahinaExpedition.com - April 9, 2009
16. Endangered Right Whales Off Florida - February 20, 2009
17. Rowing Around the World with Google Earth - February 11, 2009
18. Google Earth 5 Released - 3D Ocean and More! - February 2, 2009
19. New View of Ocean Floor in Google Earth - January 17, 2009
20. Les Saintes Got Some Terrain in Google Earth - January 14, 2009
21. December Sailing Passage in Google Earth - December 30, 2008
22. Links: Santa Tracker Popular, Volvo Ocean Race, Lost World Discovered, Cold War KML - December 26, 2008
23. Links: Going Sailing, Mumbai Attacks, Street View, South Africa Award - December 11, 2008
24. Vendee Globe in Google Earth - December 2, 2008
25. Somalia Piracy Map in Google Earth - November 20, 2008
26. Links: Where 2.0, Weather Buoys, Argentina, Earthscape, MapMyPage, and more - November 19, 2008
27. Carolina Beach Inlet in Google Earth - November 4, 2008
28. WikiSailing - Flying/Sailing Sightseeing Tours in Google Earth - October 29, 2008
29. Using Google Earth at 90 MPH on a Boat - October 14, 2008
30. Introducing Our First Sailing Partner: Google - October 2, 2008
31. The Boat Story Continues - Boatyard, Name, Moving - September 21, 2008
32. Sailing Update - Arrgh! - September 19, 2008
33. Storm Preparations - September 4, 2008
34. Sailing Passage From Exuma to North Carolina - August 25, 2008
35. Circumnavigation: The Boat - Part I - August 24, 2008
36. Spinning the Globe - August 21, 2008
37. Links: Joshua Slocum, Chemical Brothers, Other Links - August 6, 2008
38. Links: Talks, boat slips, Trails.com, Featured - July 28, 2008
39. Links: Walking, Havana, Eclipse, Oil, Follow the Boat - July 23, 2008
40. Notes from the Bahamas: GE in Education, AGE More KML, Disney 3D - June 26, 2008
41. Clipper Yacht Race in Google Earth - June 1, 2008
42. Links: NBA Destination, EarthNC 2.0, Geo Education - May 7, 2008
43. Links: Games, KML, Data, and more - March 4, 2008
44. Miami Post - Links: Mapper Tool, GE Game, KML Wishlist - February 15, 2008
45. Top 25 Stories of Google Earth 2007 - December 27, 2007
46. Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2007 - December 26, 2007
47. Links: GE on Phones?, PhotoOverlay Tutorial, EarthNC Update, Time Embedder Tool - November 6, 2007
48. Caribbean 1500 Sailing Cup in Google Earth - November 5, 2007
49. Links: Ohio Class Sub, Galactic Delight, Constellation Drawings - October 5, 2007
50. News Roundup: Flight Simulator Goodies, PhotoViewer Stuff, Video tourism - September 4, 2007
51. Scientific Ocean Drilling Database in Google Earth - August 14, 2007
52. Our Sailing Holiday in Google Earth - August 10, 2007
53. Sailing with Google Earth for Navigation - August 6, 2007
54. Sailing in the Virgin Islands - with Google Earth - July 23, 2007
55. Encompassing the Globe - July 16, 2007
56. OgleEarth Roundup: Illegal Fishing Caught, Picasa Web Albums Review, Geo-Ads Patent, HeyWhatsThat - June 28, 2007
57. Watch Weekend Boating Live in Google Earth - May 18, 2007
58. EarthNC Releases Browser-based Google Earth Content - April 26, 2007
59. 677 US Marine Charts for Google Earth on 1 CD - March 31, 2007
60. Majesty of the Seas - February 9, 2007
61. Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in Google Earth - December 27, 2006
62. Route du Rhum - Live Sailing Race in Google Earth - November 1, 2006
63. Shipwrecks Around the Google Earth - September 2, 2006
64. Sailing Adventures and Anchorages of the Caribbean - July 1, 2006
65. Pete Goss in 2006 Shetland Round Britain and Ireland Race - June 18, 2006
66. Volvo Ocean Race Leg 7 in Google Earth - May 18, 2006
67. Multicup 60 - Live Sailboat Race in Google Earth - May 10, 2006
68. The Aviva Challenge - Sailing Record Attempt - May 3, 2006
69. Mini-news Roundup - April 10, 2006
70. Sailblogs.com Supports Google Earth - April 8, 2006
71. Follow Volvo Ocean Race Leg 5 - April 3, 2006
72. Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race in Google Earth - March 29, 2006
73. Maldives Island Group in High Res - March 24, 2006
74. Bermuda Treasure Shipwrecks Map - March 7, 2006
75. Follow Volvo Ocean Race Leg 4 in Google Earth - February 19, 2006
76. Follow Volvo Ocean Race Leg 3 in Google Earth - February 12, 2006
77. Transatlantic Sailing Adventure Using Google Earth - January 18, 2006
78. Volvo Ocean Race Leg 2 - January 6, 2006
79. Back on Land - December 19, 2005
80. Gone Sailing! Passage Plan in Google Earth - December 13, 2005
81. Transat Jacques Vabre 2005 Race in Google Earth - November 16, 2005
82. And They're Off! - November 13, 2005
83. Volvo Ocean Race in Google Earth - November 11, 2005
84. Another Sailor Documents Trips Using Google Earth - November 9, 2005
85. Watching Sports with Google Earth - September 27, 2005
86. Sailing the Seven Seas - September 10, 2005

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